Searching for Bridget O'Malley: An Interdisciplinary study of Inis Airc, Co Galway , 1907

You are cordially invited to an event organised by the UCD Humanities Institute and the UCD School of Archaeology.

A lecture will be given by Professor Ian Kuijt ( School of Anthropology , University of Notre Dame) entitled:

Searching for Bridget O'Malley: An Interdisciplinary study of Inis Airc, Co Galway , 1907

Post-1850 coastal life, especially on remote islands such as Inis Airc, Co. Galway, illustrate changes in family structure, emigration pathways to America , and deep personal histories. Drawing upon archaeological remains, historical records, and oral accounts associated with Inis Airc from 1850 to 1960, in this presentation Dr. Kuijt develops a multi-faceted understanding of changing island life and community by tracing the life of Bridget O'Malley, an 11 year old girl who grew up on the island, and left to Boston in 1909. Her story both humanizes and helps us understand cycles of community change, the movement of people within isolated coastal communities, and demonstrates the potential for developing nuanced interpretations of changing perceptions of the social and geographic landscapes of coastal Ireland.

Date: Thursday, 1 April 2010

Time: 12 p.m.

Venue: Room H204, UCD Humanities Institute of Ireland (building number 43, grid reference F9 on the UCD campus map)

Map link: http://www.ucd.ie/maps

Professor Ian Kuijt received his B.A. in History from the University of Lethbridge , an M.A. in Archaeology from Simon Fraser University , and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Harvard University . Since 2006 he has directed the Irish Cultural Landscape Heritage Initiative, an interdisciplinary project with the University of Notre Dame, University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin, which focuses on understanding social and cultural life in rural Ireland . His research has been supported by the National Endowments for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the British Academy . He regularly teaches the field class, The Archaeology of Ireland, in which Notre Dame undergraduate students travel through Ireland for 10 days to learn about the Cultural Heritage of Ireland.

All Welcome!