2-3 October 2020, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia

This conference seeks to build on the work of the Harvard Symposium on North American Gaelic Literature held at Harvard University in October 2017.

The conference organizers invite proposals for academic papers (20 minutes in length) exploring the history and presence of the Gaelic languages in North America, documenting the stories and experiences of Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx speakers, and tracing the languages’ cultural and literary footprints on this continent.

We welcome proposals from established and emerging scholars, including graduate students.

Paper topics could include:

• The history of Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx in North America.
• Irish and Scottish Gaelic manuscripts in and from North America.
•  Folk culture as mediated through the Gaelic languages in North America.
• Irish and Scottish Gaelic in print in North American newspapers and journals, historic and contemporary.
• Language communities or networks, past and present, e.g., Scottish Gaelic in Nova Scotia, Irish in Boston.
• Profiles of prominent North America-based Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx-speaking individuals.
• Recent sources for the study of Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx speakers in North America.
• The status of the Gaelic languages in North American academia.
• New speakers of Irish and Scottish Gaelic in North America: opportunities and obstacles.
• Historic and contemporary Irish-language and Scottish Gaelic writing from and about North America.
• Encounters between Irish and Scottish Gaelic speakers and other language communities in North America, including the Indigenous Peoples.

Please send your abstract (200 words) and a brief biography (50 words) by 1 March 2020 to: padraig.osiadhail@smu.ca

The conference’s keynote speakers are Máirín Nic Eoin (Dublin City University) and Màiri Sìne Chaimbeul (formerly of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Skye).

Conference organisers: Pádraig Ó Siadhail (Saint Mary’s University), Natasha Sumner (Harvard University), Aidan Doyle (University College Cork).