As well as the usual summary of School

achievements, this newsletter is dominated by the

shadow of bereavement. Ros Dixon’s death in

November came as a shocking reminder of how

much our wellbeing in all aspects of the Univer-

sity depends on our close interaction with each

other. Ros was a wonderful colleague and a

dedicated and professional teacher; she was an

active member of the School’s Teaching and

Learning Committee as well as a former winner of

the President’s Award for Teaching. In the

Department of English, Ros was a dynamic force

involved in all drama and theatre initiatives from

the BA Connect in Theatre and Performance (for

which she was Course Director) to the MA in

Drama and Theatre Studies. Her office hours were

always well known because of the line of students

in the corridor waiting to see her, and she inspired

a great many students to follow theatre as a career.

When Ros died, there was (and there still is) a terri-

ble sense of absence in the School. If there is any-

thing to be learnt from this experience it is that we

need to look after each other and to work together

as much as possible in a spirit of collective solidarity

and agreement.

Collegiality by

Dr Lionel Pilkington

N U I G A L W A Y — S C H O O L O F H U M A N I T I E S

December 2010

Issue 8

Humanities Update Inside this issue:

Druid Partnership with NUI Galway

2

Humboldt Felloship Award for Historian

4

Creative Writing student wins award

5

New Sean-Nós Singer in Residence appointed

8

And lots more!

Mourning the death of a beloved colleague…. by

Professor Sean Ryder

Colleagues and students have been

mourning the tragic death of our beloved

colleague Ros Dixon on 13 November. As so

many people have testified over the past few

weeks, Ros was many things to many

people: an inspiring teacher, a warm friend, a

razorsharp critic, a loyal colleague, a loving

partner, a joy to be with. What she achieved as

an academic will be vivid for years to come in the work

and lives of the scores of theatre and performance students whom she

challenged, guided and touched — and in the affection which she universally

inspired. Her loss to us, to our students and to the university is painful and

profound. We will have the opportunity in the new year to share our memories

and honour Ros with a commemorative event on campus, along with partner Liz

and Ros's family. Tribute

Ros working with some Drama students

(Right background)

Ros Dixon: born May 6th, 1967;

died November 13th,

2010

NUI Galway and Druid launched an ambitious new three-year partnership this December. The partnership, which will run for three years, will involve a range of exciting innovations. Staff at NUI Galway will contribute to the development of Druid’s next major theatre event (to be produced in 2012/13) while Druid, in turn, will develop a range of practice-led workshops and seminars including a series of Master classes for BA and MA students. In addition, a Druid Director-in-Residence will be appointed, with the task of running masterclasses in direction for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Druid’s Theatre will also be made available for student productions – notably in March 2011 when the NUIG DramSoc will host the Irish Student Drama Awards.

Druid was founded in 1975 by Marie Mullen, Garry Hynes, and Mick Lally - three graduates of NUI Galway (or UCG as it was then). Since that time, the company has engaged in a range of informal collaborations and partnerships with members of the university community. The new partnership will formalise that relationship and allow it to develop into new areas. As part of that relationship, Garry Hynes has been appointed Adjunct Professor of Drama and Theatre Studies at NUI Galway.

The partnership was launched at Druid’s theatre on 13 December. The event was attended by over

150 people, and was addressed by Professor James Browne and Garry Hynes. Emer McHugh and

Kate Murray, two students of the BA Connect in Theatre and Performance

programme, joined Marie Mullen to perform an excerpt from Tom Murphy’s Bailegangaire.

Page 2

Humanities Update

Dr Garry Hynes (L) and President Dr James J Browne (R) at

the announcement of the Druid, NUI Galway Partnership

LAUNCH OF NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH DRUID

Page 3

Issue 8

Purchasing Teams will be 

set up in each of the  

Colleges with a nominated 

representative from each 

School.    The purpose of 

these teams is to provide a 

2‐way – channel of  

information: from  

Procurement into each  

College and for each School 

to be in a position to  

channel information back to 

Procurement.  The  

representative for our 

School is Karen Walsh.  

For your information….

The new self service expenses claims 

system is now in place.  Everyone 

should submit future claims online 

and the manual system will be phased 

out so it is important that all  

members familiarise themselves with 

the new procedure.  Full information 

is available ISS website. 

A new DVD release, GAA

GOLD: All Ireland Hurling

Final Highlights

1948-1959, features

work by Huston

School of Film &

Digital Media

lecturer Dr. Seán

Crosson. As part of

his ongoing

research into sport

and film in Ireland

and internationally,

Dr. Crosson has

written extensive

liner notes on these

films included with

the DVD. The compilation

features rare footage of

some of the greatest

players ever to lift the

camán, including John

Keane (Waterford), Jimmy

Doyle (Tipperary), the

Rackard brothers

(Wexford), Eddie Keher

(Kilkenny), Joe Salmon

(Galway), and Cork’s

greatest, Christy Ring.

The films represent the fruits of the

first sustained period of

indigenous filming of gaelic games

in Ireland and provided the first

informed and complex depictions

of these sports,

including in the commentary by

renowned broadcaster Michael

O’Hehir. Dr. Crosson notes “The

footage of the games may com-

pare somewhat poorly with today’s

sophisticated televisual coverage

of hurling with its various camera

angles and

instant replays of crucial

moments.

However, one

must remember

that these are

some of the

earliest, at times

admittedly

faltering,

indigenous

attempts to

capture the

fastest field sport

in the world and

were a

necessary step

in the evolution of sports’ filming

in Ireland. Despite their

limitations, these films capture

some of the greatest players

and teams ever to play the

game of hurling and provide us

with fascinating insights into the

development of these games as

well as Irish society as a whole

in the post war period.”

Congratuations to Dr Róisín Healy,

History who has recently been

awarded the Berlin

Humboldt Research Fellowship for

experienced researchers.

New DVD, GAA GOLD: All Ireland Hurling Final Highlights 1948-1959, features research of Huston School academic

Humboldt Fellowship awarded to Dr Róisín Healy

Page 4

Humanities Update

Cathy Hogan, a third-year student on the BA with Creative Writing Programme, has won the prestigious Award for Best Fiction, an annual prize adjudicated by the Graham Greene Birthplace Trust. Cathy was presented with her award at this year’s Graham Greene Festival at Berkhamstead in October, and she recounts the experience:

‘In 2009, our programme director Dr John Kenny informed us about the Graham Greene International Festival which was calling for submissions of works of fiction for their creative writing competition. The starting point for all submitted stories had to be: A whistle blew, and the train trembled into movement. This was not my usual area of writing but we had done a full semester of fiction

practice on the course so I gave it a go and sent off a piece. Then in August, while driving from Kilkenny to Spain for my combined Third-Year Creative Writing/Erasmus year, I was visiting Rennes when I received an email congratulating me on winning the GGBT Best Fiction Writer Award. This is my first writing award and so I was thrilled with the news! Winners were invited to attend the awards ceremony in Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire, where Greene was born (he was educated at Berkhamsted School, founded in 1541, where his father was headmaster). As much as I wanted to go, I didn’t know if it would be possible to make it from Cádiz within a week of beginning my academic year. But I decided to go for the full experience and I arrived in Berkhamsted for the start of a packed programme of inspiring

lectures, film screenings and workshops. Everyone involved was incredibly lovely, and I met lots of fascinating people who shared my passion for writ-ing. I made many new friends and contacts in the writing world and I hope to make it back to Berkhamsted and the Greene Festival in 2011!’

McGahern Yearbook, volume 3,

edited by John Kenny, was

launched by Professor Sean Ryder

during the John McGahern

Seminar .

Directed by John Kenny, this

event took place in County

Leitrim during the last ten

days of July. The event was

officially launched by the

University President, Dr

James Browne. The John

BA Creative Writing student wins at Graham Greene International Festival

Page 5

Issue 8

Cathy Hogan with Dermot Gilvary, Director of the Graham

Greene Festival (left), and Colin Garrett, Festival Secretary (right)

Fourth John McGahern International Seminar

& Summer School

Can sport tell us who we are, where we come from, and even where we may be going? A new book by researchers at NUI Galway provides strong evidence that it can. And, just as recent developments have shown in the economic sphere, Europe is a big part of our sporting past, present and future.

Sport, Representation and Evolving Identities in Europe examines, among other areas, the media construction of former Irish international Roy Keane in the mid-1990s to mid-2000s economic boom. The relevant chapter, by Marcus Free of Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, argues that the Manchester United star and current Ipswich manager was the literal embodiment of Celtic Tiger Ireland.

Free’s essay is just one of fifteen in a new collection edited by Philip Dine, Senior Lecturer in French and Seán Crosson, Programme Director of the MA in Film Studies in the Huston School of Film & Digital Media.

Sport Representation and Evolving Identities in Europe opens with a foreword by Paddy Agnew, Rome correspondent of the Irish Times. The book then looks at the role sport has played in the evolution of various regional, national and international identities across Europe. Also examining the Irish experience, Alan Bairner explores the life stories of

soccer players from a Catholic background who have represented Northern Ireland in international competition, including Pat Jennings, Martin O’Neill and Neil Lennon. This contribution particularly considers the link between the new political arrangements in the North and the possible emergence of a

more widely shared sense of Northern Irishness.

Other essays in the volume look at the role that sport has played in countries across Europe, including France, Greece, Spain, Germany, England, Italy and Hungary, as well as exploring international governing bodies such as

UEFA, which have significantly influenced the development of sport across the continent. The sports featured range from boxing to association football and athletics, including a study of the impact of the Olympic Games on Greek national identity by Eleni Theodoraki, a member of the Athens 2004 Organising Committee.

Among the contributors are James Riordan, former professional footballer, Russian scholar and author of the bestselling Comrade Jim: the Spy who played for Spartak (Fourth Estate, 2008), who examines sport and politics in Russia and the former Soviet Union; eminent European sports specialist, Arnd Krüger,

ROY KEANE - ‘LITERAL EMBODIMENT OF CELTIC TIGER?’

“Sport,

Representation and

Evolving Identities

in Europe

examines, among

other areas, the

media

construction of

former Irish

international Roy

Keane in the mid-

1990s to mid-

2000s economic

boom.”

Page 6

Humanities Update

who looks at sport and identity in Germany since reunification; and Trinity College’s very own ‘boxing professor’, David Scott, who traces the relation between boxing and masculinity from the later nineteenth century to the present day, focusing particularly on textual and visual representation.

Sport, Representation and Evolving Identities in Europe will be launched in the Huston School of Film & Digital Media by Professor Mike Cronin, co-author of The GAA: A People's History (The Collins Press, 2009) and Academic Director, Boston College-Ireland on Thursday, January 20th, 2011 at 2.30pm. The launch will be preceded by a lecture by Professor Cronin entitled

“Making history into documentary: Aonach Tailteann and TG4”.

For further information

please contact Philip Dine

on 091-492391, email:

philip.dine@nuigalway.ie

or Seán Crosson on 091

495687, email:

sean.crosson@nuigalway.ie

The lecture focused on the role Brendan Duddy played as a secret key intermediary between the British Government and the IRA during the height of the conflict in Northern Ireland, and follows the Brendan Duddy interview held at the American Conference for Irish Studies in association with the Galway Conference of Irish Studies at NUI Galway in June 2009.

The organisers were especially delighted that Larry and Shauna Duddy, Brendan’s son and daughter, came down from Derry to attend the lecture and generously gave their

The Centre for Irish Studies hosted a public lecture delivered by Dr Niall Ó Dochartaigh entitled, ‘Making Peace in Secret: Evidence from the Brendan Duddy Papers at NUI Galway’, on Wednesday 10 November 2010.

This public lecture was based on the archive of personal papers of Brendan Duddy, which were deposited at NUI Galway in 2009 as a result of a relationship between Dr Niall Ó Dochartaigh, Lecturer in Political Science and Sociology at NUI Galway, and Brendan Duddy.

time to answer questions from the general audience at the end of the evening. Dr Ó Dochartaigh stressed the (cont p 8)

ROY KEANE - ‘LITERAL EMBODIMENT OF CELTIC TIGER?’ Contiinued from page 6

‘Making Peace in Secret: Evidence from the Brendan Duddy Papers at NUI Galway’, by Dr Niall Ó Dochartaigh

PUBLIC LECTURE AT CENTRE FOR IRISH STUDIES

Page 7

Issue 8

Mr Brendan Duddy

importance of the Duddy Papers in this period as he argued that ‘the negotiating relationship and the struggles for advantage and information that

took place at this intersection are vital to understanding the

process by which peace was finally made in Ireland’

The Duddy Papers include notes, documents and previously unseen diaries of negotiation. The papers are a large

personal archive of great historical significance to all on the island of Ireland and beyond, and make a significant contribution to the archival collections at the James Hardiman Library, NUI Galway.

‘Making Peace in Secret: Evidence from the Brendan Duddy Papers at NUI Galway’

(Continued from page 7)

NEW SEAN-NÓS SINGER IN RESIDENCE AT CENTRE FOR IRISH STUDIES

Page 8

Humanities Update

NUI Galway is delighted

to announce the

appointment of Treasa

Ní Mhiolláin as Sean-

nós Singer in Residence

at the Centre for Irish

Studies for 2011. The

launch to formally

announce the award of

the residency to Treasa

this year was held at the

Centre for Irish Studies

on 9 November 2010,

and the Centre was

delighted to have been a

temporary ‘home’ for

Muintir Oileáin Árann for

what was a most

memorable evening of

song, dance, tae agus

comhrá.

The Aran Islands

have been known as

a repository of Gaelic

song and music since

George Petrie and

Eugene O’Curry’s

famous collecting

trip there in 1857.

Other visitors

followed and

confirmed Aran’s

peerless status through

their experience of

music and song there.

Treasa Ní Mhiolláin is heir

to that rich seam of

traditional song, a sean-nós

singer who has achieved an

international reputation

over the years.

Treasa has twice won

the coveted ‘Corn Uí

Riada’ award, the main

prize for sean-nós

singing at Oireachtas na

Gaeilge (1972, 1979),

and her distinctive

singing was featured in

Bob Quinn’s television

series Atlantean. In

1996, she received the

prestigious Sean-nós

Cois Life award for her

efforts in promoting and

encouraging sean-nós

singing.

Since returning to Aran

permanently, Treasa has

taught many younger

singers the art of

traditional Gaelic song,

numbering Macdara

Ó Conaola and the

Pictured (L—R) Dr Gearóid Denvir, NUI

Galway, Pádraig Ó hAoláin,

Údarás na Gaeltachta,

Treasa Ní Mhiolláin, Dr

Nessa Cronin, Centre for

Irish Studies and Dr Lillis

Ó Laoire, NUI Galway.

Mulkerrins brothers

among her students. She

has continued to tour and

perform internationally

over the years, having

given concerts and taught

in Germany, Switzerland

and Sardinia among other

countries.

During the period of her

residency, Treasa will

participate in a series of

performances and

workshops at the Centre

for Irish Studies and other

venues throughout

Connemara and the Aran

Islands. She will also make

archival recordings of her

own work and that of other

singers.

This project is funded by

Ealaín na

Gaeltachta,

Údarás na

Gaeltachta and

An Chomhairle

Ealaíon in

association with the

Centre for Irish Studies at

NUI, Galway.

NEW SEAN-NÓS SINGER IN RESIDENCE AT CENTRE FOR IRISH STUDIES

(cont from page 8)

Page 9

Issue 8

Staff and students of the ‘Globalisation,

Empire and Culture’ strand of ‘Texts,

Contexts, Cultures’ (PRTLI4) enjoyed a

week-long workshop of research presenta-

tions and commentaries, as well as seminar

papers and public lectures from visiting

scholars

Professor Megan Armstrong (McMaster

University) and Dominique Deslandres

(University of Montreal) between 29th

November and 3rd December.

Globalisation, Empire and Culture Workshops

The School’s

medievalists and

interested early modernists

officially launched student &

staff exchange links between

the Medieval Institute of

Western Michigan University

(WMU) and NUI Galway’s

interdisciplinary MA in

Medieval Studies and CAMPs

(Centre for Antique,

Medieval & Pre-Modern

Studies), as coordinated by

Kim LoPrete (History).

In November 2010, Ben

Ambler (a Medieval Studies

MA student at WMU)

presented a paper, ‘Reading

the Writing on the Walls:

Gaze and Ekphrastic

Prescription towards a

Spiritual Household’ at

IMBAS, Galway’s

interdisciplinary postgraduate

medieval conference

(organized by Sarah McGann,

History, Trish Ní Mhaoileoin,

Old & Middle Irish, &

Francesca Bezzone, BA

English).

In December 2010, Professor

James M. Murray, author

most recently of Bruges,

Cradle of Capitalism, 1280–

1390 (Cambridge, 2005), lent

his expertise as Director of

WMU’s Medieval Institute to

assist in the strategic planning

of CAMPs, in a visit funded

by NUI Galway’s Strategic

Initiatives Scheme of the

Research Support Fund. He

also presented a Masterclass

on ‘Late Medieval and Early

Modern Economic History,

with Special Reference to

Bruges’.

Professor Murray’s visit

follows Dr LoPrete’s 2009

trip to WMU, where she

presented a Medieval Studies

graduate seminar on French

Archives and a public lecture,

‘Women, Gender and

Lordship in France (c.1050-

1250)’. In May 2011, a NUI

Galway graduate student in

Medieval Studies will be

awarded a Sieg & Dunlop

Travel Grant to present a

paper at the International

Congress of Medieval Studies,

WMU.

Chamberlain’s collection and

University of Texas at Austin.

A tale of poisoning, s

uspended animation, and

grim morgues (The Times

called it ‘exceedingly

repugnant to modern

audiences’!), the play has

never been revived since its

first production in 1858

when it ran for a month at

the Olympic Theatre,

London. Collins later rewrote

English lecturer Richard

Pearson’s edition of an

unpublished Wilkie Collins’

play, The Red Vial, will be

performed by the University

of Birmingham’s Drama and

Theatre Arts Department,

Thurs 10th – Sat. 12th

February 2011, directed by

Dr. Caroline Radcliffe.

Richard reconstructed the

script from manuscripts in the

British Library Lord

the story as a novel, Jezebel’s

Daughter (1880). The play

text forms part of Richard’s

future edition of Collins’

plays, most of which have

never been published.

Anyone in Birmingham

at the time can book tickets.

NEW EXCHANGE LINKS IN MEDIEVAL STUDIES

Lecturers edition of play to be performed in Birmingham

“NUI, Galway

graduate student

in Medieval

Studies will be

awarded a Sieg &

Dunlop Travel

Grant to present a

paper at

International

Congress.”

Page 10

Humanities Update

Charles

Barr is a

survivor

from the

first gen-

eration of

film

academics

in Britain:

like Rod

Stoneman

a few years

later, he

did postgraduate

research at the

pioneering Slade

School Film

Department in

London, and then

worked in secondary

education and teacher

training before,

helping to set up

undergraduate and

graduate film

programmes at the

University of East

Anglia in Norwich.

Since leaving UEA in

2006 after 30 years,

he has operated as

an international

mercenary, filling a

gap for two years as

Director of the Film

and Media

Program at the

University of

Washington in St

Louis, and then

moving to Ireland, his

father’s country: as

Visiting Professor at

University College

Dublin, and now also

as Adjunct Professor

in Galway. Many of his

publications engage

with British cinema

(Ealing Studios, first

edition 1977) and with

the work of Alfred

Hitchcock (Vertigo,

2002), or span the two

(English Hitchcock,

1999). Since

moving to Ireland he

has focused much of

his research on Irish

topics, exploring the

Irish dimension of the

work of John Ford, of

Ealing Studios, and of

Hitchcock himself,

who went to such

lengths to conceal his

own Irish roots on his

mother’s side.

Charles is especially

proud of his

grandfather’s

involvement in Irish

Rugby, as a player on

either side of 1900

and then as a selector

and as IRFU

President.

Charles Barr appointed adjunct professor at Huston School of Film & Digital Media

Barr “...has

focused much of

his

research on Irish

topics, exploring

the Irish

dimension of the

work of John

Ford, of Ealing

Studios, and of

Hitchcock

himself, who

went to such

lengths to

conceal his own

Irish roots on his

mother’s side.”

Page 11

Issue 8

Seán Crosson, “Anticipating a Postnationalist Ireland: Representing Gaelic Games

in Rocky Road to Dublin (1968) and Clash of the Ash (1987)” in

Redefinitions of Irish Identity: A Postnationalist Approach, edited by Irene

Gilsenan Nordin and Carmen Zamorano Llena. (Peter Lang, 2010), pp.85-

102.

Dr Tom Duddy launched a book of his poetry The Hiding Place (Arlen

House) in Dublin on November 22. Dr Duddy also had a poem selected

for inclusion in The Forward book of poetry 2011.

The John McGahern Yearbook, volume 3, edited by Dr John Kenny was

published in the Summer.

PUBLICATIONS

N U I G A L W A Y — S C H O O L O F H U M A N I T I E S

“Critical Thinking for a Thinking Society””

Please send contributions for the newsletter to: Karen Walsh Room 309, Level 1 Tower 1 Email: karenm.walsh@nuigalway.ie Phone: 091 495689

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

The School of Humanities newsletter encourages

articles from all its members. Views expressed are those

of the writers themselves and do not necessarily

represent the view of the School as a collective.

Different and conflicting viewpoints are especially

encouraged. The contents of the newsletter are

reviewed by the School’s Executive Committee prior to

publication.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

School Executive Meeting—Tuesday 18th January

2.30—3.30pm

School Board Meeting—Wednesday 19th January

10am—12pm

Both Meetings will be held in the Moore Institute

Seminar Room