CfP: Border Heritage: Understanding borders, people and identity through time and space Ulster University, 24-25 October 2019

Conference Theme
The Irish Humanities Alliance (IHA), in collaboration with Ulster University, are pleased to announce a multi-disciplinary conference on the theme of border heritages. The conference will take place on 24-25 October 2019. What do we mean when we talk about borders? In the context of Brexit and the approaching centenary of partition, the political border on the island comes to mind, but the term is ultimately expansive and allows us to consider multiple aspects of how we live and interact with our neighbours and our landscape.

This event will offer opportunities to build links for collaboration between researchers, and organisations working in this area and will allow for an expansive discussion on the theme of border heritages from a multi-disciplinary perspective. The conference theme allows for a wide-ranging exploration of how we can understand division and integration through the prism of heritage. The conference will take place on the Magee Campus of Ulster University, which is only a few miles from the border with Donegal.

Call for Papers
We invite proposals for:

  • 20 minute papers, from local, International and conceptual perspectives (abstracts 250 words)
  • panels or roundtables (abstracts 400-600 words)
  • performance and visual arts presentations (abstracts 400 words)

Proposals should be emailed to Dr Mel Farrell at: m.farrell@ria.ie or Dr Adrian Grant at a.grant@ulster.ac.uk by 5pm on Friday 30 August 2019.

We particularly welcome proposals relating to the issues facing the island of Ireland in the context of the UK’s imminent withdrawal from the EU and abstracts relating, but not limited to, the following topics:

  • The representation of borders in music, drama, poetry, media and literature.
  • The history and politics of borders and international boundaries
  • Identities prior to 1920
  • Minorities and borders in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas
  • Frontiers in Medieval Literature
  • Managing and identifying heritage across borders
  • Interpreting borders through exhibition
  • Imperialism and the imposition of borders
  • The architecture of division
  • Reflecting borders in art
  • People, place, and borders
  • Migration and borders
  • Understanding the landscape of borders
  • The impact of naturally occurring borders on people