University of Sunderland

Postmodernism and Postcolonialism

Members of this research group have been engaged in the following activities:

• The establishment of the Northern Association for Postcolonial Studies (NAPS), a research collective set up to facilitate collaboration in the subject area across the UK, but with its administrative hub at the universities of Sunderland and Newcastle. Its first seminar was held at the University of Newcastle (summer 2007), and the second in Sunderland, with Lord Desai as the scheduled speaker (December, 2007).

• An annual Irish Studies conference (2003 onwards), to which several English staff have contributed (Prof. Terry was a plenary speaker at the 2006 conference, for example), has established Sunderland as a major centre for Irish Studies in the UK. The conference has drawn scholars from around Europe and North America, as well as from the UK and Ireland. Two volumes of conference proceedings have been published by the University of Sunderland Press in 2005 and 2007, the latter edited by Prof. Strachan. Prof. Willy Maley (University of Glasgow), an internationally renowned specialist in Irish Studies, was appointed as Visiting Professor in English in 2006. Over the past 4 years the conference has been awarded over £10,000 in external funding.

• The initial Irish Studies conference led to a collaborative venture between the universities of Sunderland and Durham: the North-East Irish Culture Network (NEICN), constituted as a society with an open membership. NEICN aims to forge close links between academic research into Irish Studies and the local Irish community. Prof. Strachan is a member of its executive board. NEICN has a Visiting Speakers Programme to which several distinguished academics and creative writers have contributed (Bernard O'Donoghue, for example).

• A major research project on Consumer Culture in Ireland, 1848-1904 is in process of being developed under the auspices of NEICN. It involves collaboration with the School of English, Durham (Prof. P. Waugh and Dr J. Nash), University College, Dublin, the Royal Irish Academy, and the National Library of Ireland, and is led as Principal Investigator by Prof. Strachan. An Outline Application was approved by the Leverhulme Trust in April 2007 in connection with a bid for £248,000 over three years (second-stage bid to be submitted shortly). This project (if fully funded) will involve the appointment of a Research Fellow based at Sunderland and a PhD studentship for each department.