In a referendum held on May 25, 2018, by a two-thirds majority, voters cast a “yes” ballot to repeal the Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution. That amendment had acknowledged “the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, [guaranteed] in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.” As a result, on September 18th of the same year, the constitutional ban on abortion was eliminated.

This special issue aspires to serve as an archive of the narratives on both sides of the Repeal the Eighth campaign. Such documentation is crucial in its own right, and also in light of existing or potential restrictions on abortion rights in other jurisdictions, currently being challenged. The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies has a well established scholarly reputation as a ground-breaking transdisciplinary publication with exceptional aesthetic qualities. Past special issues of CIS were devoted to such themes as queering Ireland, Irish eco-criticism, and Irish food studies (content can be accessed online through JSTOR and EBSCO).

This call for papers follows a series of stimulating presentations on the topic, that were given at this year’s annual conference of the Canadian Association for Irish Studies held at Concordia University in Montreal in June 2019. We hope, in the Repeal the Eighth special issue, to build on this exciting momentum. We therefore invite submissions that explore diverse aspects of the campaign and its aftermath, from an intersectional perspective. As is characteristic of CIS we encourage works derived from many disciplines and methodologies: text–based articles that address political, historical, legal, socio-cultural and/or other issues; studies that focus on image based materials such as information design (logos), posters, wearables; collaborative activities such as the “Not at Home message board in Temple Bar; original artwork, stories, poetry, etc. Maximum length for text-based articles is approximately 7000 words. High-resolution, copyright-clear images are welcomed, the number for each submission to be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Deadline for submission of abstracts: September 30, 2019. Please email a 250–word abstract plus a 150–word biography to cjis.rcei@concordia.ca. 

Co-editors: Dr. Linda King, Co-Programme Chair of the BA (Hons) in Visual Communication Design, Institute of Art, Design + Technology; Board Member, National Museum of Ireland

Jane McGaughey, Associate Professor of Diaspora Studies, School of Irish Studies, Concordia University President, Canadian Association for Irish Studies

Rhona Richman Kenneally, Professor of Design and the Built Environment, Dept. of Design and Computation Arts and Fellow and co-founder, School of Irish Studies, Concordia University; former editor, Canadian Journal of Irish Studies