Ireland-Wales Research Network

The Ireland-Wales Research Network aims to arrive at a fuller understanding of the complex and overlapping histories of the islands of Britain and Ireland by developing and advancing research on Irish-Welsh cultural and political relationships. The Network's focus on Wales will supply a vital missing dimension to the four nations framework within which British and Irish history and culture have come to be understood. Analysed together, Ireland and Wales enable the map of our relations to be more fully comprehended. Moreover, entering the four nations process at the point it does, with research on Ireland and Scotland well advanced, the Ireland-Wales research network can lead the way in theorising the process of comparativism itself.
By tracking the history and culture of the United Kingdom in the light of current constitutional arrangements and developments, the proposed research network will contribute to the wider rethinking of the British and Irish past in the light of our devolved present. Divergences between Ireland and Wales were at their greatest during the nineteenth century, with religious differences mapping on to industrialization, resulting in dramatically different experiences of modernity within the empire. Current discrepancies might be similarly dramatized, yet there now exists a widespread sense of a shared past that has taken on new meanings within the framework of devolution.
There are currently a significant number of scholars pursuing research into cultural, historical and political relations between Ireland and Wales. Their invigorating research will form a vital component in the comparative study of the different cultures of these islands. However, a number of obstacles currently block the possibility of full interdisciplinary and comparativist dialogue. Disciplinary and period specialisations impede connections between researchers, who are also geographically scattered across Europe and the US. No research infrastructure exists whereby scholars working on related areas across cultures and disciplines can address one another's topics and concerns. The proposed network will bring submerged connections into the open while at the same time enabling academics to address a wider audience.
The network will energise the discussions of Ireland and Wales by involving cross-disciplinary researchers who are formulating new theories and concepts, especially in the areas of religious history and postcolonialism. The network will involve North American scholars who specialise in theoretical and conceptual challenges to current thinking on the issues of religion, nationality, culture and disciplinarity. A further ambition is to factor in a decisively European element to research on Ireland and Wales. With this in mind, the network includes the contributions of scholars of Irish and Welsh culture with additional expertise in European culture and history.
The proposal comes from individuals and institutions with proven experience in innovative and successful interdisciplinary approaches to Irish and Welsh culture. PI Connolly is Secretary to the British Association for Irish Studies and has co-convened Cardiff's Wales-Ireland interdisciplinary seminar series (2006-). This brings together scholars of history, language, literature and film and attracts a sizeable audience (from Film Studies and French as well as Welsh, History and English). Regular participants include members of the arts and political communities. Cardiff has hosted very successful conferences on Irish cultural topics. In 2002 Connolly ran a public day school on Irish and Welsh poetry. December 2007 will see a public lecture by Paul Muldoon on the Ireland-Wales theme. All of these events attracted outside funding (British Academy, Academi and Culture Ireland).
Partner Applicant O'Leary has regularly lectured, broadcast and commentated on both political devolution and the history of the Irish in Wales.