Reflections on the changing historiography of the Irish Revolution.
Reflections on the changing historiography of the Irish Revolution.
Tuesday 15 November at 7pm
Speaker: Gearoid Ó Tuathaigh, Professor Emeritus in History, UCG.
As with all major historical events and periods, the historiography of the Irish revolution has been determined by a combination of factors: access to primary sources, the ideological disposition of historians, political preoccupations within the wider society, and the changing societal view of historical events that comes with the inexorable passage of time. The centenary of the 1916 Rising presents an opportunity for taking stock of how these forces have shaped (and continue to shape) interpretations of revolutionary years (1913-23) in Ireland.
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.