Please notice that the deadline to submit papers to the Mexico conference has been extended to 2 March 2009.

Call for Papers

The time has come for SILAS to convene its first conference in the Americas. The Second SILAS Conference will be held in colonial Morelia, with the local support of the Instituto de Investigaciones Historicas at the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolas de Hidalgo. Researchers, students and independent scholars will share their work and experience on different aspects of Irish-Latin American relations.

Under the general title "Heroes, victims or villains? Irish Presentations and Representations in Latin America and the Caribbean", this meeting proposes to foster international and multidisciplinary approaches to the study of connections between Ireland, Latin America, the Caribbean and Iberia.

SILAS was founded in July 2003 to promote the study of relations between Ireland and Latin America. The range of interests of the Society spans the settlement, lives and achievements of Irish migrants to Latin America and their descendants, the contemporary presence of Ireland in the life and culture of Latin America and the presence of Latin Americans in Ireland.

The Society invites papers on any aspect of Irish-Latin American links from scholars and students in disciplines such as humanities and social sciences, including for example history, literature, geography, politics, economy and the arts. The aim of the conference is to promote the exchange of views and research findings on a diverse range of issues and on an inter-disciplinary basis. For further details and updates, please see the conference pages (www.irlandeses.org/mexico2009.htm).

Abstracts may be submitted in Spanish, Portuguese or English (c. 300 words). The conference working languages are Spanish and English. Please register and send your abstract using the Online Submission Form. Abstracts should be sent no later than 2 March 2009. Should you wish to attend the conference without presenting a paper, please register through the Online Submission Form by 30 June 2009

Online Submission Form:
http://www.irlandeses.org/mexico2009c.htm

"Irish Migration Studies in Latin America"
Call for Contributions
Volume 7, Number 2 (July 2009)

Literature, Arts and Culture
Guest Co-Editors:
Laura Izarra, University of Sco Paulo
Patricia Novillo-Corvalan, Birkbeck College, University of London

This issue will explore the literary, artistic, and cultural interactions between Ireland and Latin America, Spain, and Portugal. This complex interplay has contributed towards the creation of a long-standing dialogue, a reciprocal cultural exchange which has fostered strong and enduring links, and has woven a tapestry in which we can observe the myriad figures, letters, and places that have emerged from the confluence of different languages, artistic expressions, and cultural spheres. Irish artists, writers, and philosophers have cast their powerful spell in the Latin American imagination, as well as in the Iberian Peninsula. Equally significant is the inverse phenomenon, whereby the Irish have looked onto the Hispanic world, Portugal, and Brazil as an inexhaustible source of inspiration and enrichment for a wide range of creative endeavours. Contributions will be drawn from the fields of fine arts, music, theatre, cinema, photography, literature, travel writing and the humanities. Inter-disciplinary studies are also welcome and should make further explorations, including Latin American, Spanish and Portuguese writers and artists settled and working in Ireland, Irish cultural diaspora, and aspects of teaching Irish Literature, Arts and Culture in Latin American countries and in the Iberian Peninsula. We also welcome book, exhibition, theatre and film reviews. Articles in English must be emailed to the Guest Co-Editors (literature@irlandeses.org) no later than 27 May 2009 (articles in other languages no later than 27 April 2009).

Guest Co-Editors
Laura Izarra, Patricia Novillo-Corvalan
literature@irlandeses.org