英语学院学术论坛系列

SEIS Academic Forum Series (No.696)

Forum on British/Irish Studies

Ireland and the Brexit Crisis

Time：16:00-17:50,25 Oct.2018
Venue：Room 417, SEIS

Lecturer：Jerusha McCormack

Abstract:

In less than six months, the United Kingdom is due to leave the European Union. But the United Kingdom is not united over the terms of its exit. Brexit, as it is known, has split not only the ruling Tory Party but the entire British population and is now threatening to break up the United Kingdom itself. How is this happening? Due to the complexities of history, Britain’s only land border with the EU lies between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Negotiating its new role under Brexit holds the key as to whether Brexit will proceed in an orderly or chaotic fashion. Can all the complexities and contradictions raised by its issues be reconciled in such a way as to allow an orderly Brexit? Or will they condemn the UK to a disorderly exit which will significantly damage relations between the island of Ireland and its nearest neighbour?

About the speaker:

Prof. Jerusha McCormack (University College, Dublin) concentrated on Irish, English, and Anglo-Irish literature in her earlier career. At BFSU since 2004 she has taught graduate seminars in American Studies, British Studies and Irish Studies, as well as co-teaching in China and the West, the course WCwCC. Together with John Blair, she produced a sourcebook of readings Western Civilization with Chinese Comparisons (WCwCC). Now the 4th edition, entitled Comparing Civilizations: China and the West (CCCW), is in press at Fudan University Press in Shanghai. Their most recent study, published in the USA by Rowman and Littlefield, is entitled Thinking through China.