Frontiers before borders

Hybrid two-day conference on 11 and 12 July online and at Trinity Long Room Hub Arts & Humanities Research Institute at Trinity College, Dublin. The conference discusses emerging frontiers and boundaries in the past and present outside formal political and administrative borders. The conference is organised by Patrick Duffy, a fourth-year PhD candidate at the Department of History at Trinity College, Dublin and funded by a Research Ireland Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship. Abstracts of some of the papers are available here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/392859455_Abstracts_for_Frontiers_before_borders_conference_Trinity_Long_Room_Hub_Arts_Humanities_Research_Institute_11-12_July_2025 Schedule – all times local to Dublin (GMT+1) Friday 11 July 08:30-09:15 Registration (Reception) 09:15-09:30 Opening remarks (Neill Lecture Theatre) Joseph Clarke (Head of the Department of History, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland) 09:30-10:45 Panel 1 Panel 1A: Nineteenth and twentieth-century Ireland (Neill Lecture Theatre) Chair: Eóin Phillips (Ramon Llull University, Spain) 1. Patrick Duffy (Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland) ‘Frontier politics in the age of O’Connell: demarcating Protestant Ulster and Catholic Ireland, 1824-44’ 2. Ronan Daly (Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland), ‘The partition of the Anglo-Hibernian Province of the Passionist Fathers, 1926’ 3. Felix M. Larkin (independent scholar, Ireland) ‘‘Irrland’s split little pea’: cartoonists’ take on the Irish border’ Panel 1B: The classical and pre-modern worlds (Galbraith Seminar Room) Chair: Alexandros Solomos Balatsoukas (Giessen University, Germany) 1. Shreya Dua (Durham University, United Kingdom), ‘Indian satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire – boundaries of transcultural exchange’ 2. Patrick William Hayes (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom), ‘Frontiers before borders in the Hellenistic period’ 3. Lorenzo Saccon (University of Oxford, United Kingdom), ‘The Aegean frontier: the sea as space of demarcation between Turkish ghazis and Venetian colonists’ 10:45-11:00 Coffee (Outside Neill Lecture Theatre) 11:00-12:45 Panel 2 Panel 2A: The former Ottoman territories (Neill Lecture Theatre) Chair: Hayley Kirk (Queen’s University, Canada) 1. Alexandros Solomos Balatsoukas (Giessen University, Germany), ‘Claiming the ‘unbounded nation’: cultural frontiers, statesmen’s imagination, and geopolitical realities’ 2. Domagoj Krpan and David Krešovanić (University of Rijeka, Croatia), ‘Cultural memory as the frontier between south Slavic ethnicity’ 3. Erkjad Kajo (University of Pavia, Italy), ‘The Ottoman frontier as Albanian national heartland: how Albanian elites forged frontiers before statehood’ 4. Eyüp Özkan (McGill University, Canada), ‘Frontier imagination and the toponymic reordering of Istanbul’s urban memory, 1927-1931’ Panel 2B: Frontiers in literature (Galbraith Seminar Room) Chair: Gertrude Gibbons (University of York, United Kingdom) 1. Titas Gabrielius Maksimas (University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom), ‘‘Down where?’ Queer transnationalism in Christopher Isherwood’s Down there on a visit and James Baldwin’s The fire next time’ 2. Serena Bonaldo (Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Germany and Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italy), ‘Urban boundaries and spatial tensions: navigating the divide between Kleinstadt and Großstadt in Arthur Schnitzler’s ‘Frau Berta Garlan’ (1901)’ 3. June Misset, ‘“For the love of Old England”: delineating the moral and national borders of proper Englishness in British didactic novels (1778-1814)’ 4. Louise Harrington (University of Alberta, Canada), ‘The cultural turn, decoloniality and peace’ 12:45-13:45 Lunch (Hoey Ideas Space, Level 3) 13:45-14:45 Keynote address (Neill Lecture Theatre) Chair: Patrick Duffy (Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland) Rob Shields (University of Alberta, Canada), ‘The return of the frontier’ 14:45-15:00 Break 15:00-16:30 Panel 3 Panel 3A. TBC Chair: Belinda Rawson (University of Warwick, United Kingdom) 1. Clodagh Philippa Guerin (University of Limerick, Ireland), ‘Reimaging boundaries: the role of refugee voices in considering modern territorial identities’ 2. Charlotte Bhar, ‘“Be like water” – the adjustment practices of Tibetan immigrants to Paris’ 3. Olena Miliienko (University of Warwick, United Kingdom), ‘Internal migration and the borders of Ukraine’ Panel 3B: The United States in the twentieth century (Galbraith Seminar Room) Chair: Matthew Cunneen (University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom) 1. Patrick Joseph O’Connor, ‘A social geography of neighbourhood boundaries in Wichita, Kansas in the 1950s and 1960s’ 2. Morgan Hansen (Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland), ‘Preserving Āina: archives in Hawai’i’ 3. Samantha Haddad Prophet (College of William and Mary, United States), Policing Paddies: undocumented Irish migration, law enforcement, and jurisdictional boundaries of American policing powers, 1986-1996’ 16:30-16:45 Coffee (Outside Neill Lecture Theatre) 16:45-18:15 Panel 4 Panel 4A: Migration, displacement and borders (Neill Lecture Theatre) Chair: Olena Miliienko (University of Warwick, United Kingdom) 1. Belinda Rawson (University of Warwick, United Kingdom), ‘Neurotic frontiers: psychoanalysis, emotion, and resistance in the UK border regime’ 2. Scott St Marie (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom), ‘Borders in motion: spatial dynamics of British border policy, 2012-2020’ 3. Feyza Macit (University of Warwick, United Kingdom), ‘Entangled frontiers: movement, memory, and the everyday borders of Lampedusa Panel 4B: Religious faith and conversion (Galbraith Seminar Room) Chair: Domagoj Krpan (University of Rijeka, Croatia) 1. Jing Yushu (London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom), ‘Disaster, temporality, and the construction of frontier: a study of Catholic conversion after the 1874 Macau typhoon’ 2. Amelia Witt (University of Sheffield, United Kingdom), ‘Bordering bodies: the Methodist missionary enterprise in nineteenth-century Australasia’ 3. Victoria Peretitskaya (Northumbria University, United Kingdom), ‘Resisting the state: the Doukhobor pacifism, migration and transnational struggles’ 19:00 Conference dinner (Dunne & Crescenzi, South Frederick St) Saturday 12 July 08:30-09:15 Registration (Reception) 09:15-10:45 Panel 4 Panel 5A: Nineteenth-century Great Britian (Neil Lecture Theatre) Chair: TBC 1. Andrew P. Northey (independent scholar, United Kingdom), ‘Imaginary frontiers: the Scottish borders as a liminal space in the Victorian era’ 2. Eóin Phillips (Ramon Llull University, Spain), ‘The concrete master race: lock, stock and flow in the imperial-industrial canal system’ 3. Omar Mohamed (University of Auckland, New Zealand), ‘Territories on the scales of peace: balance of power negotiations in nineteenth-century Britain’ Panel 5B: Asia (Galbraith Seminar Room) Chair: TBC 1. Vishnupal Panwar (Ambedkar University Delhi, India), ‘Jadness in transition: borderlands and state formation in Central Himalayas (1815-1962)’ 2. Theo Hughes-Morgan (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom), ‘What is the meaning of “Tangshet”? A study of boundaries in a Himalayan village’ 3. Zhou Jingxuan (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, China), ‘Reconstructing borders: the space of contemporary contradictions in inner Mongolia’ 10:45-11:00 Coffee (Outside Neill Lecture Theatre) 11:00-12:45 Panel 6 Panel 6A: Frontiers and the state, colonial and domestic (Neil Lecture Theatre) Chair: Hayley Kirk (Queen’s University, Canada) 1. Daniel O’Driscoll (Jesus College, University of Oxford, United Kingdom), ‘“Natural gangsters” and raiding frontiers: crime and colonial expansion in Spanish American borderlands in the late sixteenth century’ 2. Lipokmar Dzüvichü (Jawaharlal Nehru University, India), ‘Whose frontier? Modern territorial practices along the northeast frontier of British India’ 3. Jonathan Privett-Mendoza (University of York, United Kingdom), ‘Where the “Boondocks” begin: an enquiry into the Filipino frontier from Spanish colonialism to the twentieth century’ 4. Abbas Alsadeq (King’s College, University of London, United Kingdom), ‘Illusory unison: music, identity, and the borders in Saudi Arabia’ Panel 6B: The Indian subcontinent 1 (Galbraith Seminar Room) Chair: Theo Hughes-Morgan (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom) 1. Priyanka Choudhary (Motilal Nehru College, University of Delhi, India), ‘Historical narrative of a marginalized nomadic community: case of Gadia Lohars in India’ 2. Prakash Sharma (Jamia Millia Islamia, India), ‘Pruning of “Baganiya Geet”’ 3. Aditi Basu (independent scholar, India), ‘The case of eastern India: political frontierization or a fragmented Adivasi identity?’ 4. Raza Naeem (independent scholar, Pakistan), ‘The life and afterlife of Hemu Kalani (1923-1943) in Pakistan: the Bhagat Singh of Sindh’ 12:45-13:45 Lunch (Hoey Ideas Space, Level 3) 13:45-15:15 Panel 7 Panel 7A: Visual and dramatic representations of frontiers (Galbraith Seminar Room) Chair: Hibah Aburwein (Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland) 1. Gertrude Gibbons (University of York, United Kingdom), ‘Performing across frontiers: translation, rupture and the reopening of the National Theatre of Kosovo’ 2. John Bessai (Trent University, Canada), ‘Imagined frontiers, institutional power: the NFBC and the Canadian aporetic condition’ 3. Isabella Carver (University of Oxford, United Kingdom), ‘Echoes of the frontier: an analysis of photography and mythmaking in Sam Contis’s Deep springs’ 4. Yidan Xu (University of Oxford, United Kingdom), ‘Territorializing imperial power: landscape depictions in Qianlong’s Jinchuan campaign victory illustrations’ Panel 7B: The Indian subcontinent 2 (Galbraith Seminar Room) Chair: Theo Hughes-Morgan (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom) 1. Saleh Shahriar (North South University, Bangladesh) and Anupam Debashis Roy (University of Oxford, United Kingdom), ‘Bangladesh-India border research: a systematic literature review and future research agenda’ 2. Priyanka Ghosh (Jadavpur University, India), ‘Bodies, borders and the body-politic: a study on the history of Cooch Behar’ 3. Menka Singh (Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi, India), ‘Creating a cultural identity – the Muhajirs’ 4. Raza Naeem (independent scholar, Pakistan), ‘Mujib’s lonely room: his memory and legacy in Naya Pakistan’ 15:15-15:30 Coffee (Outside Neill Lecture Theatre) 15:30-16:45 Panel 8 Panel 8A: North America (Neil Lecture Theatre) Chair: Felix M. Larkin (independent scholar, Ireland) 1. Angela Mullis (Rutgers University, United States), ‘Inextricably linked: storied lands of a Native American south’ 2. Hayley Kirk (Queen’s University, Canada), ‘‘Is it mine or yours?’: Asserting indigenous sovereignty on the pre-colonial frontiers of the native new world’ 3. Matthew Cunneen (University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom), ‘The state of Franklin: a case study of secession in post-revolutionary America and the use of natural borders in creating the sense of cultural differentiation and identify the frontier’ Panel 8B: Modern Europe (Galbraith Seminar Room) Chair: Patrick Duffy (Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland) 1. Małgorzata Trzeciak-Cygan (University of Warsaw, Poland), ‘Secretaries on the road: frontiers, confines and border-crossing in the travel journals of Venetian and Papal secretaries from Poland-Lithuania (1674-1696)’ 2. Elena Russo (University of Oxford, United Kingdom), ‘Frontiers and connectivity: nineteenth-century Habsburg Adriatic’ 3. Remy Biggs (Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland), ‘Ecco le vacanze che offriva il Duce: the legacy of Confino and the northern and southern Italian left’ 16:45-17:00 Concluding remarks (Neill Lecture Theatre) Patrick Duffy (Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland)