Workshop: Dr. Brian Ó Conchubhair (University of Notre Dame) and Samuel K. Fisher (Catholic University of America), "When Poems and History Rhyme: the Politics and Poetics of the Irish Poetic Tradition"

Samuel Fisher (Catholic University of America) and Brian Ó Conchubhair (University of Notre Dame) will lead an online workshop exploring the evolution of Irish language poetry from the medieval to the present day. Using the bilingual anthology Bone and Marrow/Cnámh agus Smior: An Anthology of Irish Poetry from Medieval to Modern as a text, they will delve into a variety of topics including how poetry serves as a critical source for understanding changes in Irish culture, history, and language; how poetry offers particular insights into Irish history from various perspectives; and the challenges that poetry poses to historians, as well as creative pedagogical approaches to teaching Irish poems. Questions will be welcome from participants, we look forward to a lively and interactive discussion of the role and the place of Irish-language poetry in understanding Ireland, its people, histories, and cultures. 

Samuel K. Fisher is Assistant Professor of History at the Catholic University of America, and currently a Visiting Faculty Fellow at the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of The Gaelic and Indian Origins of the American Revolution (2022) as well as co-editor of Bone and Marrow/Cnámh agus Smior: An Anthology of Irish Poetry from Medieval to Modern (2022).

Brian Ó Conchubhair is an Associate Professor of Irish Language and Literature at the University of Notre Dame. He has served as Director of the Center for the Study of Languages & Cultures (2013-2020); Executive Director of the IRISH Seminar (2011-2013), and President of the American Conference for Irish Studies (2015-2017). Professor Ó Conchubhair’s writings include an award-winning monograph on the intellectual history of the Irish Revival entitled Fin de Siècle na Gaeilge: Darwin, An Athbheochan agus Smaointeoireacht na hEorpa (The Irish Fin de Siècle: Darwin, the Revival and European Thought). Other edited publications include: Gearrscéalta Ár Linne (2006, 2010, 2013); WHY IRISH? Irish Language and Literature in Academia (2008); Twisted Truths(2011); Darkness: Liam O’Flaherty’s Tragedy (2013); Lost in Connemara: Stories from the Irish (2014); Rogha Scéalta le Pádraic Breathnach 1974-2014(2014) and (with Jefferson Holdridge) After Ireland: Essays on Contemporary Irish Poetry (Wake Forest University Press, 2017); My American Journey: Douglas Hyde (2019); and Cathair na Gaillimhe: Díolaim Cathrach (2020). Leabhar Breac will publish his biography of Flann O'Brien this year.

Registration 

If you are interested in participating in this online event, please sign up by sending an email with the subject line “WORKSHOP” to irishstudies@uni-wuerzburg.de  by June 5, 2024. Please include your full name and affiliation. Online participants will receive a zoom link to the event in due time. Please note that the above given email address is used solely for registration purposes. If you want to contact ISWÜ, please use the contact information given below.

Contact
Irish Studies Würzburg (ISWÜ)
Prof. Dr. Ina Bergmann & Prof. Dr. Maria Eisenmann
ina.bergmann@uni-wuerzburg.de,  maria.eisenmann@uni-wuerzburg.de