Life after partnership

As it becomes clear not only that "partnership" is being abolished from above across what the state sees as different "sectors" - unions, community organising, women's groups, LGBTQ activism, disability rights, environmentalism, development / solidarity work etc. etc. but also that we are heading into an assault on social movements the like of which we have not seen in some time, plans are starting to be formulated for an activist summer school asking who "we" are, what the situation is, and what we can do about it.

If anyone wants to know more, please email me at laurence.cox AT nuim.ie. Some background in this talk to the Egalitarian World Initiative / UCD Social Justice conference "Equality in a time of crisis", entitled "Another world is under construction? Social movement responses to inequality and crisis" and hosted by the kind people at Irish Left Review.

Spalpeens, Gombeens, Squireens: Class Relations in Nineteenth Century Ireland

A one day interdisciplinary conference aiming to bring together researchers whose work offers an insight into the lives of ordinary people in nineteenth century Ireland. The particular focus is on class as those lives were bound up with production, domination, exploitation and conflict.

Given the relatively sparsely documented nature of this topic and the consequent challenges to research, employing the different approaches represented by different disciplines can be of great utility in giving us a fuller picture. In addition political/elite history is still the predominate focus of research on the Irish past, but a comprehensive understanding is only possible with a commensurate orientation towards the mass of the population. It is intended that the conference will attract the participation of people from different fields including post-medieval archaeology, historical geography, historical sociology, social history, and economic history (and others are welcome).

We are particularly interested in involving postgraduate students and early career scholars.

The conference will take place in N.U.I. Maynooth on Saturday the 31st of July 2010.

Persons interested in presenting should contact the conference organising committee Eoin O'Flaherty and Terry Dunne at classconferencenuim@gmail.com with the following:

• Working title of paper.

• An abstract of no more than 250 words.

• Contact details: telephone number, e-mail address, institutional affiliation.

• Audio-visual requirements (overhead projector, DVD, VCR etc.).

Deadline for submission of abstracts: Monday 21st of June 2010.

There may be a nominal registration fee (e.g. approx. €20) – further details to be confirmed, we would appreciate it if people planning on attending but not presenting also notify us by Monday the 21st of June at classconferencenuim@gmail.com