Conference 2022: University of Limerick, 25-29 July, 2022
CFP IASIL22 Intersectional Irelands
The annual conference of the International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures (IASIL) takes place at the University of Limerick, Ireland in July 2022 (25th-29th). The conference theme is Intersectional Irelands
Intersectional Irelands: Background
Irish studies scholarship has recently begun to draw on critical race and anti-colonial theory, migration and diaspora studies, disability studies, feminist and queer theory, and class studies, among other critical perspectives, to broaden the critical discourse beyond the somewhat static literary-historical categories of the past and forge new understandings of Irish literary cultures.
Understandings of what Diane Negra terms “transnationalized Irishness” have further unsettled the fixed points on the charts of Irish culture; recent research raises challenging questions about Irish complicity in the Atlantic slave trade and exploitation of indigenous populations. With this context in mind, our conference theme for 2022 is premised on Kimberle Crenshaw’s term “intersectionality”, coined in 1989 to define a framework that encourages scholars to conceptualise how larger systems of power, privilege, and oppression intersect with social categories like race, class, gender, and sexuality.
Patricia Hill Collins (2019) developed the concept of intersectionality further by describing it as part of a move to “build participatory, democratic interpretive communities across differences of experience, expertise, and resources”. Recent efforts to decolonise the literary canon are a case in point, as scholars address historical imbalances in classroom and research practice.
As Irish society becomes increasingly multicultural and multilingual, it is timely for us to address the construction and representation of intersectionality in our literary culture. As IASIL moves beyond our 50th anniversary year, we will also consider the legacies of Irish studies during our conference, by hosting round-table sessions focusing on key writers, scholars, and educators whose innovative ideas and radical praxis energised our research field in the past. We envisage these retrospectives as a tribute to those we have learned from but they also have a generative impetus, as our research community devises new ways of seeing, teaching, learning, and re-presenting Irish culture.
Call for Papers: Invitation
We invite abstracts of 300 words for individual papers and panels that feature intersectional approaches to Irish literature, in both English and Irish. The closing date for submissions of abstracts is 10th January 2022. Abstracts may include the following topics and approaches to Irish literature and culture:
— Class representations
— Traveller representations
— Critical race theory
— Eco-criticism and regenerative readings
— Disability studies
— Gender and sexuality studies
— Migrant and transnational narratives
— Postcolonial studies
— Any other topics relating to intersectionality and Irish literature
We particularly welcome papers and panels dealing with the following:
— Young adult literature
— Performative literature
— Irish language literature
— Media studies
— Film studies
— Songwriting
— Creative non-fiction
— Digital studies
— Translation studies
Roundtable sessions: In a later call, we will invite proposals for roundtable sessions reflecting areas of research specialism at the University of Limerick, including
— Multilingual Irish literatures (to include European &Irish-German studies
— Gender and/or sexuality studies
— Utopian studies
— Non-realist writing
— Creative writing
— Early-modern literary studies
Medical humanities
Literary pedagogies
Utopian studies
Popular music and popular culture
Abstracts of 300 words should be sent to IASIL2022@ul.ie by 10th January 2022
Queries in English or Irish can be addressed to the conference secretary, Dr Tracy McAvinue IASIL2022@ul.ie
Scholarships
IASIL is pleased to invite applications for a postgraduate scholarship to attend the conference. Further details about the terms of the scholarship and the application process, as well as the relevant application and referee forms, are available from the conference secretary at IASIL2022@ul.ie. The deadline for applications is 21 January 2022.
PhD Forum
Applications are invited for the annual IASIL PhD Forum, at which postgraduate students have the opportunity to present their work in progress and receive feedback from established scholars. The Forum will take place on Monday 25 July, 9:00-14:00, prior to the opening of the conference of the association at the University of Limerick. Applicants must be postgraduate students working on a topic within Irish literary studies and paid-up members of IASIL. Applications should take the form of a 3000-word document outlining the student’s dissertation project and their current state of research, and should be accompanied by a brief CV (500 words).
Eligible participants will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis. The Forum can accommodate 10-15 students, who will be divided into two groups based on the area of their work. At the Forum, students will be asked to make a 5-minute presentation introducing their work to the group (the use of presentation software is encouraged); this will be followed by a detailed response to the students’ submission from two tutors, and a general discussion. Lunch will be provided for the participants.
Participation at the Forum does not preclude the possibility of presenting a paper at the conference.
Other graduate students are welcome to sit in at the Forum and join the discussion. Applications or queries titled ‘PhD Forum’ are to be sent to the Forum convenor, Ondřej Pilný, at ondrej.pilny@ff.cuni.cz by 31 May 2022. Acceptance will be confirmed by 10 June 2022.