Date: Mar 26, 2010

"The Easter Rising and Today" – A Speech by Former Boston Mayor Raymond L. Flynn Thursday, April 8, 2010, 9:30 a.m.

Guthart Cultural Center Theater, 1st Floor Axinn Library, South Campus

Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY … The Irish Monument Committee, the Irish Studies Program at Hofstra University and the Irish Consulate General proudly present “The Easter Rising and Today,” by Raymond L. Flynn, former Mayor of Boston, who will reflect upon the legacy and contemporary implications of the Easter Rising. Mayor Flynn also served as United States Ambassador to the Holy See appointed by President Bill Clinton.

This presentation will take place on Thursday, April 8, at 9:30 a.m. at Hofstra University’s Guthart Cultural Center Theater, located on the 1st floor of the Axinn Library, South Campus. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information call (516) 463-6182.

This event is the first in a series of annual lectures leading up to the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising. Each year until 2016 Hofstra University’s Irish Studies Program will work with the Irish Monument Committee and the Irish Consulate General to invite leading luminaries to campus to share their perspective on the past, the present, and the future of Ireland. The centennial will feature a major international academic conference on the Easter Rising.

Participants in the Easter Rising of 1916 envisioned alternative futures for Ireland, politically, economically, socially, and culturally. While defeated soundly in military terms, heightened Irish nationalist mobilization in its aftermath brought about some but not all of these changes.  The Easter Rising demonstrates the power of vision and acts of sacrifice and  also shows how one event can simultaneously galvanize and divide a population.

The approach of the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising provides an opportunity to reflect upon the contemporary implications of the Easter Rising and related events. What, if any, lessons does the Easter Rising hold for the peace process in Northern Ireland, transatlantic relations and the role of the diaspora in Irish affairs, European and global integration, economic and fiscal crises, class inequalities, growing ethnic diversity, the  status of women, environmental challenges, and church-state relations?

Irish Studies at Hofstra University is an interdisciplinary program with rich course offerings and events on Ireland's past and present. By studying the cultures, Diaspora, economy, history, politics, and social relations of Ireland, we develop an awareness of ways that the Irish have both shaped and been shaped by other societies, including the United States. Created in the Spring of 2008 by Drs. Gregory Maney and Maureen Murphy, the Irish Studies Program was the first of its kind on Long Island.

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