Players or Patriots? The Gaelic Athletic Association and the 1916 Rising
Wednesday 14 September at 7pm
Speaker: Dr Richard McElligott, UCD
On the eve of the Rising, the GAA was one of the largest nationalist organisations in Ireland. Though a sporting body, the Association was always deeply politicised, no more so in the years surrounding 1916. This lecture will discuss the GAA's growing relationship with militant nationalism in the months and years before the Rising. It will also illustrate the notable contribution of GAA figures in the rebellion itself and the dramatic consequences of this for the GAA nationally in the years which followed.
All welcome and booking is not required.
Dr Richard McElligott, is a lecturer in Modern Irish History in UCD. He co-ordinates the UCD and the NLI’s Uncovering 1916 lecture course. He has written several articles on the Irish Revolutionary period and also its impact on the GAA including ‘The GAA, the 1916 Rising and its Aftermath to 1918’, in Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh (ed.), The GAA and Revolution in Ireland: 1913-1923 (2015). His first book, Forging a Kingdom, The GAA in Kerry, 1884-1934 was nominated as an Irish Times Sports Book of the Year, 2013.
Atlas of the Irish Revolution: Lecture Series:
This series of lectures in partnership with University College Cork’s Atlas of the Irish Revolution will take the Easter Rising as its theme.
Contributors to the publication will discuss various aspects of the Rising over this monthly series beginning in March.
The Atlas of the Irish Revolution:
The Atlas of the Irish Revolution is a landmark publication that presents scholarship on the revolutionary period in a uniquely accessible manner. Featuring over 200 original maps and 300 images, the Atlas includes 120 contributions by leading scholars from a range of disciplines. They offer multiple perspectives on the pivotal years from the 1912 Home Rule crisis to the end of the Irish Civil War in 1923. Using extensive original data (much of it generated from newly-released archival material), researchers have mapped social and demographic change, political and cultural activity, state and non-state violence and economic impacts. The maps also portray underlying trends in the decades before the revolution and capture key aspects of the revolutionary aftermath. They show that while the Irish revolution was a ‘national’ event, it contained important local and regional variations that were vital to its outcomes. The representation of island-wide trends stands alongside street-level, parish, county and provincial studies that uncover the multi-faceted dynamics at play. The Atlas also captures the international dimensions of a revolution that occurred amidst the First World War and its tumultuous aftermath. Revolutionary events in Ireland received global attention because they profoundly challenged the British imperial project. Key revolutionaries operated transnationally before, during and after the conflict, while the Irish diaspora provided crucial support networks. The often neglected roles of women and workers are illuminated, while commentators consider the legacies of the revolution, including collective memories, cultural representations and historical interpretations. The Atlas of the Irish Revolution brings history to life for general readers and students, as well as academics. It represents a ground-breaking contribution to the historical geography of these compelling years of conflict, continuity and change.
The Atlas of the Irish Revolution is edited by John Crowley, Donal Ó Drisceoil , Mike Murphy and John Borgonovo and will be published by Cork University Press.