This interdisciplinary one day workshop addresses the growing interest in issues of citizenship within Ireland. Its focus is on the development of spatial and spatialised understandings of citizenship in the Irish context, and on the ways in which concepts such as belonging, ownership, access, mobility and immigration are understood in relation to ideas of territory and the nation state. The conference will thus be organised around three themes, each of which considers the relationship between citizenship and placed identities. These themes are:
1. Citizenship and governance
2. Citizenship, mobility and access
3. Contested notions of Irish citizenship
The conference will have a limited number of participants, and will be structured around short, invited paper presentations and related workshops. The paper presentations are intended to set an agenda for the workshop discussions that follow, rather than providing comprehensive reviews of the topic in question.
Timetable
The provisional timetable for the day is as follows: (last updated 01.10.04)
| 3rd November 2004 | |
| 10.00 - 10.15 | Opening Reception |
| 10.15 - 10.30 | Introduction: Spaces of citizenship Dr Mary Gilmartin |
| 10.30 - 12.00 | Theme 1: Citizenship and governance 10:30 - 10:45 Dr Tim O’Neill 10:45 - 11:00 Dr Piaras MacEnri 11:00 - 12:00 Workshop |
| 12.00 - 13.00 | Lunch break |
| 13.00 - 14.30 | Theme 2: Citizenship, mobility and access 13:00 - 13:15 Dr Una Crowley 13:15 - 13:30 Dr Rob Kitchin 13:30 - 14:30 Workshop |
| 14.30 - 15.00 | Coffee break |
| 15.00 - 16.30 | Theme 3: Contested notions of Irish citizenship 15:00 - 15:15 Dr Robbie McVeigh 15:15 - 15:30 Dr Alice Feldman 15:30 - 16:30 Workshop |
| 16.30 | Closing reception |
The speakers and presentations
Dr Una Crowley (NIRSA, NUI Maynooth): Paradoxical spaces of citizenship in contemporary Ireland: the case of Irish Travellers
Dr Una Crowley is a IRCHSS postdoctoral fellow and a NIRSA associate at NUI Maynooth. She has recently taught courses in social and cultural geography and in rural geography. Her main research interest is in social and cultural geography with a particular interest in Irish Travellers and the geographies of sexuality.
Dr Alice Feldman (Sociology, UCD): Facing the Other in the Age of Migration: The Shifting Terrain of Citizenship and Belonging in Contemporary Ireland
Dr Alice Feldman is a Lecturer in Sociology in University College Dublin. Her areas of research interest include Identity, Diversity and Citizenship in Ireland & Europe, Social Movements and Civil Society, and Participatory Research Methods and Community Development. Through the Institute for the Study of Social Change in UCD, she is currently involved in a range of research projects that focus on various dynamics associated with contemporary migrations and the ethnic diversification of Irish society.
Dr Mary Gilmartin (Geography, UCD): Spaces of citizenship
Dr Mary Gilmartin is a Lecturer in Geography in University College Dublin with research interests in cultural and political geography.
Dr Rob Kitchin (NIRSA, NUI Maynooth): 'To boldly go where others have been before': Disabled people and citizenship in Ireland
Dr Rob Kitchin is Director of NIRSA at NUI Maynooth. He is a social geographer with particular interests in issues of disability and sexuality. He has published eleven books, numerous articles and bookchapters, and is the managing editor of the international journal, 'Social and Cultural Geography'.
Dr Piaras MacEnri (Irish Centre for Migration Studies, UCC): Immigration, citizenship and governance'
Dr Robbie McVeigh (independent researcher): A Province Once Again: Cherishing the Children of the Nation Unequally
Dr Robbie McVeigh is a Derry-based human rights activist and researcher on racism and sectarianism, equality and human rights; Publications include: Travellers, Refugees and Racism in Tallaght (1998), A Place of Welcome? Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Northern Ireland (2002), Irish Travellers and Nomadism (forthcoming 2004); co-editor, with Ronit Lentin, of Racism and Anti-racism in Ireland (2002). Current research includes work on migrant workers in the south of Ireland and research on Travellers and education in the north.
Dr Tim O'Neill (History, UCD): The legal basis for citizenship in Ireland
Dr Tim O'Neill is an historian and barrister with research interests in poverty and social policy, legal history and property rights.
Target Audience
Participants from a wide range of academic disciplines, from activist and community groups and from governmental and non-governmental organisations are welcome. It is intended that the conference will provide a productive forum for dialogue, and may lead to future conferences on similar or related topics.
Price
Euro 30 for waged attendees; Euro 10 for students.
Payment on arrival, by cash or cheque/bank draft payable to NUI Maynooth