Mothering in Contemporary Ireland: Issues, Images and Actions.

Saturday June 9th, 2007

Venue: O’Rahilly Building, UCC, Room 123

Programme:

9.30 - 10.10                 Registration and coffee

10.10-10.15                 Welcome

10.15 -10. 30               Poetry: Liz Willows

10.30 – 11.30             Keynote Address and discussion:

Dr Andrea O’Reilly: Associate Professor in the School of Women’s Studies at YorkUniversity, Toronto, Ontario.

11.30 – 11.45                                      Coffee

11.45. – 1.15               Session I

Patricia Kennedy (Senior Lecturer in Social Policy UCD)

Woman-centered Childbirth in the North East of Ireland

Clare Boyle RGN, RM, BSc(Nursing)

Breastfeeding in Ireland – Teaching the Converted.

Clare O’Hagan (UL, IRCHSS Scholar)

The Elephant in the Corner: the influence of normative constructions of motherhood on working mothers in Ireland

1.15 -2.10                                            Lunch

2.10-2.40                                          Session II

Hazel O’Brien (WERRC, UCD) Living in the Shadow of a Marriage: the effects of divorce on lesbian parents and their children.

2.40-3.10                     Session III     

Anna Kingston (UCC)

Becoming Resilient Agents: Exploring the lives of Mothers of Children with Special Needs.

3.10-4.10                     Session IV                 

Niamh Hehir  (UL)

Remote Madonnas, Caves and Wrenching Meditations: Representations of Maternity, and Jouissance as Inspiration in Medbh McGuckian’s The Book of the Angel.

Barbara Dunne (Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology)  

Mother Mary; Representations of the Black Madonna in Ireland.

4.10-4.20                                             Coffee

4.20 - 5.00                                           Plenary session and close of conference