2013 Press Releases
Ambassador of India to attend UCC conference honouring Irish Sikh scholar Max Arthur Macauliffe
The Ambassador of India to Ireland Mr Debashish Chakravarti is to attend a centennial conference at UCC this Friday 15 March, which will honour the work of Max Arthur Macauliffe, the great Irish scholar of the Sikh religion.
Macauliffe is deeply respected by Sikhs and scholars of Sikhism worldwide for his publications on Sikh scripture and history, but few realise he was an Irishman. The conference, which is organised by the Study of Religions Department, School of Asian Studies, UCC will see distinguished speakers from the USA, Canada, UK and Ireland gather at ‘Representing Sikhism’ to discuss Macauliffe, 100 years to the day since his death (11 September 1838 – 15 March 1913).
Speakers at the conference, which is free and open to the public, and which takes place at 2pm on Friday 15 March in the Western Gateway Building, UCC include:
- Tadhg Foley, Professor Emeritus of English, National University of Ireland, Galway
- Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh, Crawford Family Professor of Religion, Colby College, Maine, USA
- Anne Murphy, Chair of Punjabi Language, Literature, and Sikh Studies at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
- Christopher Shackle, Emeritus Professor of the Modern Languages of South Asia and Professorial Research Associate in the Department of the Study of Religions at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK
Born in Limerick and baptised as Michael McAuliffe, he began using ‘Max Arthur Macauliffe’ when he joined the Indian Civil Service in 1862 and was posted to Punjab. He is believed to have later converted to Sikhism.
Speaking ahead of the conference, Professor Brian Bocking, Head of the Study of Religions Department comments: "We are delighted to welcome the Ambassador of India to UCC for the first ever conference on Sikhism in Ireland. More than a century ago Macauliffe, an Irishman, devoted himself to the study of Sikhism and his achievements are well known in India. Yet Macauliffe's achievements have not been appreciated in Ireland - until now."
Professor Bocking added "We already introduce our students at UCC to the study of Sikhism and we hope to establish a lectureship in the subject before long. This conference in Cork has generated interest as far afield as India and the USA. It's a really significant milestone for the growth of Sikh Studies in Ireland and Europe".
The Ambassador of India to Ireland, Mr Debashish Chakravarti, will be accompanied by his wife, Mrs Adity Chakravarti.
‘Representing Sikhism’ will also see some coverage on the day by The Sikh Channel, a UK-based Sikh TV company with a wide viewership worldwide amongst the Sikh community. The centennial conference will be followed by a reception with Punjabi food and Bhangra music/dance. All are welcome.
For the full programme, please see http://www.ucc.ie/en/studyofreligions/research/macauliffe/ For further queries, please contact Professor Brian Bocking on b.bocking@ucc.ie or Tom McCarthy, Office of Media and Public Relations, UCC on media@ucc.ie or 021 4902371.