1916 in Context

1916 in Context, organised by the School of History & Geography at DCU’s St Patrick’s Campus, will see experts from across the country explain and illustrate the key political, cultural and military developments. This public symposium will make accessible to a general audience scholarship of the various aspects of life in Ireland a century ago.  Invited speakers (listed below) will explain the key political, cultural and military developments.  

09.30 Welcome by Professor Dáire Keogh

09:40 Session 1:  The Political & Influences

• Dermot Meleady (Independent scholar) ‘Some tragic fatality’: How 1916 broke Redmond and his party

• Dr Mel Farrell (DCU) ‘We won’t have Home Rule’: Irish Unionism in context

• Dr Úna Ní Bhroiméil (Mary Immaculate College, UL)  ‘Supported by her exiled children in America’ – the United States and the Rising

• Dr Gearóid Barry (NUI Galway) Challenging empires at war: 1916 in international context

11:40 Session 2: New Directions & Influences

• Dr Leeann Lane (DCU) Transgressing gender roles: women and the 1916 rebellion

• Dr Regina Uí Chollatáin (UCD) Revolution and revival: the Gaelic League and the 1916 Rising

• Dr Eugene McNulty (DCU) The long gestation?: the politics of the literary revival

• Professor Michael Laffan (UCD) Sinn Féin and radical nationalism

14:15 Session 3:  Military Context

• Dr Marnie Hay (DCU) Na Fianna Éireann and the Easter Rising

• Dr Brian Hanley (Independent scholar) Labour and Easter Week

• Dr Daithí Ó Corráin (DCU) ‘The sooner we are past the stage of oratory and poetry the better’:  the Irish Volunteers from the split to the Rising

• Dr Pat McCarthy (Military History Society of Ireland) The British army in Ireland, 1914-1916

15:45 Closing Session:  Impact and legacy of 1916

 Dr Martin Mansergh 1916 - Seizing the opportunity to lay a new foundation

16:30 Close of symposium

CONTRIBUTORS

• DR GEARÓID BARRY is a lecturer in modern European history at NUI Galway, whose research interests include the First World War and pacifism. Author of The disarmament of hatred (2012), a study of French Catholic pacifist Marc Sangnier, he is also co-editor of the forthcoming Small nations and colonial peripheries in World War I (2016).

• DR MEL FARRELL was awarded a Ph.D. in 2012 for an IRCHSS-funded thesis which examined the organization and policy of the Cumann na nGaedheal party, 1923-33. He has published various articles on Cumann na nGaedheal’s local organization and has co-edited with Ciara Meehan and Jason Knirck A formative decade: Ireland in the 1920s (2015).

• DR BRIAN HANLEY is a historian and author who has written widely on Irish republicanism and socialism. His books include The IRA, 1926-1936 (2002), The lost revolution: the story of the Official IRA and the Workers’ Party (2009) and The IRA: a documentary history, 1916-2005 (2010)

• DR MARNIE HAY is a lecturer in the School of History & Geography, DCU. She is the author of Bulmer Hobson and the nationalist movement in twentieth-century Ireland (2009) and has published many articles on Irish nationalist youth culture in the early twentieth century.

• PROFESSOR MICHAEL LAFFAN taught in UCD for over three decades and served in various positions, including as head of the School of History and Archives, before retiring in 2010. He has published widely on modern Irish history and his writings include: The partition of Ireland (1983), The resurrection of Ireland: the Sinn Féin party, 1916-23 (1999) and Judging W. T. Cosgrave (2014).

• DR LEEANN LANE is a lecturer in the School of History & Geography, DCU. She is a member of the Expert Advisory Group on Centenaries. She is author of Rosamond Jacob: third person singular (2010).

• DR MARTIN MANSERGH is vice-chairman of the Expert Advisory Group on Centenaries. A former TD and Minister of State, and Northern Ireland advisor to the Taoiseach, he is the author of The legacy of history for making peace in Ireland (2003).

• DR PAT MCCARTHY graduated from UCD with a Ph.D. and an MBA. He has published extensively in the Irish Sword and in Decies. He is the author of The Irish Revolution, 1913-23: Waterford (2015).

• DR EUGENE MCNULTY is a senior lecturer in the School of English, DCU.  His work mainly concerns the nature of Irish performance in its social and political contexts. He is the author of The Ulster Literary Theatre and the Northern revival (2008) and co-editor of, amongst others, The Collected Plays of Patrick Pearse (2013), The Theatre of Marie Jones (2015) and the forthcoming Patrick Pearse and the Theatre (2016).

• DERMOT MELEADY is the author of Redmond: the Parnellite (2008) and John Redmond: the national leader (2014).

• DR ÚNA NÍ BHROIMÉIL lectures in American history at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick.  She earned her Ph.D. at Lehigh University, Pennsylvania, and has published on Irish identity in the United States, the Irish American press, the formation of female Catholic teachers and using visual methods in historical research.

• DR DAITHÍ Ó CORRÁIN is a lecturer in the School of History & Geography, DCU. His research interests include the aftermath of the 1916 Rising, the Irish Revolution, Irish political violence, and twentieth-century ecclesiastical history. He is the author of Rendering to God and Caesar: the Irish Churches and the two states in Ireland, 1949-73 (2006) and The Dead of the Irish Revolution, 1916-21 (forthcoming, with Eunan O’Halpin). He is co-editor of The Irish Revolution, 1912-23 monograph series of county histories published by Four Courts Press, and is currently completing The Irish Volunteers, 1913-1919:  a history.

• DR REGINA UÍ CHOLLATÁIN is a senior lecturer and the Head of the School of Irish, Celtic Studies and Folklore in UCD. Her main areas of research are the Irish language and cultural revival and Irish language media. She has published extensively on both topics in books and articles. She is a co-editor of the forthcoming Litríocht na Gaeilge ar fud an Domhain – a comprehensive overview of Irish language literature in a global context.