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  • UCDscholarcast aimed at global audience

    Monday, June 15th, 2009

    UCD has launched a new podcast service on Irish cultural topics. There are three series of UCDscholarcast available so far:

    1. The Art of Popular Culture
    2. Archaeologies of Art: Papers from the Sixth World Archaeological Congress
    3. Scholars Off the Page

    The podcasts are recorded in a studio and aimed at academics and others; the series also includes PDF transcripts of the podcasts, to facilitate citation in written academic work. Director PJ Mathews notes the series may be of interest to the Irish abroad.

    Just in time for Bloomsday, the latest podcast is Declan Kiberd, Professor of Anglo-Irish Literature and Drama at UCD, reading the closing chapter of his book “Ulysses and Us: The Art of Everyday Living”.

    Related websites:

    Irish in Britain Seminar: London, May-June 2009

    Monday, May 11th, 2009

    The Irish Studies Centre at London Metropolitan University is hosting their annual “Irish in Britain Seminar Series”.The series is is an informal opportunity for any interested in engaging with current issues and research about the Irish in Britain.

    • Tuesday 26 May, Prof Bronwen Walter, Anglia Ruskin University
      Fictional Irish Presences in English Diaspora Space: a Social Science Exploration
    • Tuesday 2 June, Dr Ann Rossiter
    • “Hidden Histories: The Irish ‘Abortion Trail’ and the Undercover Support Network within the London-Irish Community
    • Wednesday 10 June, Dr Nicole McLennan, London Metropolitan University
      Irish Connections: London’s County Associations
    • Tuesday 16 June, Dr Reg Hall
      Researching the Irish in Britain: Methodological Approaches

    For more information:

    Irish in Britain Seminar Series 2009

    Emigrated between 1975 and 1995? Researcher seeks you

    Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

    I’ve had a request from a graduate student seeking information from Irish people who emigrated to the US between 1975 and 1995.  Here is the information:

    Survey for Irish emigrants to the United States between 1975 and 1995

    Thank you for taking the time to do this survey; it will be an invaluable source for my term paper.

    I am collecting these surveys only for use on my term paper for Alan Kraut’s spring 2009 Immigration and Ethnicity class at American University in Washington D.C. They will not be used for any other purpose and at no point will the name of the respondent be associated with their response. Feel free to skip any question you do not feel comfortable answering, or email for a clarification at elang@gwmail.gwu.edu.

    If at all possible please return your survey to me via email (an attachment, or in the body of the email either is fine) by April 4, 2009.

    Once again thank you very much for taking the time to do this survey

    Emma Lang

    Basic Information

    Age at time of emigration:

    Gender:

    Education level at time of emigration:

    Year of emigration:

    Did you come to the U.S. legally and/or did you obtain a visa either before or after you arrived?

    Number of years spent in the United States (please note here if you have settled permanently in the U.S.):

    Hometown and county in Ireland:

    Destination in the United States (If possible if you moved to a large city please tell me what neighborhood or area):

    If you lived in multiple cities in North America between when you emigrated and 1995 please list them here:

    On average how many times a year did you go back to Ireland (I know this is a complicated question due to the rapidly changing visa policies so you are welcome to give an explanation)

    Your story

    (please feel free to write as much as you want in response to these questions, since I’m not surveying a statistically significant number of folks I really just want your stories so I can understand the what it was like to move from Ireland to the United States during this time period)

    Why did you decide to emigrate and why did you choose the United States as your destination?

    What types of jobs did you work at between your arrival and 1995?

    Did you connect up with family or friends already living in the United States? If so, how long had they been living in U.S.?

    Did you join or participate in events of any Irish organizations such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians or county organizations or other groups (including the church or sports teams)?

    Did you join or participate in events of organizations aimed at new immigrants such as the Irish Immigrant Reform Movement (IIRM) or groups aimed at helping to adjust to live in America?

    How would you describe your relationship with the Irish American Community? If you are still living in the United States has the answer changed?

    Anything else you think I should know or be sure to include in my paper?

    Mystery of immigrants’ mass grave may be solved

    Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

    The mass grave of a group of Irish railroad workers who died in 1832 during a cholera outbreak may have been located at last, thanks to the efforts of researchers in Pennsylvania who have spent six years searching.

    The 57 men had arrived from Derry, Donegal, and Tyrone, hired by fellow Irishman Philip Duffy to build the railway. They were all dead within six weeks, felled by a cholera outbreak – and researchers believe some men may have been murdered. Their families were never notified, and the men would have been forever forgotten had Immaculata University professor William Watson and his historian brother Frank not discovered a mention of the deaths in a file owned by their late grandfather, a former railway worker.

    The men were believed to have been buried somewhere in Duffy’s Cut, an area near Philadelphia, but the exact location of their remains was unknown until a team led by the Walsh brothers and professors at Immaculata University began a search in 2003.

    It wasn’t until last week that the team discovered human remains. Researchers are now hoping to match DNA recovered from the bodies with that of families in Ireland in order to identify the remains and re-bury them in Ireland. They have used ships passenger lists to discover fifteen of the 57 men’s names.

    News of the find has been widely reported in the US.  The men’s story has been told in a film, “The Ghosts of Duffy’s Cut”,  which is available on the Duffy’s Cut project website.

    Related webpages:

    Children and migration: Cork, April 2008

    Monday, January 28th, 2008

    The Marie Curie Migrant Children Research team at the Department of Geography, University College Cork will host “Children and Migration: identities, mobilities, and belonging(s)” from April 9 to 11, 2008.

    Organisers are aiming to provide an integrated and interdisciplinary forum for discussion of recent research and policy developments from a wide range of perspectives, with a common focus on children’s own experiences of and perspectives on migration, diaspora and transnationalism.

    More than 80 papers will be presented by researchers from over 20 countries across a variety of disciplines. Papers, lectures, panel discussions and posters will include topics such as transnational childhoods, children and the asylum system, second generation youth, diversity and education, multilingualism, and children’s rights. The event is funded by a Marie Curie Excellence Grant.

    Keynote speakers will be Katy Gardner of the University of Sussex on “Diasporic childhood: transglobal children in east London”, and Jill Rutter of the UK’s Institute for Public Policy Research on “Changing patterns of child international migration in Europe: challenges for research, public policy and practice”.

    See the conference website.