Research

Irish Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand (ISAANZ) Conference 27

The Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies hosted the 27th Irish Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand Conference 20-22 November 2025 at the University of Otago.

Health, Wellness and Care

Keynote speakers

• Dr Emma Donoghue, author of The Wonder and The Pull of the Stars
• Dr Paul Fagan (LMU Munich), lead researcher of ‘Celibacy in Irish Women’s Writing, 1860-1950s’
• Dr Ida Milne (Carlow College), author of Stacking the Coffins: Influenza, War and Revolution in Ireland,
• Dr Robert Sullivan (Ngāpuhi, Kāi Tahu, Irish; Massey), author of Hopurangi―Songcatcher: Poems from the Maramataka.

Description

In late November we were delighted to welcome to Dunedin delegates from Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, America, Europe and, of course, Ireland for the 27th ISAANZ conference. This session’s theme of ‘Health, Wellness and Care’ provoked talks and discussions of the highest quality, with speakers presenting on topics as diverse as the communities of care in Irish migrants in colonial Victoria (Dianne Hall), mortality in Irish soldiers discharged from imperial regiments in New Zealand (Kathryn Patterson), medical migration from Ireland to New Zealand (Michael Brosnan) and illness in Mike McCormack’s Solar Bones (Matthew Ryan). Symmetries in research focus made for robust panels – Emma-Jean Kelly and Patrick McCabe evocatively addressed Irish deaths in New Zealand asylums and tracked the implications of the Report of the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care, while the panel on mental health in Irish Australia (Malcolm Campbell, Kevin Molloy and Mark Finnane) was an excellent counterpoint.

Nor were the papers by literary scholars lacking, from considerations of tuberculosis (Peter Kuch) and nutritional health (Matthew Hayward) in Ulysses to abortion in Dymphna Cusack’s Jungfrau (Pascale Grard) to care and racial dynamics in Anita Heiss’ Dirrayawadha (Maggie Nolan).

We were very privileged to have excellent keynote lectures. Paul Fagan’s opening talk set the tone perfectly, as he provided a fascinating insight, via Kate O’Brien’s The Ante-Room, into queer, emancipatory celibacy, and considered the celibacy plot, a narrative arc that refuses the legal, economic, social, and cultural restrictions that marriage places upon women. On the second day Robert Sullivan (Ngāpuhi Nui Tonu, Kāi Tahu Whānui, Irish) reflected on the role of the maramataka, or traditional Māori lunar calendar, in his poetry, providing delegates great insights into modes of indigenous wellbeing and offering them the space to share and kōrero (talk). Robert had just been made the Poet Laureate of Aotearoa New Zealand, and we were extremely lucky to have him there. Our last keynote of the conference came from Ida Milne, who provided insights (of varying degrees of gruesomeness!) into her important work on both the 1918–19 pandemic and Covid19.

In addition to these keynote lectures, we were joined remotely by our guest writer, Emma Donoghue, who spoke fully and generously on her two nurse novels, The Wonder and The Pull of the Stars. We offered online participation and were able to hear talks from members such as Rodney and Robin Sullivan who spoke about Irish involvement in the Pacific Islands Labour Trade, Fergal McDonald on truth and memory in Northern Ireland and Matthew L. Reznicek who shared research his on gothic concepts of care.

It’s always a pleasure to get to celebrate members’ publications, and John Clancy spoke on his forthcoming novel A Bard on the Pampas: A Story of Irish Migration to Argentina while Paul Fagan warmly launched Marion Quirici’s important new monograph Fitness for Freedom: Disability, Degeneration, and Modern Irish Writing (Syracuse, 2025).

The presentations were joined by social events, including the opening reception, generously funded by the Irish Embassy and for which we were joined by Her Excellency Jane Connolly, the Irish Ambassador to New Zealand, as well as the Pro-Vice Chancellor of the Humanities, Hugh Campbell. The Hocken Library provided a tour of the stacks and the conference dinner saw us well-fed at the university staff club.

With over 60 people participating I cannot name all the excellent talks (do look over the programme, which is still available on the ISAANZ website) but I am very grateful to all delegates for sharing their work and engaging in the three days so fully and enthusiastically. Many thanks to my fellow ISAANZ committee members for their help and support and to the Division of Humanities, as well as the Marsden Fund, for their financial assistance.

More information

https://isaanz.org/cfp-isaanz-27-health-wellness-and-care/

Irish in Aotearoa New Zealand

The Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies was selected by the Embassy of Ireland, New Zealand to lead a research project on the Irish in New Zealand.

The lead investigator was Professor Sonja Tiernan, then Eamon Cleary Chair of Irish Studies and co-director of the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Otago. The project was funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ireland.

The results were published in December 2020 as Irish in Aotearoa: Mapping the Irish Community and People of Irish heritage in New Zealand, and including a foreword by the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins.

Irish in Aotearoa: Mapping the Irish Community and People of Irish heritage in New Zealand is the first national project recording the number of Irish born, people of Irish heritage and with an affinity for Ireland living in New Zealand. The project also engages with a selection of Irish community groups in New Zealand.

An interactive map of New Zealand accompanies the research report. The map includes data for Irish population figures for each region of the country. It is possible to customise your own search relating to the Irish in New Zealand to identify detailed figures according to occupation, income, age and gender for individual regions.

It is hoped that these report findings will inspire further research into shared connections between New Zealand and Ireland.

Irish in Aotearoa:

Mapping the Irish Community and People of Irish Heritage in New Zealand (PDF)