Voices from the Margins: Ireland Seen and Unseen

Keynote event: The conference will feature a Panel Session on Early Career Research and Career Building with Dr Georgina Nugent (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, University of Vienna), Dr James Little (University of Cyprus), and Prof Ondřej Pilný (Charles University).

Questions and areas of discussion for the Panel Session may be submitted by participants before the conference.

CALL FOR PAPERS
The International Postgraduate Conference in Irish Studies, hosted by the Centre for IrishStudies at Charles University in Prague, invites paper proposals on the topic of “Voices from the Margins: Ireland Seen and Unseen.” The biannual conference aims to offer space for productive discussion between graduate students working in Irish Studies, including those whose background extends beyond the literary context.

In recent decades, the previously monolithic landscape of Irish Studies has become more and more inclusive. Women’s writing has been in focus for many years now, with recent publications such as Deirdre Flynn and Ciara L. Murphy’s edited volume Austerity and Irish Women’s Writing and Culture, 1980–2020 (2022) and Claire Bracken and Tara Harney-Mahajan’s edited collection Post-Celtic Tiger Ireland and Contemporary Women’s Writing: Feminist Interventions and Imaginings (2021), showing that there is still more to be said. Migration and contested hybrid identities at home and abroad continuously serve as the topic of Irish historical, (auto-)biographical, and fictional publications. Own-voices narratives by authors like Melatu Uche Okorie and academic studies like Pilar Villar Argáiz’s LiteraryVisions of Multicultural Ireland: The Immigrant in Contemporary Irish Literature (2016) have been important contributions to the area of Irish studies. Interestingly, it is in the areas of young adult literature and genre fiction, that we tend to find the most diverse cast of characters, including stories focused on LGBTQ+ characters. The recovery of old and discovery of new queer narratives is a vital part of the study of Ireland, which in 2015 became the first country to legalise same-sex marriage by popular vote. The Trans* Research Association of Ireland, founded in 2023, is one example of the exceptional work being done in the field of queer studies in connection to Ireland. We are looking for contributions on both dominant and overlooked voices and discourses in the field of Irish Studies, regardless of discipline, in order to open up conversations between Ireland seen and unseen.

Paper topics may include:

• (re)writing traditions and identities
• minority voices and languages
• Ireland at home and abroad
• national and transnational considerations
• established and reconsidered literary canons
• popularart and genre writing
• queer histories, literatures, and art
• femininities and masculinities
• invisible and obscured landscapes

Papers should be related to the topic of PhD research and address one or more of the issues mentioned above. Abstracts of 250 words should be submitted to the organisers at postgradprague@gmail.com by 31 January 2025. These must include the title of the paper, a bio note of 50-100 words, your e-mail address, and institutional affiliation, as well as any special AV requirements for the presentation. The conference is planned as an in-person event.

In order to provide detailed feedback for each paper, the conference format will consist of 10-minute paper summaries followed by responses from nominated participants. They will provide feedback to the complete paper as submitted in advance and their response will be followed by a general discussion. Participants should expect to be appointed as respondents to other papers. Complete papers are to be in the region of 3,000 words. The submission date for complete papers is 15 June 2025. There is no registration fee for the conference.

The conference takes place under the aegis of the European Federation of Associations and Centres of Irish Studies (EFACIS) and is supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ireland.

All participants of the conference must be EFACIS members. To become an EFACIS member, please contact the EFACIS coordinator at efaciscoord@efacis.eu. Two Werner Huber Grants to help cover travel and accommodation expenses will be available via EFACIS. More information: https://irishpostgradprague.ff.cuni.cz/werner-huber-grants/.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any further inquiries.

Conference Committee:
Marie Gemrichová, Nathalie Lamprecht, Iqra Nasim, Ondřej Pilný, KláraWitzany Hutková, Andrea Zvoníčková