Tuesday, March 31, 2015

'Belonging' -Summer School on the Arts and Human Rights, NUI Galway, 9-11 July 2015

Galway International Summer School
on the Arts and Human Rights


“Belonging”


Exploring the intersection between the arts and human rights


The first Galway International Summer School on the Arts and Human Rights will take place from 9–11 July 2015 in National University of Ireland, Galway.  Co-directed by Prof. Michael O’Flaherty, Director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights and Dominique Bouchard, Curator at the Hunt Museum, it will bring together arts practitioners with human rights activists and scholars to explore their shared space.  Events will take the form of panel discussions, exhibitions and performances. 
 
The global theme for 2015 will be “Belonging”.  The Summer School will consist of keynote addresses, plenary discussions, and themed discussions on three parallel tracks – literature and human rights; the visual arts and human rights; and music and human rights.  The opening speaker will be the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Cultural Rights, Farida Shaheed.


For further information, navigate the tabs on the left hand side, or contact us through our contact page or atartsandhumanrights@gmail.com.  You can follow us on Twitter @AHRGalway for further updates.
The summer School is also featured on the Irish Centre for Human Rights Facebook page.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Ag Filleadh ar an Duchas: Jean Ritchie Memorial Lecture

Tomorrow sees the Jean Ritchie Inaugural Lecture delivered by Silas House at The Cube, Aras na Mac Leinn, NUI Galway, as part of the University's Arts in Action series, and in association with the James Hardiman Library. The lecture will focus on the connections between Appalachia and Ireland and on the life, work and music of acclaimed "Mother of Folk" Jean Ritchie. Silas will look at the music of Jean and show the way Irish immigrants in America managed to preserve their own culture while settling a new frontier in the lush green hills of Appalachia, a place that reminded them of home. While giving an overview of Ritchie's life and her importance to international folk music, he will also spend time discussing her work in Ireland during the 1950s, her efforts to preserve old ballads and keep them in the public consciousness, as well as making the case for the deep relationship between the Irish and the Appalachian people that survives to this day. House will bring Appalachian Kentucky to NUI Galway and will use music, prose and images to make his case.
Silas House is the best selling author of five novels and three plays as well as a highly respected voice among the Appalachian people. His work has appeared regularly in the "New York TImes", "Newsday", "Oxford American", "Sojourners" and many other publications. He is the winner of many honours including the E.B. White Award, the Intellectual Freedom Award, Appalachian Writer of the Year, Appalachian Novel of the Year and others. He is a former commentator for NPR's "All Thigns Considered" and is one of Nashville's most in demand music writers.
Jean Ritchie and George Pickow had come to Ireland in late 1952, as part of Jean's fullbright scholarship research into ballads from the British Isles and their influence in America. Her professor in University College London put her in contact with Seamus Ennis and others, and they in turn introduced her to a number of singers, notably Bess Cronin in Lios Bui Kilnamatra, County Cork, and Sarah Makem in Market Hill, Keady, County Armagh.
 
At the same time Jean's husband George, a freelance photographer, was doing assignments on Ireland, and as they travelled around the country he took many photographs of social, cultural and general interest. These photographs are available for browsing online at http://archives.library.nuigalway.ie:8080/Pickow/index.jsp
Jean and George visited a number of locations in Ireland throughout 1952/3 including Macroom, the Aran Islands, Dublin, Armagh and Downpatrick. Much of Jean's work on folk music in Ireland and Britain informed her work when she went back to work on Appalachian music, which she had grown up imbued in through her family, and highlights the many links between the folk traditions between the two areas.

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Digital Seminar Series at the Hardiman Building, Spring 2015


The Digital Scholarship Seminar is a seminar for researchers working in any branch of the arts and humanities who are engaged in the creation and/or exploitation of digital resources in the course of their research. The aims of the seminar are:


Programme for Spring 2015

Tuesday 3 March, 12–2pm, Hardiman Building G010 

Marie Boran (James Hardiman Library, NUI Galway)
The Irish Landed Estates Database: Signpost or Destination?

Niall McSweeney & Aisling Keane (James Hardiman Library, NUI Galway)
Challenges of Applying Metadata to Digital Collections


Thursday 26 March, 5–6pm, Hardiman Building G011

Anthony Mandal (Cardiff University)
Victorian Demons and Electric Imps


Tuesday 14 April (time & venue TBC)

Gabriel Bodard (King’s College London)
Standards for Networking Ancient Prosopographies: Data and Relations in Greco-Roman Names (SNAP:DRGN)


Thursday 30 April, 5–6pm, Hardiman Building G010

Franck Cinato (Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Paris)
Collaborative Digital Editing: Experience from the Liber Glossarum Project

Thursday 28 May, 12–2pm, Hardiman Building G010


Brad Pasanek (University of Virginia)
Poetic Diction: Tokens and Change

Lunchtime seminars are followed by discussion over a light lunch.


Connect  with the Series:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/nuigdss

Mailing list: nuig-dss+subscribe@googlegroups.com

Contact

Pádraic Moran (Classics): padraic.moran@nuigalway.ie
Justin Tonra (English): justin.tonra@nuigalway.ie

Monday, March 2, 2015

Rugby on Campus - Success in Past and Present

You might be forgiven for being slightly hoarse today after cheering on Ireland in their 6 Nations victory over the weekend. Here on campus we have an extra reason to be proud as NUI Galway's Robbie Henshaw delivered not only a Man of the Match performance but also his first international try. To do so against a formidable England team in such a bruising encounter in the Aviva Stadium is an incredible achievement. Well done Robbie.

A look back in the archives of NUI Galway we can see a long rugby tradition. As far back as 1904, the then Queen's College Galway were active on the rugby field. In the Rugby notes of the student magazine of 1904, the anonymous author describes some of the Galway players. "Dee at full back is as cool and resourceful as ever . . ."; "The wings are all fairly good: Waller and Rentoul are both all-round players . . ."

The poem below, also published in the 1904 student magazine is an 'ode to rugby':




The image below is of Cork student Harry Jack attempting a penalty kick facing a rather large crowd at a Dudley Cup game held in Galway. The Dudley Cup in rugby was a big event for the author as he writes of his own memories as a player: "Rugby! Even as I write and gaze upon the word, a thousand regretful thoughts flash through my mind . . .I might dream of the deafening cheers with which an admiring and ecstatic crowd were wont to greet the entry into a football arena of the rugby team of the past."



The notes detail the Dudley Cup game between Galway and Belfast colleges in 1913 and in particular the performance of Cork player Harry Jack:

" . . .We were all agog with excitement to witness a trial of science between Wallace and Harry Jack, the famous Cork stand-off half. Jack plays, as was only to be expected, a neat and sound game, his handling of the ball striking us as being very pretty, while the wisdom and length of his kicking were a revelation to those who had an opportunity of feasting their eyes upon the execution of his powers.

The final game of the competition came down to Galway and Belfast and is pictured below:


While UCG were not successful in that particular Dudley Cup, further success would come to campus in Galway, not just in the Dudley Cup but in the Connacht Senior Cup, as in the images below. If anyone can identify any members do leave a comment.




Back in 2015, lets hope Robbie Henshaw and the rest of the Irish team can continue this great run of success and have more silverware back on campus in Galway!

To see any of these historic student magazines of NUI Galway or other related material please consult the Archives and Special Collections service at the James Hardiman Library:
http://www.library.nuigalway.ie/collections/archives/