posted May 11, 2011, 9:24 PM by Leslie Murdock
[
updated May 11, 2011, 9:27 PM
]
The Irish Diaspora:
Irish Visitors, Irish Émigrés, and Irish-Americans
William
M. Chace
Professor Emeritus,
Stanford University
Sunday,
May 22nd, 4pm
United Irish
Cultural Center, 2700 45th Avenue, San Francisco
The
Irish Literary & Historical Society is pleased to present as guest speaker William M. Chace, Emeritus
Professor of English at Stanford University, at
our meeting on Sunday May 22, at 4:00PM.
While everyone
knows about the massive migration, over the years, of the Irish people to America,
and while everyone knows about the ways in which the demographic realities of
this continent have been shaped by that migration, questions abound:
- The
Irish come, but few return. Why?
- More
Irish women than men have immigrated. Why?
- Today,
as in the past, Irish writers have strongly given shape and definition to
“English literature” but many of those writers, as well as other Irish artists,
have chosen to live abroad and not in their native land. Why?
- If
language defines the culture of a country, what is the fate of Irish as a
language in Ireland? And has that language been involved as part of the
Irish Diaspora?
In
addition to serving as Emeritus
Professor of English at Stanford University, Dr. Chace is also the former
president of Wesleyan University and Emory University. He is a James
Joyce scholar and teaches courses on Joyce, W. B. Yeats and other Irish
writers. This
event is free for ILHS members, $5 suggested donation for visitors.
Tony Bucher
President
www.ILHSsf.org
The Irish
Literary & Historical Society of the SF Bay Area is a 501(c)(3 non-profit Tax ID 26-2921516
Keening
and the Merry Wake:
Irish Rituals of lament
Mary
McLaughlin,
Musican and scholar
Sunday,
May 1st, 4pm (New date)
United
Irish Cultural Center, 2700 45th Avenue, San Francisco
The Irish Literary and Historical
Society welcomes scholar and musician Mary McLaughlin on Sunday May 1st, at
4:00PM. Ms. McLaughlin will focus on a
topic with deep roots in ancient Ireland: the rituals of lament, and
specifically keening. Keening has been in practice from the very early times of
the Irish people, is descended from sacred songs of the distant past, and has
evolved in sometimes uneasy co-existence with Christian rituals through the
years. To McLaughlin, the rosary and keening represent the perfect
synthesis of Christian and pagan culture.
Actual records of early Irish rituals and song are non-existent, so
historians like McLaughlin have had to make deductions from the first accounts
available, such as those penned by English visitors to the Irish countryside in
the 18th Century, and much later by the Irish Folklore Commission of the
1930s.
McLaughlin is a singer-songwriter
who is steeped in the Gaelic song tradition of Ireland. She records,
performs and teaches workshops in singing skills, performance technique and
Gaelic song and culture. Today she directs the Cor Aingli, a Gaelic language
Community Choir in Santa Cruz. During
the latter years of her education she pursued the academic study of music and
ritual, and focused her Master’s thesis on Irish ritual chants and song. This event
is free for ILHS members, $5 suggested donation for visitors, also the UICC
restaurant is open Sunday evening for dinner, reservations recommended.
Tony Bucher
President
Save
the Date: Sunday May 22nd, 4pm,
Guest Speaker Bill Chace Ph.D., Stanford University; The Irish Diaspora: Irish Visitors, Irish Emigres, and the Irish-Americans
February 25, 2011 THE IRISH IN THE 1930s: BUILDING THE NATION Dr. Emilie Pine Lecturer in Drama, University College Dublin Friday, February 25, 2011, 7:30 p.m. United Irish Cultural Center 2700 45th Avenue, San Francisco
The
Irish Literary & Historical Society is pleased to welcome Dr.
Emilie Pine, Lecturer in Drama, University College Dublin, and Visiting
Irish Fulbright Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr.
Pine will speak on the subject of her current research, The Irish in
the 1930s, a decade when the new State was busy building itself both
ideologically and physically. Through considering the built environment
alongside the social and political culture, she believes, we can
understand Ireland—and the Irish—in this period more clearly and deeply
than before.
Dr. Pine has published widely on Irish theatre and
film, regularly reviews for Irish Theatre Magazine, and has contributed
essays to various collections, including Irish Cultural Memory (2009)
and Ireland in Focus: Film, Photography and Popular Culture (2009). Her
book The Politics of Irish Memory: Performing Remembrance in
Contemporary Irish Culture was published in November 2010 by Palgrave
Macmillan. She is Assistant Editor of the Irish University Review.
Please
join us in welcoming Dr. Pine as guest speaker on February 25th. Her
presentation will be followed by a Q&A and a social with coffee,
tea, and traditional Irish breads. |
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