A recent assessment of the state of the humanities (Williams, “The New Humanities,” Chronicle of Higher Education, 14 Nov. 2019) speaks of the rise of “hybrid humanities” — increasingly collaborative research ventures built around subjects and approaches such as the environment, digital methods, global networks, and public-facing scholarship. And proficiency, if not mastery, in a second discipline after graduate school seems to be an emerging interest (and even need) among researchers according to an upcoming report on the needs of faculty in literature and writing studies conducted by Ithaka S+R and the MLA International Bibliography. What are the challenges and opportunities of the practice of Irish Studies in 2021? What should Irish Studies graduate education look like in the context of calls for hybrid disciplinary approaches? How have the traditional aspects lending visibility to Irish Studies, including its stable of well-known writers, both hindered and helped define the boundaries of the discipline? How should advisors tailor their mentoring to emerging trends, and how should students shape their studies to meet new needs?

The MLA Irish Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Forum seeks graduate student and faculty participants for a roundtable discussion on the future of the practice of Irish Studies to be held at the 2021 MLA meeting in Toronto, Canada. Interested participants should send a short description of an aspect of this topic that they would like to address and a summary CV to forum chair Nicholas Wolf, nicholas.wolf@nyu.edu. Deadline for submission is 20 March, 2020.