Migration, both to and from Ireland, has been part of the Irish experience for centuries, but the stories we tell about migrant experiences are often partial and skewed. While successful emigrants (and their descendants) are celebrated and remembered, the countless thousands who struggled have been largely forgotten, and migrants arriving on these shores have not always found the warm welcome on which the nation prides itself.
Historian Gillian O’Brien explores the history of Irish migration – in both directions – asking what light it sheds on who we are and what we value, and what lessons it might have for a time of rising hostility to migrants at home and abroad.
Gillian O’Brien is Professor of Public History at Liverpool John Moores University. Her books include The Darkness Echoing: Exploring Ireland’s Places of Famine, Death and Rebellion, Blood Runs Green: The Murder that Transfixed Gilded Age Chicago and the forthcoming The Shortest History of Dublin.
Buy tickets for each of the two talks by Gillian O’Brien; this event and Death Becomes Us: Tradition, Ritual & the Comedy of Grief for €25. Save €7. To avail of this bundle just add the tickets to your basket and the discount will automatically apply.
Book Tickets
| Thu 13 Aug, 5.00p.m. | €15/€13 | Book Now |
