Presentation Abstract

Faculty's Name: Mary C. Kelly

Co-registrant Names:

Type of Presentation: Research Paper Presentation: One or more registrants presenting a research paper

Presentation Title: "“Martyrology and Other Specters: Nationalist Ritualization of Death and Martyrdom in Famine-Era Boston"

Abstract:

This abstract introduces a presentation entitled “Martyrology & Meaning(s): Irish Nationalist Engagement with Death and Martyrdom in Famine-Era Boston.” During a sabbatical in spring 2025, Professor Kelly undertook new research in topics of urban Irish immigrant settlement in 19th century America, themes of religious, political and cultural negotiation, and Irish-American intellectual currents. Her presentation addresses popular engagement with themes of death and martyrdom, not as lived experiences, but rather as symbolic and figurative sites of nationalist representation in Famine-era Boston. From carefully-curated depictions of dead heroes that proliferated across contemporary nationalist expression in the city by the mid-1840s, examples of political rhetoric and imagery will be explored. The paper addresses these ethnic narratives at a profound moment for the city’s Irish, just as the Famine’s early stages began to drive shiploads of their compatriots across the Atlantic to Boston Harbor. The scale of Irish Famine settlement in the city proved consequential for decades to come. A visual presentation will accompany the paper.

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