RURAL IRELAND:
IDEALS AND REALITIES IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
A CONFERENCE TO CELEBRATE THE DONATION OF THE MUINTIR NA TÍRE ARCHIVE TO JAMES HARDIMAN LIBRARY, NUI, GALWAY
Siobhán McKenna Theatre, Arts Millenium Building, NUI, Galway
THURSDAY JUNE 7:
9.30 A.M.-10 A.M.: Fáiltiú, tea /coffee.
10 a.m -12 noon: Setting the Scene: Rural Ireland in the Twentieth Century
Mary E. Daly, University College, Dublin.
‘Rural Ireland: a story of survival.’
Peter Moser, Archives of Rural History, Bern.
‘Comparing urban-rural relations in twentieth-century Ireland and Switzerland.’
Lionel Pilkington, National University of Ireland, Galway.
‘Accelerating capitalism in Ireland and re-visioning rural Ireland in the early 1980s.’
12 noon – 1 p.m. sandwich/tea/coffee lunch, at Siobhán McKenna Theatre. Powerpoint exhibition of Muintir na Tíre archive.
1 p.m. – 2.30 p.m: Church, State and Social Change
Brian Casey, University College, Dublin.
‘Bishop Peter Birch and the establishment of the Kilkenny Social Services in the 1970s.’
Bryan Fanning, University College, Dublin.
‘Jeremiah Newman and the decline of Catholic power.’
2.30 p.m. – 3 p.m. Tea/Coffee.
3 p.m- 5 p.m: Muintir na Tíre and Irish Life
Tony Varley, National University of Ireland, Galway.
‘Learning “to live (rather than to die) for Ireland”: Muintir na Tíre’s response to inter-war crisis conditions.’
Tomás Finn, National University of Ireland, Galway.
‘Muintir na Tire’s relationship with church and state, c. 1940s-1960s.’
Eoin Devereux, University of Limerick.
‘Progressive social visionary or social conservative? Re-assessing Canon John Hayes, founder of Muintir na Tire.’
5.30 p.m. -7.30 p.m:
LAUNCH BY PROFESSOR MAURICE MANNING,
CHANCELLOR OF THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND,
OF THE MUINTIR NA TÍRE ARCHIVE.
AULA MAXIMA LOWER, QUADRANGLE, NUI, GALWAY.
MR MICHAEL SWEENEY, PRESIDENT OF MUINTIR NA TÍRE,
WILL ALSO SPEAK.
FRIDAY JUNE 8:
9.30 a.m.-11.30 a.m: Women, Social Life and Rural Settlement
Méabh Ní Fhuartháin, National University of Ireland, Galway.
‘Parish halls and dance halls, transnational and social: built spaces in the Irish landscape, 1930-1960.’
Caitriona Clear, National University of Ireland, Galway.
‘Education, entertainment, expectations and escape: rural women leaving and coming back to the land, c.1930s-1960s.’
Mary Cawley, National University of Ireland, Galway.
‘Rural outmigration and return: limitations and attractions of the countryside.’
11.30 a.m.-12 Noon: Tea/Coffee.
12 noon – 1.30 p.m: Conceptualising Rural Ireland
Anne Byrne, National University of Ireland, Galway.
‘The gift of archives: Arensberg, Kimball and Cresswell, anthropologists of rural lives in early twentieth-century Ireland.’
Peter Murray, Maynooth University.
‘The rural dimensions of state planning in the 1960s.’
1.30 p.m.-1.45 p.m. Slán agus beannacht: valedictory words.
For queries, please contact caitriona.clear@nuigalway.ie, tomas.finn@nuigalway.ie or tony.varley@nuigalway.ie
The conference is free and is supported by Galway University Foundation, the James Hardiman Library and the Registrar’s Office, NUI, Galway.
Rural Ireland 