*Philosophical Perspectives on Contemporary Ireland*



*International Conference*



University College Dublin

March 8-9, 2018





Keynote Speakers



Professor Richard Kearney, Boston College

Professor Kathleen Lennon, University of Hull

Professor Luke Gibbons, Maynooth University





Conference Theme



The social, political and economic landscape of contemporary Ireland has
inspired extensive scholarly debate both within and well beyond the
interdisciplinary field of Irish Studies. National and international
academic research has struggled to stay apace with a rapidly transforming
demographic where shockwaves of economic meltdown and institutional abuse
have intensified a long legacy of identity and diasporic politics.
Remarkable about this scholarly work, however, is its distinct lack of a
self-consciously philosophical voice. While scholars from literary studies
to law have engaged comprehensively with the complexities of a post-Celtic
Tiger Ireland, scholars from philosophy have for the most part neglected to
intervene. Acknowledging the important exceptions to this broader
disciplinary tendency, this conference addresses this prominent scholarly
lacuna by bringing contemporary Ireland on to the philosophical stage. Our
aim is to enrich the fields of philosophy and Irish Studies by encouraging
a manifestly philosophical exploration of contemporary issues and concerns.



In development of this project we seek to acknowledge the rare but
nonetheless exemplary existing work already published in this area.
Scholarship by thinkers working both inside and outside of philosophy
departments - notably by Richard Kearney (Boston College), Attracta Ingram
and Iseult Honohan (University College Dublin) - constitutes early
philosophical analysis of Irish themes that can fruitfully inform
theorisations of the present. Indeed, it is precisely the pressing nature
of contemporary issues in Ireland that has prompted even more recent
philosophical interest in the Irish context, notably in feminist philosophy
and philosophy of education. In these contexts, revelations of
institutional abuse, national responses to trauma, and the ambivalent
relationship to the Irish language have been acknowledged as significant
issues necessitating philosophical attention.





Invited Abstracts



We invite abstracts that either engage with pioneering philosophical work
on Ireland, or develop entirely novel philosophical approaches to the below
(without being limited to these):



-        Diaspora, exile, return

-        Women’s bodies, women’s rights

-        Institutionalisation and containment

-        North-South dynamics

-        Conflict, violence, resolution

-        The Home, housing, and homelessness

-        Economic boom and bust, social class, and the welfare state

-        Political systems and governance

-        Education, schooling, and curricula

-        Nationalism, patriotism, and cosmopolitanism

-        Citizenship and belonging

-        Race, ethnicity, and identity

-        Art, culture, and the socio-political

-        Ethics, religion, and the secular

-        Hiberno-English and/or the Irish language

-        The relationship between philosophy and Irish Studies in the
contemporary context



We welcome papers from a variety of expert areas, including Education,
Gender Studies, Politics, Sociology, Cultural Studies, and History. *Submission
should, however, explicitly constitute and explicitly engage philosophical
treatments of contemporary Ireland.*



Conference Organisers



Dr. Clara Fischer & Dr. Áine Mahon, University College Dublin


This conference is a joint initiative from UCD School of Education and UCD
School of Philosophy.



Please send abstracts of no more than 200 words to [log in to unmask] and
[log in to unmask] *by November 6th 2017*. Decisions will be communicated
shortly thereafter.

Panel proposals will also be considered. Please submit individual paper
abstracts (200 words) for 3-4 speakers, in addition to a general abstract
(700 words) describing the panel theme, its relation to the conference
topic, and how individual papers speak to each other as part of the panel.



-- 
Dr. Clara Fischer
Co-director, UCD Dewey Studies Research Project
Research Associate, UCD Women's Studies
Communications Officer, SWIP Ireland <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__swip-2Direland.com_&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=Oo4TCJF8pXcsWPDC7Sy8bdP2IJ6ZbST0v2xdYtuNH80&m=coHAeTr5-McxQn62JoEorYOLQxjh-o56VWjHz6jFnR4&s=F6F3UGJdZiTNmwgxbGIdDNhSB5iQ5HnRaHtFza7I3jU&e= >

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