ix SYMPOSIUM OF IRISH STUDIES IN SOUTH AMERICA

IX SIMPOSIUM OF IRISH STUDIES IN SOUTH AMERICA
Turn of the Century Irelands
25 - 27 August 2014
Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Venue: Fundação Casa de Rui Barbosa
Rua São Clemente, 134- Botafogo. Rio de Janeiro

About his own end of century, Oscar Wilde stated that "to realize the nineteenth century, one must realize every century that has preceded it and that has contributed to its making" (The Critic as Artist). The same applies for the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries – a retrospective look is natural and necessary to define contemporaneity.

This year's conference theme, "Turn of the Century Irelands", aims at rethinking the last decades of each century in that country, giving every scholar the opportunity to deal with the period chosen for his/her research as each decade has its own personality and state of mind. Moreover, it favours a comparative approach between two turns of centuries. For example, Fins de Siècle: 1890-1990, organized by Asa Briggs and Daniel Snowman could inspire scholars to reflect on specific characteristics and changes taking place.

Among those who have participated as guest speakers are:
- Nicholas Grene (Trinity College Dublin, Irlanda)   
- Ciaran O'Neill (Trinity College Dublin, Irlanda)
- Juan José Delaney (Universidade del Salvador, Argentina)
- Maria Elena Jaime de Pablos (Almeria University, Spain),  ­ 
- Maureen Murphy (Hofstra University, NY).

Guest writer: novelist and playwright Declan Hughes (further information here).

The Ninth Symposium of Irish Studies in South America was hosted and sponsored by Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian Association of Irish Studies (ABEI), the Embassy of Ireland in Brazil, the W.B. Yeats Chair of Irish Studies and the Northern Ireland Bureau. The event took place at the central campus of the university and at Fundação Casa de Rui Barbosa, a museum and cultural centre in Rio de Janeiro (See http://www.casaruibarbosa.gov.br/).

Proposals for individual papers, thematic panels and posters on topics included, but not limited to:
- Turning points and changes
- Continuities and discontinuities
- Comparative perspectives
- Cultural, social and political contexts
- Criticism in motion
- Literary or historical figures
- Cultural translations
- Utopias and dystopias
- Arts and Sciences
- Aesthetic confrontations in literature and arts
- Private and public tensions
- Documents of the self
- History of mentalities
- Representations of the turn of a century through periodicals and newspapers.

Organizers: 
Laura P. Z. Izarra, Munira H. Mutran and Elisa Lima Abrantes

Academic Committee: 
Rosalie Rahal Haddad, Beatriz Kopschitz Bastos, Peter James Harris, Noélia Borges, Luci Colin Lavalle, Gisele Wolkoff, Dominique Santos, Michela Rosa Di Candia.
​
Local Committee: 
Elisa Lima Abrantes - UFRRJ (chair); Anderson Soares Gomes - UFRRJ; Vitor Alevato do Amaral - UFRJ; Vanessa Cianconi Nogueira - UFRRJ; Erick Carvalho – Unirio.

Support by Postgraduate Students: 
Mariana Bolfarine, Patrícia de Aquino Prudente, Camila Franco Batista, Caroline Moreira Eufrasino, Maria do Rosário Casas Coelho, Bruno Ochman Lustoza, Rodrigo Pinto, Adriana Torquete, Alessandra Rigonato, Camila Luly.

To access the Final Programme Click here