Conference: Improving Ireland? 11 to 12 November, UCD

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The annual conference of the Economic and Social History Society of Ireland will take place at University College Dublin on the 11th and 12th of November 2011.  The conference, organised by Catherine Cox and Lindsey Earner-Byrne, is entitled ‘Improving Ireland?’.  The conference will ask: what was improvement, and why did it matter? Whether a direct product of conquest and colonization, or a more benign force for change apparently for the good of the country, the impetus and desire to improve Ireland from an agricultural, societal, scientific, medical, educational, religious, cultural, linguistic or other perspective was evident both within and outside Ireland over the centuries. The motivations behind improvement differed depending on the time, place and circumstance, the people involved, and the outcomes desired. How did different endeavours affect or help to shape Ireland over time? Who were the agents of the drive to improve Ireland and why? How was the concept of improvement defined at any given time and to what degree was it contested? This conference will consider the various issues raised by the concept of ‘improving Ireland’ throughout history.  Further information about the conference and the ESHSI is available at the society’s website.