17th International Conference in Irish-German Studies

Irish-German Relations 2017: Between Böll and Brexit

20th Anniversary Conference of the Centre for Irish-German Studies & Commemoration of Heinrich Böll’s 100th Birthday

ALUMNI CONFERENCE

Venue and Date

University of Limerick, 14-16 September 2017

Organisers

Dr Joachim Fischer / Dr Gisela Holfter

Centre for Irish-German Studies / Zentrum für deutsch-irische Forschungen

School of Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics

University of Limerick

Limerick

Ireland

Gisela Holfter, Tel. 00353-61-202395, email

Joachim Fischer, Tel. 00353-61-202354, email

Programme Outline

14 September 2017 Venue: AD2-010 (Analog Devices Building, UL)

9.30 Opening addresses

10.00 - 11.30 Session 1 Irish-German Relations in the Context of Brexit

12.00 - 1.30 Session 2 Economic Relations and the Need for Languages

2.30 - 4.00 Session 3 Heinrich Böll and Ireland

4.30 - 6.00 Session 4 Heinrich Böll at 100

6.30 Music Kurt Roger’s Irish Sonata (Irish World Academy for Music & Dance)

7.30 Reception by German Embassy followed by Conference Dinner (Pavilion Restaurant)

15 September 2017

9.00 - 10.30 Session 5 Austria – Ireland – Switzerland in 2017

11.00 - 12.30 Session 6 Literary Studies

1.30 - 3.00 Session 7 Connections in Science

3.30 - 5.00 Session 8 Recent Work on Historical Links

5.15 - 6.45 Session 9 Artistic Interfaces: Art, Music, Poetry

7.00 – 8.00 Readings Joe Joyce & Eva Bourke & Book presentations

8.00 Céilí & Barbeque (The Scholars Club & Bar)

16 September 2017

9.00 - 10.30 Session 10 Irish Studies in German-speaking Countries / German Studies in

Ireland

10.45 - 12.15 Session 11 Media Discourses: Ireland in Germany and Germany in Ireland

12.30 - 1.30 Session 12 Irish-German Migration, Tourism and the Böll factor

Thursday, 14 September 2017

Opening Address by Dr Des Fitzgerald, President, University of Limerick

1.  Irish-German Relations in the Context of Brexit and Beyond (Chair: Edward Moxon-Browne)

Josef Reichhardt (Deputy German Ambassador, Dublin) – Diplomatic perspectives

Rüdiger Görner (Centre for Anglo-German Cultural Relations, London) – British-German relations from a ‘Germanistik’ point of view

Paul Gillespie (Irish Times) – The Brexit debate and Ireland

2.  Economic Relations and the Need for Languages (Chair: Bernadette Andréosso-O’Callaghan)

Ralf Lissek (Irish-German Chamber of Commerce, Dublin) – The development of economic relations in recent years

Liam Ryan (SAP Ireland) – Irish-German business: An employer’s perspective

Mairead Crosby (IBEC) – The need for German language skills for the Irish economy

3.  Böll and Ireland (Chair: Hermann Rasche, Galway)

René Böll (Cologne) – The Böll family and Ireland

Edward King (Achill) – Heinrich Böll on Achill Island and his connections there

Sheila McHugh (Acla Heinrich Böll Committee) – The work of the Heinrich Böll Committee on Achill Island

John McHugh (Heinrich Böll Cottage) – Artists’ and writers’ residencies in the Böll Cottage

4.  Böll at 100 (Chair: Pól Ó Dochartaigh, NUI Galway)

Ralf Schnell (Berlin) – The complete works of Böll (Kölner Ausgabe) and developments in Böll scholarship

Frank Finlay (Leeds) – The Lost Honour of HB: Böll’s legacy in the 21st Century

Christiane Schönfeld (MIC/UL) – Böll's Prose on Screen

Music – Kurt Roger (1895-1966), Irish Sonata played by Joachim Roewer (Irish Chamber Orchestra) & Lance Coburn (Royal Irish Academy of Music)

(A rare Irish performance of the acclaimed sonata written by the Austrian refugee composer in Waterford before emigrating to the US in 1939 – the only musical trace of German-speaking refugees in Ireland. Introduced by Leslie Stevenson, St. Andrews, and Gisela Holfter).

Reception by German Embassy followed by Conference Dinner

Friday, 15 September 2017

5.  Austria – Ireland – Switzerland in 2017 (Chair: Marieke Krajenbrink)

Andreas Maurer (Innsbruck) – The Brexit Debate: An Austrian perspective

Patrick Studer (Zurich) – Recent Swiss discourses about the European Union and Swiss-Irish relations

Jürgen Barkhoff (Dublin) – Swiss-Irish literary relations

6.  Literary Studies (Chair: Sabine Egger, MIC/UL)

Michaela Schrage-Früh (Galway/Mainz) – Lyrical links: Germany in Irish poetry

Marieke Krajenbrink (UL) – Irish-German detective fiction

Emer O’Sullivan (Lüneburg) – Irish-German intercultural connections in children’s literature

7.  Connections in Science (Chair: Helen Kelly-Holmes, UL)

Georg Krawietz (DAAD London) – The role of the German Academic Exchange Service

Luke Drury (DIAS, Dublin) – The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and the crucial role of international scientific links

Ursel Bangert (UL, Bernal Institute) – The added benefits of international collaboration: Some examples of Irish-German research projects

8.  Recent Work on Historical Links (Chair: Eda Sagarra, Dublin)

Peter Harbison (Royal Irish Academy, Dublin) – Archaeological links Ireland-Germany

Jérôme aan de Wiel (Cork) – Recent historical research on Irish-German relations, 1870-1922: An overview

Mervyn O’Driscoll (Cork) – Recent historical research on Irish-German relations in the post-war period: An overview

9.  Artistic Interfaces: Art, Music, Poetry (Chair: Gareth Cox, MIC)

Imogen Stuart (Dublin) – Irish-German connections in art: A personal review

Raymond Deane (Dublin/Fürth) – Working at the Irish-German musical interface

Seamus Hogan/ Seán O’Mahony (Ballydehob) – Translating Rilke

Readings (Chair: Eoin Bourke, Galway) – Joe Joyce, journalist and author of the trilogy Echoland (Dublin One City One Book Choice 2017), Echobeat and Echowave; Eva Bourke (Galway/Berlin) & presentation of Siobhán O’Connor, Irish Government Policy and Public Opinion towards German-Speaking Refugees, 1933-1943 (2017) and Gisela Holfter/Horst Dickel, An Irish Sanctuary- German-speaking Refugees in Ireland 1933-1945 (2017)

followed by Céilí & Barbeque (The Scholars Club & Bar)

Saturday, 16 September 2017

10.  Irish Studies in German-speaking Countries / German Studies in Ireland (Chair: Manfred Schewe, Cork)

David Stifter (Maynooth) – The state of Celtic Studies in the German-speaking countries

Jochen Achilles (Würzburg) – Irish Studies in the German-speaking countries: The last twenty years

Hans-Walter Schmidt-Hannisa (Galway) – Recent developments in German Studies in Ireland

11.  Media Discourses: Ireland in Germany and Germany in Ireland (Chair: Elmar Conrad-Hassels, German Ireland Fund/GILBA, Bonn)

Fergal Lenehan (Jena) – German media discourses on Ireland since 1990

Derek Scally (Irish Times, Berlin) – Reporting from Berlin: An Irish correspondent’s perspective

Brendan Keenan (Irish Independent) – Recent Irish media discourses on Germany

12.  Irish-German Migration, Tourism and the Böll factor (Chair: Veronica O’Regan, UL)

Melanie Neumann (Berlin) – The Irish in Berlin: Immigration since the Millennium

Christian Ludwig (Gaeltacht Reisen, Moers) – A portrait of German tourism to Ireland

Close of Conference

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the DAAD; the Heinrich Böll Stiftung; the Austrian and German Embassies; the Goethe Institut Irland; the Centre for European Studies (CEUROS),the Schools of Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics & Culture and Communication, the Faculty of AHSS and the IACF, University of Limerick.

For any changes, updates and information re registration see Centre for Irish-German Studies website: http://ulsites.ul.ie/irishgerman/upcoming-events

For general inquiries, please contact: (Emma T. Foley/Madeleine O’Sullivan)

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