Call for Papers: The Great Irish Famine (1845-1851)

  • 2014-06-16T15:23:11+02:00

RHN 63/2014 | Call

Organised by Université Bordeaux Montaigne ( EA 7314 EEE and EA 2958 CEMMC) and Université de Poitiers (EA 3812 MIMMOC) with the collaboration of Université de Pau Pays d’Adour and Université de Tours

5 December 2014, University of Bordeaux, Pessac, France

Deadline: 15 August 2014

 

Day Conference:
The Great Irish Famine
(1845-1851)

The Great Irish Famine is recognized today as the most significant event in modern Irish history. From the first appearance of the potato blight in 1845 to its disappearance in 1849 it is estimated that the country lost about a quarter of its population when a million died and a further million emigrated.

The Famine, its causes, its demographic and migratory consequences for Ireland and the world and the (in)action of the British government are all topics which have become major political, historiographical and memorial issues. Interpretations have varied and given rise to lengthy debates between those adopting an anti-British nationalist position and others proposing revisionist versions of these events. Since the 1990s, many historians have followed in the footsteps of Cormac O'Grada and Christine Kinealy and have tried, with varying renewed historical approaches, to remove the Great Irish Famine from the grip of this two-sided vision of events.

We are delighted to announce that Christine Kinealy will be our keynote speaker at this conference. She is a world renowned specialist on the Famine and the author of several books on this topic. She currently holds a position as Professor of History at the Quinnipiac University (Conn., USA) and she is also the director of Ireland's Great Hunger Institute.

Contributors are invited to send in proposals for this day conference. A non-exhaustive list of topics under consideration includes:

  • The different causes of the famine (demographic, political, agricultural, land policy), the unfolding of events and the actions taken to alleviate the disaster; the consequences of the famine, in different domains
  • Historiography (traditionalist and revisionist), commemoration, memorialisation
  • Agricultural practices, land management, land ownership
  • Laws and social enterprises, the attempts to alleviate suffering and poverty, the Poor Law (1838)
  • Strategies and stakes in British politics and policies
  • The abolition of the Corn Laws, the Tory government of R Peel, his defeat, the Whig government of J Russell
  • The organisation of charity and philanthropy, the consequences
  • Accounts of the famine, eye witnesses and reports, contemporary accounts from travellers, journalists, diaries. Official reports, correspondence. Photography, painting
  • Impact on the Irish psyche (collective and individual), on culture, language and society, on literature and music.
  • Emigration (destinations, consequences in Ireland and in the destination countries)

 

Articles from the conference will be published in an on-line review in March 2015.

You are invited to send a proposal of about 300 words to Moya Jones (moya.jones@u-bordeaux3.fr) and to Philippe Cauvet (cauvetp@hotmail.com) by 15 August 2014. The selection of papers will be completed by 2 September 2014.

Source: events.history.ac.uk