CONFERENCE TIMETABLE (UPDATED 12 APRIL 2023)
Please note that the conference timetable for Saturday, April 15, has been tweaked since previous posts.
A PDF version of the conference timetable, including abstracts, can be downloaded here.
Friday, April 14
11:00 Conference Launch
Panel 1
11:30 Michael Linkletter (St. Francis Xavier University): “Eilean Eòin, Eilean a’ Phrionnsa agus an t-Eilean Fada – Gaelic Place Names and Prince Edward Island”
12:00 Lodaidh MacFhionguin (Government of Nova Scotia): “Space, Place, Nurture: Fostering a Welcoming Environment for Scottish Gaelic Learners in Nova Scotia and Beyond”
12:30 Màiri Britton (St. Francis Xavier University): “Language in Lyrics: The Cape Breton Gaelic Folklore Collection”
1:00 Lunch Break
Panel 2: UNESCO Partnerships
2:00 Sadie Ryan (University of Glasgow): “UNESCO Sites Unseen: Place-based learning in a globalised world”
2:30 Julie Pellissier-Lush (Mi’kmaq Cultural Consultant): “Mi’kmaq Culture Today”
3:00 Brittnee Leysen (University of Glasgow): “Placemaking in Nova Scotia: A study of the UNESCO Geopark the Cliffs of Fundy”
Panel 3
3:45 Peadar Ó Muircheartaigh (University of Edinburgh): “ ‘Ciod a tha bhar luchd rialaidh ag baile ag deanamh?’: Rev. James McLagan’s American War”
4:15 Sophie Stephenson (Sabhal Mòr Ostaig: “ From Malaig Bheag to Manhattan: The Story of Transnational Gael, ‘Angus The Yank’ (1892–1978)”
4:45 Tony Ó Floinn (Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick): “An tOileán Úr – Fresh Inspiration in the Poetry of Pádraig Phiarais Cúndún (1777-1857)?”
Book Launch
5:30 Natasha Sumner and Aidan Doyle (eds.), North American Gaels: Speech, Story and Song in the Diaspora
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Saturday, April 15
Panel 4
9:45 Máirtín Coilféir (Concordia University): “Eachtraí Hucailbeirí Finn: Americans on a Raft in Waterford”
10:15 Shamus MacDonald (St. Francis Xavier University): “Amplifying the voice of tradition: Putting fieldwork recordings to use in Gaelic Nova Scotia”
10:45 Pádraig Ó Siadhail (St. Mary’s University, Halifax): “ ‘Ceanada’: Two 1960s’ Irish-language perspectives on Canada”
Panel 5
11:30 Stuart Dunmore (University of Edinburgh), Natasha Sumner (Harvard University): “Gaelic language acquisition motivation and identity orientation among Scottish diasporas in Nova Scotia and New England”
12:00 Aidan Doyle (University College Cork): “The experiences of Irish speakers in North America in their own words”
12:30 Raymond Jess (Concordia University): “Ireland, French Canada and the Gaelic League Debates”
1:00 Lunch Break
Panel 6
2:00 Matthew Knight (University of South Florida): “Awaking the West: The Chicago Citizen and the Irish Language Movement in America”
2:30 Brian Frykenberg (Cumann na Gaeilge), Natasha Sumner (Harvard University), Gregory Darwin (Uppsala University): “Anonn is anall: Oral history and the Irish language in Greater Boston and New England”
3:00 Brian Ó Conchubhair (Notre Dame): “Hidden Histories? The Irish, the Irish Language and Chicago: 1850-2000”
Film Screening
4:00 Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin (Concordia University): “The Lost Children of the Carricks”
5:00 Conference Close
COVID-19 Policy
The North American Gaels Conference follows Concordia University’s policy for COVID-19. Masks and sanitizers will be made available for use in the School of Irish Studies. For more information on the University’s COVID policy, click here.
North American Gaels Conference Timetable and Poster (Updated 11 April 2023)
A PDF version of the timetable is available for download here. For an online version of the timetable, see the post below.
A letter size poster is available for download and print here. We’re very grateful for your support in promoting the conference!
Gaelic Languages in Canada and the US
The North American Gaels Conference brings together over twenty scholars from both sides of the Atlantic to discuss the Gaelic languages in North America. Featuring experts on Scots Gaelic, Irish, Manx and Mi’kmaq cultures, the panels include talks on both history and contemporary experience, oral and written literature, geography, music, folklore, film, fieldwork and more. Among the sites of the Gaelic diaspora examined are Québec, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island in Canada; and New York, New England, and Chicago in the United States.
The conference is kindly sponsored by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, under the ‘Indigenous and International’ more information on which can be found here.
The conference is a collaborative project between Dr. Natasha Sumner (Harvard University), Dr. Pádraig Ó Siadhail (St. Mary’s University, Halifax), Dr. Aidan Doyle (University College Cork) and Dr. Máirtín Coilféir (Concordia University).
North American Gaels Conference 