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by email at: history@qub.ac.uk or anthropology@qub.ac.uk, or visit our website at

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History at Queen’s University Belfast

QUB Anthropology

QUB History and Anthropology Alumni

SCHOOL OF HISTORY & ANTHROPOLOGY

NEWSLETTER

NOVEMBER 2010 JUNE 2011

Staff news:

Congratulations to Chris Marsh, who has been awarded the prestigious

Michaelis-Jean Ratcliff Prize 2011 for a significant contribution to the study

of oral history or folklife in Great Britain and Ireland, for his monograph Music

and Society in Early Modern England (Cambridge, 2010).

Elaine Farrell will be leaving us over the summer to take up a two-year Irish

Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

postdoctoral fellowship at University College Dublin. She will be presented

with her 2011 QUB Teaching Award at the graduation ceremony on 6 July.

Tricia Lock (History Office) is a volunteer for the Special Olympics and has

been fundraising for Special Olympics Ireland to support athletes travelling

to the World Games in Athens this month, with the assistance of Henry

Adams (History Society) and other QUB students. If you’d like to support the

project, there’s more information at:

http://fundraising.specialolympics.ie/fundraisingpage.aspx?uid=190&eid=306

Liam Watson (Anthropology Office) is leaving us for a career break. We

wish him well and hope his stand-up routine continues to keep them

laughing.

The School’s cyclists won the QUB Green Awards 2011 „Cycle Challenge‟, with the highest

number of cycling commuter journeys of any school or directorate in May-June.

Student news:

Many congratulations to our School Prize-winners for 2011. The prizes to be distributed

following graduation on 6 July are:

Mary Gardiner Prize for the student who achieves greatest distinction in Ancient History

final exams: Alan Russell (BA Ancient History and Modern History)

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Montgomery Medal for best undergraduate dissertation on some aspect of modern Irish

politics or society: Ryan McCourt (BA Modern History)

Esther Ballantine Prize for the best performance in any pathway involving Modern

History: Regine Maritz (BA Modern History & International Studies)

H. Montgomery Hyde Prize for the highest aggregate mark in Single Honours Modern

History: Ryan McCourt. Proxime accessit (second): Robyn Atcheson

Lewis Warren Prize for the best performance in Medieval History at levels 2 & 3:

Marcus McComb (BA Modern History)

K.H. Connell Prize: for best performance in module(s) in primarily economic and social

history: Catherine Jamieson (BA Modern History)

Denis Rebbeck Prize: for student showing most promise at level 2 in a pathway

involving Modern History: Dominic Henry (BA Modern History & Politics)

Martin Lynn Memorial Prizes for best performance in ‘Exploring History 1’ and

‘Exploring History 2’ (Level 1): Oran Kennedy (BA Modern History & Politics), Marie

McGuinness (BA Arts, Culture and Society) and Kevin Donnelly (BA Modern History)

J C Beckett Fund Prize, for best performance in History at Level 1: Jonathan Hayes

(BA Modern History)

Prize for Best Performance ‘A world on the move’ at Level 1: Matthew Allen (BA

Modern History & Social Anthropology)

Best group project and presentation for the module ‘History & Historians’ (Level 1):

Philip Brett (BA Modern History & Politics), Andrea Hanvey (BA Modern History &

Sociology) and Siobhan McCormack (BA Modern History).

Anne Maguire Memorial Prize for the best dissertation in Social Anthropology (Level 3):

Ramalie Jayawardana (BA Social Anthropology)

The Centre for Eighteenth-Century Studies Prize for the best performance in a module

covering the 18th century - Robyn Atcheson and Joshua Montague-Munson (BA

Modern History)

Faculty Prize: Blayney Exhibition: Jonathan Hayes

James E Todd Prize for best performance in MA Irish History (2010): Daniel Ritchie

Rachel Wallace (BA English & Modern History) has been selected by a competitive program,

STUDY INDIA and will spend three weeks learning about the culture, language and history of

India, including lectures at the University of New Delhi in August.

PhDs completed:

Mary Katherine Coghlan, Traditional music schools in Belfast (Supervisors: Dr Dominic

Bryan and Dr Suzel Reily).

Kirsten McConnachie Governing exiles: competing sites of law and justice on the Thai-

Burma border (Supervisor: Prof. Hastings Donnan). While undertaking her research, Kirsten

held prestigious grants from the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (New

York) and the Emslie Horniman Fund of the Royal Anthropological Institute.

Lisa Meaney, Civic society in eighteenth-century Ulster c. 1740-80 (Supervisor: Prof.

David Hayton)

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Clare O‟Kane, A society in transition: Society, identity and nostalgia in rural Northern

Ireland, 1939-68 (Supervisor: Prof. Peter Gray, funded by DEL)

Gordon Rees, Pamphlets, pamphleteers and the problems of Irish society, c.1727-49

(Supervisor: Prof. Sean Connolly, funded by AHRC)

Research news:

Publications – books:

Virginia Crossman and Peter Gray (eds), Poverty and Welfare in

Ireland 1838-1948 (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2011, ISBN

9780716530893, 244pp).

This book is a ground-breaking history of poverty and welfare in modern

Ireland, in the era of the Irish poor law. As the first study to address poor

relief and health care together, the book fills an important gap, providing a

much-needed introduction and assessment of the evolution of social welfare

in 19th- and early 20th-century Ireland. The collection also addresses a

number of related issues, including private philanthropy, the attitudes of

landowners towards poor relief, and the crisis of the poor law during the

Great Famine of 1845-1850. Together, these interlinking contributions both

survey current research and suggest new areas for investigation, providing

further stimulus to the growing field of Irish welfare history.

John Knight, Herding Monkeys to Paradise: How Macaque

Troops are Managed for Tourism in Japan (Leiden: Brill, 2011,

ISBN 9789004187931, 630pp).

This book is a study of the use of monkeys as a tourist attraction in Japan.

Monkey parks are popular visitor attractions that display free-ranging troops

of Japanese macaques to the paying public. The parks work by manipulating

the movements of the monkey troop through the regular provision of food

handouts at a fixed site where the monkeys can be easily viewed. This

system of management leads to a variety of problems, including proliferating

monkey numbers, park-edge crop-raiding, and the sedentarization of the

troop. In addition to falling visitor numbers, these problems have led to the

closure or fencing in of many parks, calling into question the future of the

monkey park as an institution.

Publications - articles and chapters:

Sean Connolly, ‘Paul Cullen‟s other capital: Belfast and the Devotional Revolution‟, in

Dáire Keogh & Albert McDonnell (eds), Cardinal Paul Cullen and his World (Dublin: Four

Courts Press, 2011)

Colin Holbrook, Paulo Sousa and Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook, „Unconscious vigilance:

Worldview defense without adaptations for terror, coalition, or uncertainty

management‟, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100 (2011)

Patricia Marsh, „“An enormous amount of distress among the poor”: Aid for the poor in

Ulster during the Influenza pandemic of 1918-19‟, in Virginia Crossman and Peter Gray

(eds), Poverty and Welfare in Ireland 1838-1948 (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2011)

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Peter Martin, „Ending the pauper taint: medical benefit and welfare reform in Northern

Ireland, 1921-39’, in Virginia Crossman and Peter Gray (eds), Poverty and Welfare in Ireland

1838-1948 (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2011)

Olwen Purdue, „Poor relief in the north of Ireland, 1850-1921’, in Virginia Crossman and

Peter Gray (eds), Poverty and Welfare in Ireland 1838-1948 (Dublin: Irish Academic Press,

2011)

Olwen Purdue, „Challenge and change: the country house in Northern Ireland 1921-

2001‟, in Terence Dooley and Christopher Ridgeway (eds.) The Irish country house: its past,

present and future (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2011)

Conferences, seminars and public lectures:

Public lectures and conferences at QUB:

John Wilson Foster gave the keynote address, „Titanic: a cultural manifest revisited‟, to

Titanic Heritage and Memory, Irish Scottish Forum for Spatial Planning conference, 31 May.

Liam Kennedy delivered his valedictory lecture as professor of economic and social history on

10 June on the subject „Burning earth: history, economy, ecology an‟ all that‟.

Mary O‟Dowd organised a very successful workshop on the

„History of Marriage in Ireland‟ on 23 June. It was sponsored by

the AHRC project of the same name which is co-directed by

Professor O’Dowd and by Professor Maria Luddy in the University

of Warwick. Papers were presented on a range of pioneering topics

including the portrayal of marriage in Irish art, courtship, breach of

promise cases, Irish laws on marriage, divorce and folklore

customs. Speakers included Dr Claudia Kinmonth, Dr Diane

Urquhart (University of Liverpool), Dr Linda Ballard (UFTM) as well

as the research fellows, Dr Katie Barclay and Dr John Bergin who were employed by the

project in 2008-10. Experts in Irish social and gender history from other Irish and UK

institutions also attended the workshop and contributed to the very lively discussions that

followed each session.

Conference, seminar and lecture contributions elsewhere:

Dominic Bryan, ‘Gendered Ceremony & Ritual in Parliaments’, invited paper given to

Leverhulme-sponsored conference Rituals in Parliament at University of Sheffield.

David Hayton, „Swift, the church, and the “improvement of Ireland”‟, paper given to The

Sixth Münster Symposium on Jonathan Swift, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster,

Germany, on 21 June.

Colin Kidd, „Ancients, moderns and the question of Troy‟, paper read to the Institute of

Advanced Study in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh.

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Justin Lane (PhD ICC), „Communal death: ritual suicide in 20th-century American new

religious movements‟, at the Thirtieth Irish Conference of Historians: ‘Death and Dying’, NUI

Maynooth, 19 June.

Eric Morier-Genoud, „The Catholic Church, African nationalism and independence in

Beira, Mozambique’, at the conference The End of the Portuguese Empire in a Comparative

Perspective, Institute of Social Sciences, Lisbon, Portugal, 20-21 June.

Jonathan Skinner was an invited workshop speaker at the Edge Hill University dance

programme where he led a workshop on „Variations of Rumba‟ about the Diaspora,

globalisation and commoditization of the dance.

Natalie Wilcoxen (MA Irish History, 2010), „Death in the diaspora: the evolution of Jewish

death rituals and their impact upon the 20th-century Jew‟, at the Thirtieth Irish Conference

of Historians: ‘Death and Dying’, NUI Maynooth, 19 June.

Research projects:

The OFMDFM- sponsored Report on Flags 2010, directed by Dominic Bryan, is available

at: http://www.ofmdfmni.gov.uk/index/equality/equalityresearch/research-publications/gr-

pubs.htm

Jonathan Skinner and Dr Sylvia O’Sulivan (Limerick) concluded their CARDI cross-border

project on ageing, wellbeing and social inclusion. Their end of project report notes work with

Age NI and Age and Opportunity, with the latter public agency integrating workshop activities

and training into their practice manuals.

Fearghal McGarry and Des Bell have been awarded an AHRC

Knowledge Transfer Partnership for the project „Documentary

Film as Knowledge Transfer: Dúcheiste Frank Ryan‟ .

Amit Desai and Barbara Graham discuss the Research-Objects-Images-Emotions (ROIE)

postgraduate workshop in Reflections (issue 12, June 2011) see:

http://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/AcademicStudentAffairs/CentreforEducationalDevelopment/

Publications/

External appointments:

Sean Connolly has been appointed to a Fernand Braudel Fellowship at the European

University Institute, Florence, for September to December 2012. He will use the time to

develop a comparison between nineteenth-century Ireland and Italy, looking in particular at

issues of state building and the social basis of popular nationalism.

John Wilson Foster has been awarded a short-term stipendiary research fellowship, Trinity

College Dublin Long Room Hub.

Peter Gray was external examiner for a PhD thesis in NUI Maynooth.

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Eric Morier-Genoud joined the newly formed editorial board of the book collection and journal

of the Institute of Social and Economic Studies (IESE), Maputo, Mozambique.

Jonathan Skinner began external examining for the Anthropology programme at the

University of Durham.

International connections:

Hastings Donnan represented the Vice Chancellor at

the 60th anniversary celebrations of Minzu University in

Beijing, China. Anthropology has an established

partnership with Minzu whereby Minzu graduates can

take the School’s Anthropology MA. While in Beijing

Hastings met with the Minzu President, Professor Chen

Li, to sign off a new agreement which will enable

Anthropology undergraduates at Minzu to complete the

final two years of their undergraduate degree at Queen’s.

He also met a broad range of staff and students of Minzu

University, including Professor Mingxin Liu, whom he had

first met in Beijing in 1999, and who visited Belfast for a month in Spring 2011.

Video of Ethnomusicology’s recent production 'Bumbos, Bois and Cirandas’ can be watched

in full at http://www.qub.ac.uk/sa-old/resources/Bumbos/

Many thanks to the sponsors, Queen’s Annual Fund, Santander and Belfast City Council, for

making possible the visit to Queen’s of the Brazilian group Urucungos.

Jonathan Skinner is developing research on the position and performance of tour guides and

dance hosts on cruise ships with Celebrity Caribbean, Saga and Cunard. This recently

involved a week’s ethnographic research to Norway on the Queen Mary 2 and will prove

insightful for next semester’s Leisure, Tourism and Culture module. [He won a bottle of

champagne dancing on the first night but was subsequently charged for corkage!!]

The School was visited by Dr Robert Graham (Provost) and Prof Sut Sakchutchawan (Director of

International Studies) from Waynesburgh University, PA, USA to discuss student exchanges.

CIEE International Faculty Development Seminar: Conflict

Resolution: Grounded Practice at the Community Interfaces in

Northern Ireland. Faculty from a range of universities in the USA

were hosted at the Institute of Irish Studies on 9-14 June. CIEE’s

study abroad program in Irish Studies at QUB launches in 2011.

Dominic Bryan and Gordon Gillespie (Irish Studies) led

workshops or tours for visiting student groups from the following

US institutions in June: Vanderbilt University, TN; Bucknell

University, PA; Fordham University, NY; Boston College, MA;

John Carroll University, OH; Walsh Jesuit High School, OH.

CIEE visitors at IIS

Prof Donnan with visiting academics at

Minzu’’s 60th anniversary event

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Knowledge transfer / research impact:

Dominic Bryan took part in the discussion about the illegal paramilitary Red

Hand Commando flags which have been put up in main roads close to

Bangor town centre, BBC NI Evening Extra, 2 June.

The report on Public Displays of Flags and Emblems in Northern Ireland:

Survey 2010 was published by the Institute of Irish Studies. Dominic Bryan

was interviewed on the report for BBC Newsline, U105, Cool FM, and

Downtown radio. The report was covered in the Newsletter and the Belfast Telegraph as well

as on a BBC news web page.

John Wilson Foster spoke on ‘Filson Young’ (London and Portaferry historian, novelist,

essayist): a talk and reading for A Night to Remember, an evening celebrating the launch of

the Titanic and the birth of the Portaferry-born playwright, actor and novelist, Joseph Tomelty,

in aid of Cancer Research, Exploris Aquarium, Portaferry, 17 June.

He was also organiser of the Pen Insula Literary Evenings (Portaferry) in association with the

Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry (QUB); 25 June: Introduced Gerald Dawe, poet and critic.

Peter Gray spoke on ‘Voices of Famine and Emigration: Using the DIPPAM Database to

Access Irish History’ to the 'Bridges Project', Randalstown, 21 June.

Keith Jeffery spoke at the Newtownards Armed Forces’ Day Lecture at the Somme Heritage

Centre, 25 June; and was interviewed by John Sergeant on BBC 1’s The One Show, about the

centenary of the Official Secrets Act, on 29 June.

Gillian McIntosh was interviewed about the ‘Ulster ‘71’ Exhibition on Good Morning Ulster,

BBC Radio Ulster, 20 June

Jim O‟Neill (PhD History) assisted the Northern Ireland Environment Agency: Built Heritage

with their exhibit at Benburb Castle, Co. Tyrone, as part of the Benburb Sunday and heritage

weekend festival on 19 June. The display was primarily focused on the two famous battles in

the vicinity of the castle, Yellow Ford (1598) and Benburb (1646). During the day he was in the

castle with living history re-enactors (Jim was not dressed up!), to answer questions posed by

members of the public about any of the more grisly events relating to the local area.

Teaching news:

Sean Connolly reflects on the challenges of teaching our

innovative Level 2 module ‘History and Society’ using the

cutting-edge technology available in the University’s Flexible

Teaching Space, in Reflections, 12 (June 2011), p.23. see:

http://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/AcademicStudentAffairs/Cent

reforEducationalDevelopment/Publications/

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Alumni news:

About 30 School alumni, with graduation years ranging from 1950 to 2008,

attended our inaugural Alumni Day event in the Great Hall on 25 June. They

enjoyed meeting students and staff and hearing presentations on the School’s

activities from Prof. Peter Gray, and from Prof Keith Jeffery, Dr Brian Kelly and

Prof Sean Connolly on their recent research projects. Students led visits to the

new McClay Library, our Ethnomusicology musicians put on a recital, and our

current and recent PhD students presented their work in a research poster

competition. Thanks to all who participated in this successful day.

More details and pictures are online at:

http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/SchoolofHistoryandAnthropology/Alumni/AlumniEvents/AlumniD

ay25June2011/

We aim to follow this up with further alumni events – please

contact Catherine Boone (c.boone@qub.ac.uk) for details, or

log on to our Facebook site for „QUB History and

Anthropology Alumni‟.

Patricia Marsh (PhD History 2010) won the Alumni Day poster

competition with this entry on World War One and the Influenza

Pandemic in Ulster 1918-19:

Recruitment activities:

The School held a one-day workshop for History teachers on 3 June. The event, organised

by Paul Corthorn, Catherine Boone and the Recruitment Group, was attended by 25 teachers

from schools across N. Ireland. The day involved a series of talks relating to the A-level

curriculum as well as lively discussion sessions on the use of primary sources and the

transition from school to university. The following members of staff took part:

Peter Gray; Chris Marsh; Danny Kowalsky; Sean O’Connell; Sean Connolly; Andrew Holmes;

Liam Kennedy; Jonathan Skinner and Fearghal McGarry.

Forthcoming events in July:

Graduation for History and Anthropology: 6 July at 10.30, Whitla Hall.

Irish Studies International Summer School: 18 July – 6 August.

Start of 2011-12 term

The new academic teaching year begins on Monday 26 September 2011 (week 1), with

registration and induction events in the preceding week. Have a good summer!

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Vanderbilt University students visit the Institute of Irish Studies, June 2011

Please see the School website ‘News’ section (http://www.qub.ac.uk/mh/NewsandEvents/ ) for

more information on events, or contact us by email/phone at the numbers above.