3rd ICIS conference; 1st annual UC Berkeley St Patrick's day celebration

1^st annual UC Berkeley St Patrick's day celebration Noon-10pm

Schedule

Noon Kurka Boshkin play at Memorial stadium, UC Berkeley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QycRVt8Xf8

1-30-10pm Third conference of the International Congress of Irish Studies

Sponsored by the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict , and the International Congress of Irish Studies

Introduction by Prof Dan Melia (Emeritus, UC Berkeley)

Part 1: The (American ) Irish Diaspora

1-30 pm 370 Dwinelle UC Berkeley 8^th annual UC Berkeley St Patrick's day lecture

Prof Christopher O'Sullivan (USF)

“The Irish in California”

The Irish in California:

Global Diaspora, National Implications

The Irish seem to have been in California forever yet there is no evidence that St. Brendan ever explored the Pacific Coast. Nonetheless, even prior to the Gold Rush, people of Irish ancestry played enormous roles in shaping California’s destiny, particularly its landscapes, its culture and, most important, its politics. The Irish contributed to California in three major ways: First, as empire builders, with figures such as the mysterious Irish priest Father Eugene Macnamara, who sought to build an Irish nation in the San Joaquin Valley in the 1840s; San Francisco’s first millionaire, Sam Brannan; and the four Irish millionaires known to posterity as the Silver Bonanza Kings. Second, the Irish made lasting contributions as planners, surveyors, and engineers with figures such as Jasper O’Farrell, architect of San Francisco’s city plan; and Michael O’Shaughnessy and William Mulholland, both of whom shaped the destinies of San Francisco, Los Angeles and the state of California with unprecedented water projects. Finally, and perhaps most important, were the Irish contributions to politics, with figures such as the Workingmen’s Party leader Denis Kearney; San Francisco’s “Blind Boss” Chris Buckley; the “Renaissance Prince” of San Francisco, Mayor Jimmy Phelan, and his chief adversary, the Galway-born champion of labor, Father Peter C. Yorke. However, the most important Irishman in California history may have been the long-forgotten and misunderstood U.S. Sen. David C. Broderick who, both in life and, more consequentially, after his shocking murder, kept California in the Union column.

Part 2: Conflict and resolution on the island of Ireland

2-30 pm Seán Ó Nualláin UOI

“Why Prime Minister Gerry Adams is unlikely to invade Northern Ireland”

Abstract

By April 2016, the 100^th anniversary of the Easter rising that gained Ireland a measure of independence, it is likely that Gerry Adams will be Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland. Moreover, as his lieutenant Martin McGuinness has stated, it is likely that the set of elections in early 2016 for the Westminster and Northern Ireland assemblies will make a United Ireland inevitable. With Sinn Fein fulfilling their master plan of being in government in both jurisdictions of the island, neither of which jurisdictions they recognized until recently, they may be tempted to simply send the army over the border. This paper argues that Adams has his eye on another anniversary and will simply let the border melt away. 1919 was the first meeting of the “provisional” government after which his paramilitary organization was named, and from which it claimed its role as the legitimate government of the whole island from 1919 to 1999. It is in keeping with Adam's extreme-long term thinking that it is also the 850^th anniversary of the first Anglo-Norman invasion.

3pm David SchoenholzerDepartment of Economics UC Berkeley

“"Political Marches, Neighborhood Composition and Violence in Northern Ireland"

Abstract: We study the effect of political marches on violence in Northern Ireland. To this end, we construct a new dataset for the main conflict period of 1969-1979, geocoding all 1,844 casualties of political violence, collecting locations on political marches and daily rainfall data. We use a difference-in-difference design to estimate the change in violence during marching season in wards where marches took place to those where no marches took place. We find significant effects accounting for about 50 casualties. We also find that this effect is stronger for Catholic victims targeted by state forces. In months with a lot of rain, marching wards exhibit no more violence than non-marching wards, suggesting that lower attendance may lead to lower violence.

Part 3 Irish Gothic

3-30pm Tom Walsh (UC Berkeley) Title TBC

4 pm Clemens Ruthens "Trinity, Dublin and Dracula: A Bit(e) of Bram Stoker"

Part 4: St Patrick, Man and Myth

The historical St Patrick is a fugitive figure, as one would expect
looking across  a chasm of  over 1.5 millennia. This has allowed
various concepts to be projected on him; a Briton who yet becomes the
most potent rallying-symbol for the entire Irish diaspora; a liberator
who seems to have been involved in expunging the native Celtic
traditions

Yet we have two documents from him that indicate a well-defined
subjectivity; his confessions and the letter to Coroticus.  It is
interesting how different  the songs celebrating him are from these.
“Dóchas linn Naomh Pádraig” speaks of his Druidic opponents as being
“useless, and hard of heart” and “He cleansed them for us forever,
great glory to our dear saint!”

By contrast, the Lorica of Saint Patrick declares  “ I arise today.
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity” and
continues to refer to the Druidic concept of “niurt”, a divine
strength pervading the cosmos. According to respected  researchers
like O Duinn of the University of Limerick, there is a sly reference
to the Chandogya Upanishad, with Christ rather than the infinite
invoked to be beside, behind and above the speaker.

The Lorica of Saint Patrick was almost certainly written several
centuries after Patrick’s death. It may represent a historic
compromise between the Druidic remnants still existent and a
Christendom weakened by the fall of the Roman empire. It is a text
plunged in the kind of nature mysticism that O Duinn insists is
central to the Druidic tradition. As such, it resembles Tibetans'

equally successful reconstruction of Indian Buddhism.

The ebbing of Christendom has again  been experienced by 21st century
Ireland, leaving moral chaos..

4-30 pm Prof Dan Melia (Emeritus, UC Berkeley) on a redating of St Patrick's mission to the mid 4^th century from the received date of 432

5pm Reception and Vernal equinoctal Bacchanal – Durant hotel

7-30pm Melanie O''Reilly and Frank Martin perform ethno-jazz, Cafe Trieste, San Pablo, Berkeley

We propose giving the Lorica an ethno-jazz setting,
with Celtic and other themes. We propose also an indirect tribute to
our late friend, Dave Brubeck, by setting “Ailiu Iath eirann” with its
celebration of the physical land of Ireland to 5:4; the fact the lines
in general have 5 syllables making this possible.

Bios

Melanie O''Reilly was Ireland's representative at the Euro-Jazz festival at UCLA in 2013

Melanie O''Reilly and Frank Martin's Joyce & Jazz Suite already had an invite and grant to be performed at Cork Jazz Festival as part of the Jazz Gathering, in 2013.
Both Joyce & Jazz Suite AND the Sean O Riordain pieces have been
recorded on Ceol Ceantair CD and these pieces were performed at NCH,
-this concert was picked as one of the top ten concerts of the 2103,
by Ireland's Sunday Independent. The Sean O Riordain pieces were performed part of Dublin's IMRAM festival in 2014; among other current Imran projects is the Doors in Gaelic, featuring Ray Manzarek's saxplayer George Brooks.

Frank Martin is an SF bay area music legend and one of the world's greatest pianists in any genre.


PS We had another outstanding success with an audience of over a thousand over all the events Photos of the conference and late gig include Mel  ;Tom Walsh and Dan Melia (UC Berkeley)

and Clemens Ruthens (Trinity, Dublin). Next time a pro photographer, I hope;