SEIS Academic Forum Series (No.695)

Forum on Irish Studies

Ireland Transformed: the story of two referendums

Time:24 Oct,2018 13：00--14：50

Venue ：Room 115, SEIS

Lecturer：Jerusha McCormack

Abstract:

In the past three years, the people of Ireland voted, by a substantial majority, to legalize both gay marriage and limited, but pioneering, protocols for abortion. In effect, this is a social revolution. Even ten years ago one could not have predicted such radical legislation, but less popular support for such causes. How has this change come about? And how has it been brought about in a comparatively peaceful and orderly way? Answers to such key questions may indicate how Irish society is managing to transform itself in unexpected – if distinctly Irish – ways.

About the speaker:

Prof. Jerusha McCormack (University College, Dublin)concentrated on Irish, English, and Anglo-Irish literature in her earlier career.At BFSU since 2004 she has taught graduate seminars in American Studies, British Studies and Irish Studies, as well as co-teaching in China and the West, the course WCwCC. Together with John Blair, she produced a sourcebook of readings Western Civilization with Chinese Comparisons (WCwCC). Now the 4th edition, entitled Comparing Civilizations: China and the West (CCCW), is in press at Fudan University Press in Shanghai. Their most recent study, published in the USA by Rowman and Littlefield, is entitled Thinking through China.