Island Voices taking place at Derry’s Tower Museum
The series, entitled ‘Border Crossings – navigating the frontiers of language, culture and identity’ will feature three lectures, the first of which – ‘Being Irish, Being British: Difference, similarity, and the work of imagining group boundaries’ – was delivered on Thursday by Dr Dominic Bryan, Reader in Social Anthropology at Queen’s University Belfast and former Director of the Institute of Irish Studies.
In his talk he examined the construction of group identities, the marking of ethno-national boundaries and the use of symbols and rituals in our society.
The second lecture in the series will be delivered by Robert Bell, formerly a supervisor of the NI Political Collection at the Linen Hall Library in Belfast and author of ‘The Book of Ulster Surnames’.
The talk takes place on Thursday 18th October, and is titled ‘The Anglo-Scottish Borders and the Plantation of Ulster’.
In his talk, Robert will explore the riding clans of the sixteenth century Scots-English border and how his study of surnames reveals that many of the skilled fighting men and those who fled persecution from the Scots-English border had a significant influence in shaping the character of the planter population in Ulster.
The Island Voices programme is funded by Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Good Relations Programme and delivered by Council’s Language Services in partnership with Council’s Heritage and Museum Services.
All lectures in the series are free and will take place in the Tower Museum from 1-2pm on each of the dates – lunch will also be provided.
Booking for the lectures is essential – so please secure your place by contacting the Tower Museum on 02871 372411 or email tower@derrystrabane.com
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