A Terrible Beauty is Born: Ireland, 1912 - 1922: A decade of Anniversaries
Our forthcoming conference, with the theme, ‘A Terrible Beauty is Born’ will explore the events of the period 1912 - 1922 in Irish history, a decade of enormous change. It will provide an opportunity to ask critical and ethical questions about revolution, revivals and the violence of the past, the ongoing process of justice, peace and reconciliation in the context of the present day and our vision for a shared future and explore topics such as the Gaelic Revival, The Ulster Covenant, the Women’s Movement and the implications of the changing political scene at that time in Ireland.
Conference schedule;
Registration - 9:30am - 10:00am
Patricia Byrne 10:00am
Women go West to Achill.
In 1912, the remote Achill Island in the west of Ireland was a place to which an extraordinary group of women had come for very different reasons. Throughout the decade of 1912-1922, the lives and activities of these women would reflect the swirling political and social changes sweeping through Ireland.
Break for refreshments 11:00am
Dr. Donal McAnallen 11:15am
"Revolution on the Park and in the Boardroom: “Sport and the Radicalisation of Ireland, 1912-22”.
The transformation of Ireland in this revolutionary decade was both reflected in, and catalysed by, sporting bodies. Donal McAnallen will examine how sporting bodies in Ireland came to be seen as pro-British establishment; and how the Gaelic Athletic Association developed a more subversive streak in the years leading up to the Irish War of Independence.
Break for lunch 12:15pm
Dr. Myrtle Hill 1:45pm
Conflicting Identities: Women in the North of Ireland 1910-22.
Myrtle Hill will explore how contemporary expectations and ideals were challenged by female activists in the (still ongoing) battle for gender equity, highlighting the complexity and richness of women’s experiences and revealing how historical interpretations can produce partial, often competing versions of the truth.
Break for refreshments 2.45pm
Professor Paul Bew 3:00pm
“By any means necessary”: the strange death of liberal Ireland 1912-22".
The phrase “by any means necessary” may be found both in the Ulster Covenant and in the 1918 Sinn Fein election manifesto. It defines an era in which, within mainstream unionism and mainstream nationalism, the appeal to physical force became more and more significant. Paul Bew’s lecture will attempt to reconstruct the dynamics of a turbulent decade in Irish history.
The cost of the event is £15 (£12 conc) which includes lunch and refreshments throughout the day.