Global White Nationalism: From Apartheid to Trump

Thursday, 8 October 2020, 7 – 8:30pm

This panel discussion will consider the historical roots of contemporary white nationalism. Speakers will stress the importance of understanding white nationalism as an interconnected global movement. And they will analyze how white supremacism adapted to the challenged posed by decolonization and movements for racial equality. This event is held to mark the publication of Global White Nationalism by Manchester University Press and the speakers include the book's editors and three of its contributors.

Speakers:

Daniel Geary, TCD

Jennifer Sutton, Independent Scholar

Camilla Schofield, University of East Anglia

Bill Schwarz, Queen Mary London

Zoe Hyman, University College London

Kyle Burke, Hartwick College

Learn more at: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/

A seminar by Dr Ciarán Casey (University College Dublin) as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.

The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.

Recorded October 06, 2020.

There is a growing sense that the one certainty we can count on over the coming weeks, months, and years, is uncertainty. From the ancient stoics and philosophers to contemporary historians, writers and economists, thinkers have grappled with this concept and its implications. What can they tell us about our current predicament, and can we learn to tolerate uncertainty in our daily lives?

In our forthcoming Behind the Headlines, we explore what uncertainty means today. In the midst of a global pandemic, with looming lockdowns, an unsettled political climate, economic volatility and the spectre of false news, we will consider possible responses to life in the ‘age of uncertainty’ and discuss the ways in which unpredictability shapes our feelings about the future.

Speakers:

Professor Siobhán Garrigan, Loyola Chair of Theology, Head of School of Religion, TCD, will look at how Christianity offers a wealth of resources on how to cope with uncertainty … as well as quite a few examples of how not to cope with it.

Professor Kenneth Pearce, Ussher Assistant Professor in Berkeley Studies, Head of Department of Philosophy, TCD, will explore early modern traditions of philosophy and their approach to uncertainty, asking if making peace with uncertainty is essential for life in the modern world.

Professor Mani Ramaswami, Professor of Neurogenetics, Director of Trinity Institute of Neurosciences (TCIN), will examine uncertainty from the perspective of Neuroscience, looking at our brain's ability to accurately predict the future, and how we can use uncertainty to our advantage.

Carmel Crimmins, Financial Desk Deputy Editor, Reuters, will look at how we produce the news during a global pandemic with societies under lockdown, rumour and misinformation proliferating online and stories breaking on multiple fronts.

Learn more at: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/

Recorded October 05, 2020.

A seminar by Dr Robert Armstrong, Dr Graeme Murdock and Dr Simon Lewis (TCD) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.

The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.

Learn more at: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/

A seminar by Dr Bernadette Whelan (University of Limerick) as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.

The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.

Recorded September 24, 2020.

The Art + Science Reading Group is now a virtual gathering of thinkers, researchers and the incurably curious. Organised by PhD candidates Amelia McConville (School of English and Institute of Neuroscience) and Autumn Brown (School of Education and Science Gallery Dublin) and supported by Science Gallery Dublin and the Trinity Long Room Hub, the series will explore the evolutionary and revolutionary kinship between two approaches to understanding the universe and our place within it.

Art and science often share a cyclical relationship of exploration and illumination. How do these disciplines help us frame questions about the universe and in particular those forces we cannot see? This month we’re speaking with artist and researcher Alexandra Carr on her experimental approach to art, inspired by natural processes. How might a shared point of visual reference help democratise the big questions about the unknown and the unseen?

We will discuss Alexandra's artistic work in collaboration with physicists, geologists, and biologists including the development of biologically smart materials, and speak about her recent installations including an upcoming exhibition in Dublin, Solaris Nexum. Carr completed a foundation at Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design and a ceramics degree at Camberwell College of Art. She has exhibited work at the Fondation Cartier in Paris, in collaboration with Jean-Paul Gaultier. She has been commissioned work from seminal musicians Radiohead, and was recently shortlisted for the Arts@CERN COLLIDE International Award and longlisted for the Aesthetica Art Prize 2017, 2019 and 2020.

Learn more at: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/

Recorded March 09, 2020.

A public lecture by Professor Philip Dwyer (University of Newcastle) is organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub as part of the Out of the Ashes Lecture Series.

The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001 brought the question of iconoclasm and cultural heritage into stark relief for the first time in many years. The Taliban were portrayed as “barbarians” and “vandals”, but their act of destruction is part of a very long history of violence committed by people either bent on overthrowing the existing order – revolution – or erasing the past – a form of cultural cleansing. Sometimes the destruction even involves the physical remains of former kings, saints and political opponents.

While we have a good understanding of what iconoclasm is, we do not necessarily understand the iconoclasts themselves. Why do people feel compelled to destroy images that offend their religious or political sensibilities? Can any meaningful comparisons be drawn between, say, sixteenth-century Protestants and contemporary Islamicists destroying what they consider to be ‘false idols’? What connects the image-breakers across time? What do we lose by ‘purifying’ the past?

Drawing on a wide variety of examples that range from ancient Egypt through to contemporary debates about the removal of modern political and military icons, Philip Dwyer will present iconoclasm as both a religious and a political act that cuts across time and historical boundaries. Iconoclasm as an act of forgetting can tell us a great deal about how we prefer to remember the past, and what kind of societies we want to build in the future. As a form of violence, one that has existed throughout recorded history, it is central to understanding humanity’s cultural legacy.

About the Speaker

Philip Dwyer is Professor of History and founding Director of the Centre for the History of Violence at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He is the author of an acclaimed three-part biography of Napoleon and general editor of the four-volume Cambridge World History of Violence, due to be published in 2020.

About the Series

This three-year lecture series explores the theme of cultural loss and recovery across the centuries, from the destruction of the Library of Alexandria in antiquity to contemporary acts of cultural loss and destruction.

A panel of world-leading experts reflects on how societies deal with cultural trauma through reconstruction and commemoration, and on how the international community should respond to cultural loss.

The series is global in scope, pan-historical and multi-disciplinary in approach, and features a panel of international scholars and practitioners of the highest calibre.

Year 2 (2019–20) "Destroying" considers a form of cultural atrocity now subject to international war crimes prosecution—the deliberate targeting of cultural heritage as a means to control social memory and to erase identities. The programme includes a special panel event on the Four Courts Blaze of 1922 organized in association with the Irish National Committee of the Blue Shield. The basis for the Blue Shield is the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property and its additional first and second protocols, ratified by Ireland in 2018.

The Out of the Ashes lecture series is generously supported by Sean and Sarah Reynolds.

See details of the full series here https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/2018/out-of-the-ashes.php

Learn more at: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/

Recorded September 04, 2020.

The Art + Science Reading Group is a virtual group where researchers, artists, thinkers, and revolutionaries come to share ideas. Organised by PhD candidates Autumn Brown (Science Gallery Dublin and School of Education) and Amelia McConville (School of English and Institute of Neuroscience) and supported by Science Gallery Dublin and the Trinity Long Room Hub, the series explores the ways art and science shape one another and society.

This month we’re chatting with vocalist, composer, and researcher Síobhra Quinlan about the ways in which the Covid-19 pandemic may help us re-imagine and ethically reform our relationship with online creative spaces. During quarantine how many of us sought out inspiration, comfort, or escape in a live streamed concert, a gallery tour, or other social creative space? What have these experiences done for us, or communicated to technology companies? How can a post-human lens help us re-imagine, and create the ethical technological futures we want? With a special focus on two projects at Nokia Bell Labs, E.A.T Now, Other Voices Courage, and We Speak music, we’ll chat about these questions and more!

Síobhra Quinlan is an Irish vocalist, composer, producer, and researcher. Whilst doing an M. Phil in Music Composition at Trinity College in 2016/2017, Síobhra researched and revived the forgotten works of female singer-composers from 17C Italy which she then performed at The National Gallery of Ireland with David Adams, and at The National Concert Hall as part of International Women’s Day with Solomiya Maksymiv. Síobhra is also involved with outreach projects, working with artists currently living in Direct Provision through the mediums of music, drama & art. Her research will explore posthuman-art and intimacy as architects of our digital existence.

Learn more at: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/

Recorded October 14, 2019.

A lecture by David Lloyd organised by the School of Creative Arts.

David Lloyd is a seasoned UK radio programmer who's worked across a variety of formats for over forty years – from rock to pop to talk, news and contemporary music stations – as broadcaster, producer, and executive. His books How to Make Great Radio and Radio Secrets are proving essential for those seeking to understand the art and science of the medium in a fast-changing age. As a consultant, he works with radio stations, groups and industry bodies around the world to help build audiences. He also trains and lectures in presentation, production and compliance, supports research projects and licence applications, and is the Chairman of local TV channel, Notts TV.

Learn more at: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/

Recorded September 02, 2020.

This special Trinity Long Room Hub online event, which marked the seventh anniversary of the poet’s death (on 30th August, 2013) looked at the work of Seamus Heaney through five images which reflect his preoccupations and help us to understand his achievement in poetry. These images, were discussed by two leading scholars of Heaney’s work, Rosie Lavan and Chris Morash, evoke different moments in his career, from his early appearance in Vogue magazine to his humane meditations on the history of violence prompted by world events. Accompanied by selections from his poetry and prose read by the distinguished actor Adrian Dunbar, they also shed light on the influences and experiences – both public and private – which shaped Heaney’s imagination.

The event also marked the launch of Seamus Heaney and Society, by Rosie Lavan. Published in 2020 by Oxford University Press, this important new study discusses how the poet was shaped by his work as a teacher, lecturer, critic, and public figure.

Learn more at: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/