From 1596, when Edmund Spenser advised that the Irish repair to towns to “learn civil manners of the better sort,” to the recent unremitting rise of urbanism throughout the island, city life has been a contentious issue in Irish Studies. The guest editors of a special issue of Éire-Ireland invite essays on the subject of urban Ireland from early modern times through the contemporary period. We are especially interested in essays that offer interdisciplinary perspectives from history, literature, geography, sociology, cartography, archeology, fine arts, music, photography, and film studies. We encourage submissions informed by newly available archival sources in all disciplines, as well as essays that explore new methods and theoretical paradigms for investigating urban issues. Below is a list of suggested areas for exploration:

City iconography/the city as icon
Urban planning and renewal
The city as space/place
Urban leadership and governance
The city versus the country
The colonial city as a theatre for political resistance and reaction Metropole/metropolis: the impact of the European Union on urban life and culture
Comparative development of Irish urban centers across partition Labor movements and the city
New methods of researching the urban past as opened up the Irish Historic Towns Atlas
The city as a setting for nontraditional life-styles
The changing face of urban nightlife: from music hall to rock and roll
Representations of the city in poetry, visual art and monuments, drama, fiction, graphic novels, and graffiti A new Gaeltacht: urbanization of the Irish language Internal migrations: changed demographics of the Irish city Immigration from abroad: non-native newcomers in Irish cities and towns

The deadline for the receipt of proposals (two pages) is February 1, 2009. Completed articles (6,000–8,000 words) will be due by May 1, 2009. Send proposals to Dr. Jacinta Prunty at jacinta.prunty@nuim.ie and Professor Joe Valente at jvalente@uiuc.edu.