With funding received from the Sibeal Postgraduate Network Small Grants Scheme, the event “Women’s Bodies: Creative and Academic Responses” took place on 17^th May in the Black Box, Belfast. This event marked the official launch of the regional Belfast Sibeal group. The event was designed as an interdisciplinary forum where postgraduate students from Queen’s University and the University of Ulster could present and discuss their work related to the theme of women and bodies. The theme of the event provided grounds for discussion of a range of issues and topics including reproductive self determination, prostitution and bodily subversion.

Four doctoral and one Master’s student from a variety of disciplines such as Law and Politics to English, Arts and Drama, presented their work at the event; from the University of Ulster Caireen McCluskey and Emma Campbell presented papers entitled “When Home is Where the Hurt is” and “When They Put Their Hands Out Like Scales: The Secret Journeys of Abortion Seekers in Northern Ireland”. From Queen’s University Belfast, Kathryn McNeilly, Caitriona Reilly and Catherine McGurren also presented work entitled  “Judith Butler’s Bodies: Subversive Possibilities”, “The Female Body as a Political Site: The Politics of Abortion in Performance” and “Consuming Bodies: Escort Ireland and the Discourse of Sex”. Over twenty-five postgraduate students and researchers attended the event and discussion of the issues was particularly engaging. The event is intended to be the first of a range of activities related to Sibeal in Belfast.

Sibéal, in association with Gender, Culture & Society @ UL, launched the Sibéal Conference Special Issue of Socheolas Student Journal of Sociology on Friday the 27th of April at the University of Limerick.

The special issue – arising from the Sibéal Conference 2011 hosted at UL and entitled Feminist Scholarship, Activism and Creativity – was officially launched by feminist activist and academic, Dr. Ailbhe Smyth.

Dr. Eoin Devereux, Senior Lecturer of the Head of the Department of Sociology at UL, opened proceedings and outlined the history of Socheolas and congratulated its editor Dr. Cliona Barnes and her team on this high quality publication.  The journal publishes students’ work in both an online and print format and offers students the opportunity to experience the process of paper submission, review, editing and publication as well as improving their overall writing and sociological skills.

In her introduction, Dr. Breda Gray, Senior Lecturer and Course Director of the MA in Gender, Culture and Society at UL,  gave a comprehensive history of Dr. Ailbhe Smyth’s career in academia and her invaluable contributions to Women’s Studies and Feminist and LGB Activism in Ireland.

Following this, Dr. Smyth delivered an inspiring talk on feminism and gender studies, which focused on the eight articles in this Socheolas Special Issue, authored by Sibéal members. Dr. Smyth gave an overview of each of the eight articles in the journal. She described how she thoroughly enjoyed reading the diverse pieces of research and provided a detailed analysis of each contribution. Dr. Smyth drew parallels between concerns raised in the articles and current socio-political issues. She congratulated the authors on their articles and recognised the challenges to imposed thinking that each of them represents. Dr. Smyth congratulated Sibéal as a network for its inter and transdisciplinary work, and its continuing efforts to promote scholarship in feminist and gender studies. She urged emerging feminist scholars to confront the difficulties facing society and to continue to acknowledge the value of contest and challenge.

The Sibéal Special Issue can be accessed at:
http://www3.ul.ie/sociology/socheolas/vol4/1/

The Sibéal board members would like to congratulate the eight authors: Erika Bernacchi, Aoife Connolly, John McMahon, Aoife Neary, Shamra Smith, Evelyn Aguirre-Sulem, Elaine Hoysted and Meghanne Flynn on their contributions to Sibéal’s first publication.

Gendered Spaces; Gendered Times
CALL FOR PROPOSALS

• The Gendered Spaces of History
• Gendered Times and Science
• Gendered Bodies and Cyberspace
• Feminist Identities and Gendered Times
• Representations of Gender in Cultural Spaces (visual culture, popular culture, literature)
• Feminist Theory and Gendered Spaces
• Gendered Times and the Law
• Gendered Spaces and Religion
• Constructions of Masculinist and Feminitst Spaces
• Are Gendered Spaces Valid in This Time?

Abstracts or proposals of no more than 250 words should be completed on the submitted using the proposal form:

Proposal Form

(right-click and select ‘Save Link As’ to download)

Further details on proposal-submission are outlined on the template. Deadline for submission is 10^th September 2012. For any preliminary enquiries, please email genderedspacesgenderedtimes@gmail.com or message on Síbeal Postgraduate Network on Facebook.

Key Dates

Submission of Abstracts/Proposals:         10^th September

Conference:                                                       24^th November

Downloads & Resources:

Call for Proposals: Proposal Form Template

The Sibéal Gender and Feminist Studies Network invite you to the launch of it’s Belfast Network to explore current study on gendered bodies within the context of Northern Ireland. This interdisciplinary event will include a number of postgraduate students from Queens University and the University of Ulster presenting their work, and opportunity for discussion in an open environment.

Who should come to this event?
Postgraduates, researchers, those with an interest in gender studies.

Why should you come to this event?
To network, meet other researchers, discuss research in a friendly environment.

Light refreshments will be provided.

The group propose to hold a roundtable event based on the theme ‘Women’s Bodies: An Academic and Creative Response‘. This theme is an issue of particular relevance in Northern Ireland and one which can generate a wide range of academic and creative multi-disciplinary responses.

The event will be a half day dedicated to discussing issues such as the gendering of bodies, female reproductive rights and representations of women’s bodies in the media.

It will begin with an exhibition and screening of a film by local artist Emma Campbell whose Master’s work was based on the theme of the journeys women have had to take from Ireland to England in order to access abortion services. There will then be papers/responses from post-graduates researching gender in a variety of disciplines from Law, Politics and Sociology to English, Art and Drama. To conclude, there will be a short creative writing workshop on the theme of women’s bodies in which participants can generate their own response to the event.

Further details and dates for this event to follow.

The application was submitted by Caireen McCluskey on behalf of the Belfast Regional Sibéal Network.

Where: Sean O’Casey Community Centre, Dublin 3 (map)
Why: To assess where the feminist movement is today, what its future holds, and what we can learn from the past
Facebook Event link here

The IFN invites you to an all-day event on the theme ‘Feminist Activism in Ireland: Past, Present and Future’ to be held on Saturday, May 19th.

Join us for discussions on successive feminist ‘waves’ in Ireland, and what they contributed and continue to contribute to gender equality in this country. We will hear from prominent feminist activists and scholars, such as Dr. Mary McAuliffe from the Women’s History Association of Ireland, and Dr. Margaret Ward, expert on the Irish suffrage movement.

The conference aims to create a dialogue between the different generations of feminists, and will place current campaigns in the context of the movement as a whole. While showcasing new, recently established feminist organisations, such as Cork Feminista, the conference will also assess the continuity of feminist activism over the decades. We hope that such a holistic reading of feminist activism in Ireland will prove fruitful for the future progression of the movement.

Further details on panel topics and our exciting line-up of speakers will follow. We hope to see you there!

We have managed to secure limited childcare facilities for this event, and places are reserved specifically for lone parents. They will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis. Please note that we will not be able to accommodate infants.  Information on the facilities here.

For any other special requirements, please let us know and we will try to accommodate you as best possible.

Tickets for this event available from here:
http://entertainment.ticketsolve.com/shows/126524819/events

Any questions? Contact us on irishfeministnetwork@gmail.com

For more information on the conference, check the IFN website or join their Facebook Event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/305989869471428/

The special issue – entitled Feminist Scholarship, Activism and Creativity- will be officially launched by feminist activist and academic, Ailbhe Smyth, at the University of Limerick on Friday the 27th of April at 1pm in the Millstream Common Room.

Now in its 4th issue, Socheolas is produced, edited and managed by a small team from within the Department of Sociology at the University of Limerick. The journal publishes high quality student work in both an online and print format and offers students the opportunity to experience the process of paper submission, review, editing and publication as well as improving their overall writing and sociological skills.

This event is a celebration of feminist academic scholarship in Ireland and showcases a selection of papers presented on a variety of themes at last year’s conference.

All are welcome!

Sibéal is able to offer a limited amount of funding for its members to organise regional events. Two €100 grants will be awarded. The event may be a seminar, a talk, a film screening, a fund-raiser or any other event that promotes feminist and gender research in Irish institutions. The money can be used to provide refreshments, pay travel expenses, hire facilities or pay for materials.

To apply for the Small Grants Scheme, please send your proposal to info@sibeal.ie by March 30^th. Applicant must be a current Sibéal member (where a group of students are applying, please nominate one representative as applicant). The is a free application, but will be a maximum of 3 pages, and will include:

• description of the event
• rationale
• proposed budget (with details of other possible financing secured)

Applications will be reviewed by the Sibéal Outreach Officers and the successful applicant will be notified by April 6^th.

We will be discussing what we want to use the group for in Belfast, and talking about the possibility of organising the first regional Sibéal event in Belfast in May/June.

Sibéal is a great opportunity to network with fellow postgraduate students from a range of disciplines, and offers opportunity to be part of a Ireland-wide group of scholars.

Club Room 5 (third floor)
Queen’s University Students’ Union
University Road, BT7 1NF Belfast
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
4:00pm until 5:30pm

For further information, please contact Kathryn McNeilly at: kmcneilly01@qub.ac.uk

The 4^th Annual Conference of the Sibéal Irish Postgraduate Feminist and Gender Studies Network: “Feminist Scholarship, Activism and Creativity” took place 25^th-26^th November at the University of Limerick.

The Sibéal annual conference is a unique event that aims to promote and disseminate the work of early-career researchers working in feminist and gender studies. The Sibéal Network is committed to promoting feminist and gender studies in Ireland and is confident that whilst doing this, the 2011 conference also brought feminist scholarship, activism and creativity into closer dialogue. “Feminist Scholarship, Activism and Creativity” succeeded in bringing together like-minded researchers to share research and learn from one another. It fostered cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional collaboration and provided a necessary space wherein current schools of thought could be evaluated. It also allowed for postgraduates to showcase creative approaches to scholarship and activism.

The conference launch and welcome event took place on Friday 25^th November. The conference launch consisted of a public talk by Dr.Cinta Ramblado Minero (UL), an oral history reading and an art exhibition by Evelyn Glynn (LSAD), and a reception with a performance by UL student and musician, Hannah O’Brien. The theme of the evening was women, confinement and social control, which stems from the research and activist interests of the Sibéal regional group in Limerick.

Dr. Cinta Ramblado Minero of the School of Languages, Literature, Culture and Communication delivered a talk on the theme of women, morality and social control. “Politics of Morality and the Morality of Politics: Women and Social Control in Ireland and Spain”. Dr. Ramblado’s talk gave a transnational perspective on the historical phenomenon of confining women. Examining women’s prisons in Franco’s Spain, she provided a comparative context for the Irish case of the Magdalene Laundries. The talk engendered discussion around memorialisation, ways forward and possible processes of reconciliation.

The talk was followed by a reading of a number of oral histories collected by Limerick School of Art and Design student Evelyn Glynn, which she gathered as part of her MA thesis on the Magdalene Laundry in Limerick. These powerful readings provided unique insights into the trajectory of the Good Shepherd Laundry on Clare Street, Limerick. The memories of survivors, of relatives of survivors and of relatives of the Good Shepherd nuns were voiced. The reading compelled the crowd gathered to bear witness to this long-silenced history. After the reading, attendees were guided to the exhibition area where Evelyn Glynn’s artwork was displayed. Those in attendance included postgraduates from universities across Ireland and the UK, faculty and students from UL and members of the public.

On Saturday 26^th November the “Feminist Scholarship, Activism and Creativity” conference was officially opened by Dr. Breda Gray (Head of Women’s Studies at UL). Dr. Gray’s inspiring opening address drew on the theme of women and confinement in the past and related it to confinement and regulation in the present. Dr. Gray discussed the changing regulation of gender and sexuality and liberal assumptions about progress from containment to liberation. In doing so, she emphasised the multiple ways in which gender and sex are regulated – particularly in relation to the bodies and practices of women, in the complex context of neoliberal global capitalism. Dr. Gray’s opening address highlighted the challenges facing contemporary society and simultaneously underscored the validity and necessity of feminist interventions.

Eighty conferees attended the Saturday proceedings. Attendees included University faculty from UL, UCD, UCC, NUIG, LIT and the Burren College of Art and Design; postgraduates from UL, UCC, TCD, NUIG, NUIM, UCD, DCU, MARY I, LSAD and NCAD, from QUB, the Open University, and the University of Warwick in the UK; undergraduates from UL and LIT; members of Limerick Women’s Network, the Irish Feminist Network and Cork Feminista, and members of the public.

Thirty-eight papers were delivered, and two workshops were convened. Papers ranged from feminist literary analyses of Twilight and Harry Potter; examinations of abortion in Ireland, Civil Partnership in Ireland, and lesbian motherhood; to reflections on undergraduate students’ reactions to the term “feminist”, and the links between feminism, activism and creativity in contemporary Ireland. The diverse range of papers engendered lively discussion in each of the panels. Two workshops were held: one shared with participants the toolkit of the Marriage Equality campaign for same-sex couples in Ireland, and the other offered participants the knowledge and skills for establishing and running successful activist campaigns. Senior academics in attendance commented on the high quality of papers delivered, and on the pioneering work being carried out by postgraduates in Ireland and the UK. The conference provided a vital space for formative feedback and dialogue and it allowed for networking and collaboration amongst postgraduates, faculty and activist groups.
In conjunction with the Department of Sociology at UL, a selection of papers from the conference will be published in a special issue of the Socheolas Limerick Student Journal of Sociology.

This special issue will be published in April 2012 and will be launched by feminist academic and activist, Ailbhe Smith, on April 27^th 2012.

To download this Conference Report as a Word doc:

Download Report

Photos from the Conference:

[Show as slideshow]

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