The Southern Regional American Conference for Irish Studies invites proposals on any Irish Studies topic for this interdisciplinary conference hosted by the University of St. Thomas in Houston. The conference theme of Ireland: North, South, East and West takes an expansive view of the impact of Ireland and the Irish, not only in Ireland, but around the world. One focus is on the open-ended dynamics of Irish regional differences and tensions, and how they shape Irish culture and identity, as well as their influences on the Old and New Worlds.

Irish Studies topics may be explored through the following nonexclusive list of contexts: literature, history, politics, language, linguistics, folklore and mythology, archaeology, anthropology, law, economics and trade, sociology, art and art history, music, dance, media and film study, cultural studies, Ireland’s role in the European Union and the World, the Irish experience around the world, emigration/immigration, and North-South tensions, resolutions and bridge-building.

Special highlights include a presentation by Prof. Liam Irwin of Mary Immaculate College in Limerick entitled “Too Horrible to Remember, Too Terrible to Forget: A Commemoration of the Famine,” an illustrated presentation of Irish Famine Memorials around the world. Dr. Elizabeth Butler Cullingford of the University of Texas English Department at Austin also will be one of our plenary speakers and will present “Our Nuns Are Not a Nation: Politicizing the Convent in Irish Literature and Film.”

Proposals should be 250 words for a 15 to 20 minute presentation and contain the speaker’s name and affiliation (university, college or other), the speaker’s email address, physical address, telephone number, fax number and the speaker’s status (professor; graduate student; other). Email the proposal as a Word attachment to irishstudies@stthom.edu with the following reference: 2005 ACIS Southern Regional Conference, or mail it to the address below.

Presenters must be ACIS members. Become a member at www.acisweb.com.

Graduate students and seniors are welcome and receive registration fee discounts.