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Contents |
2002
IASIL NEWSLETTER |
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As I send heartfelt greetings to
all members for peace and good fortune in 2002 my mind goes back to
the last time many of us met, at the marvellous ‘Odysseys’ conference
held at Dublin City University in July 2001. Thanks to the very hard
work of conference organizer Barbara Freitag, assisted by Patrick
Burke, close on two hundred of us were given a week of challenging
lectures, well-chosen and well-arranged papers, interspersed with
memorable receptions, readings, plays, films, and even sean-nos
singing (I’ll leave out the business meetings) and capped by a first-rate
on-campus banquet on the final evening. Barbara didn’t want to use
the word ‘banquet’ and preferred the less pretentious ‘dinner’ but
to all of us who enjoyed such excellent cuisine and fine wines--nua
gach bidh and sean gach digh--on the night in question it was
certainly a banquet and a rare one too! By the time Kathleen and I
left, some time after midnight, the floor was still being pounded
by some of the liveliest line dancing I’ve seen in a long time. (If
you’ve never seen an international or IASIL ceili
let me tell you it’s not for the faint-hearted.) Now our thoughts turn westward
and southward to Brazil and to Sao Paulo where from 28 July to 1 August
as many of us as possible should gather to show the flag (to quote
a favourite phrase of the lamented Gus Martin) or in this case flags
and to participate in the conference on ‘Interrelations: Irish Literatures
and Other Forms of Knowledge’. What an intriguing theme that is! And
what an opportunity for us to visit this part of the New World! Truly,
membership of IASIL means another year another odyssey. We owe this
opportunity to the generosity of Munira Mutran, who is
Irish Studies in South America and who has moved forward her 2003
date to 2002 solely to accommodate IASIL on this occasion, following
our inability to secure Monaco as originally planned. She deserves
our wholehearted support. I urge you to attend the Sao Paulo conference,
even if it means some hardship and/or fear of flying. The preliminary
programme promises a wealth of activity and not a little festivity,
and if you require further details you should contact Munira Mutran
and Laura Izarra immediately (iasil@usp.br). So, dear friends on both sides
of the dateline and in both hemispheres (have I got that right?),
I hope all goes well with you and yours as I write, and with your
research and your plans for the future. On behalf of the IASIL family
I welcome your interest if you are reading this as a non-member and
I invite you to visit our website at http://www.ulst.ac.uk/iasil/
with the hope that you might consider joining our association. You
won’t regret it.
Christopher Murray |
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