Impossible Dialogue?: Irish Studies and Utopian Studies

A one-day workshop on 27 March 2009 at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford.

The day will bring together scholars from different disciplines to debate the persistence of utopian impulses in Irish political, social and cultural history. Ireland functions as a case study to question linear models of change from tradition to modernity or postmodernity, or from colonial to postcolonial – one that is particularly relevant given the recent developments in the Irish political and economic landscape. The critical framework of Utopianism allows us to think about the experience of living under any set of conditions, by reflecting upon the desires which those conditions generate and yet leave unfulfilled. Thus the day's workshop is about reflecting on Utopian methodology as the most suited to enable future debates within Irish studies and ultimately postcolonial studies.

Confirmed speakers are: Prof Tom Moylan, Prof Lyman Tower Sargent, Dr Michael Griffin and Dr Virginia Crossman.

For information, please contact:
Dr Eóin Flannery eflannery@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Nicole Pohl NPohl@brookes.ac.uk