XIV Symposium of Irish Studies in South America: “The State of the Art: Local and Global Contexts in Dialogue”

The year of 2019 is an important one for Irish Studies in South America, as it commemorates the thirtieth anniversary of the Brazilian Association of Irish Studies
(ABEI). The Association was established in 1989, and remained under the supervision of Professor Munira H. Mutran and Professor Laura P. Z. de Izarra until 2018. Since its
inception, ABEI has been dedicated to the study of Irish culture, literature, arts and
history in Brazil. It has supported a wide range mobility programs as well as of MA
dissertations and PhD theses within the post-graduate programme at the University of
São Paulo – USP. Alongside this, ABEI is celebrating close connections with other Irish
Studies Associations in North and South America and beyond.
The theme of this year’s conference, “The State of the Art: Local and Global Contexts in Dialogue”, aims to promote discussions around multifarious art forms, including literature, theatre, cinema, history. A nation is constantly transformed throughout its history, and its politics, culture and identity have always been intertwined with artistic expression. In the essay “Irish Theatre: the State of the Art” (2000), although
Fintan O’Toole aims to discuss modern Irish theatre, his reflections could be extended
to other genres when he writes about the way in which great artists add their personal distinctions to a greater distinction of time and place. Yet, he questions that “if the greatness of the artist is dependent on the greatness of the times, if artistic originality is, in some sense continued by time and place, then, what is distinctive about this particular time and this particular place? Is there a national or intellectual mood to be interpreted? Is it possible to talk of the nation or its moods in the singular?”