Belfast: the urban experience 1613-1939
As Belfast approaches the 400th anniversary of the granting of corporate borough status in 1613, the Institute of Irish Studies and the School of History and Anthropology at Queen’s University, Belfast, in association with the School of Arts and Social Sciences, Northumbria University, are staging an interdisciplinary conference on the urban history of Belfast. The rapid rise of nineteenth-century Belfast as an industrial centre and its integral position within a regional Irish Sea economy contributed to an urban experience scarcely replicated in other Irish towns. Consequently, Belfast represents a unique case study for the study of urbanisation in an Irish context.
Papers from post-graduate and early career-researchers are particularly welcome. Possible themes include:
- Urban collective identity: parades, processions and commemorations
- Belfast’s place in the Irish economy/Belfast’s place in the British economy
- The problems of urban/industrial expansion: poverty and exclusion; dislocation
- Civil and associational culture in an urban environment: clubs, societies and associations
- Belfast as a port city: Industrial and cultural networks
- Migration: British labour and capital in an Irish setting
- Division and integration
- Landscapes
We welcome proposals for 20 minute papers. The deadline for submissions is Friday 28 May 2010. Proposals of c.200 words and a brief biographical note to Dr Olwen Purdue, Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s University, Belfast, o.purdue@qub.ac.uk , and Kyle Hughes, School of Arts and Social Sciences, Northumbria University kyle.hughes@northumbria.ac.uk,
