The lecture is entitled Poetics of the Stranger: Hospitality and Imagination.

Following the success on last Monday’s lecture, St. Patrick’s College is pleased to announce that Professor Richard Kearney will give the next lecture in the Seamus Heaney Lecture Series on Monday next 2 March @ 8.00pm in the College. The lecture is entitled Poetics of the Stranger: Hospitality and Imagination. There are further details on the lecture below and on www.spd.dcu.ie/shl. Those of you who were unable to attend Dr. Máirín Nic Eoin’s lecture on 2 February (Cultúr na Gaeilge nó Pobal na Gaeilge? Irish Language and Identity from Douglas Hyde to Des Bishop) due to the snow, may like to know that you can listen to the lecture on www.spd.dcu.ie/shl.
SEAMUS HEANEY LECTURE SERIES 2008-2009 “All changed?” Culture and identity in contemporary Ireland“Athraithe ó bhonn?” Cultúr agus féiniúlacht in Éirinn an lae inniu Next lecture: Monday 2 March at 8.00pmPoetics of the Stranger: Hospitality and Imagination Lecturer: Professor Richard Kearney, Holder of the Charles B. Seelig Chair of Philosophy at Boston College http://www2.bc.edu/~kearneyr Chair: Dr Andrew O’Shea, Senior Tutor and Acting Co Director of the MA in Human Development, St. Patrick’s College St Patrick’s College Drumcondra is pleased to announce the next lecture in the current Seamus Heaney Lecture Series. The lecture will be given by Professor Richard Kearney on Monday March 2nd at 8.00p.m. in St. Patrick’s College. Richard Kearney holds the Charles B. Seelig Chair of Philosophy at Boston College and has served as a Visiting Professor at University College Dublin, the University of Paris (Sorbonne) and the University of Nice. Among his accomplishments he is the author of over 20 books on European philosophy and literature (including two novels and a volume of poetry). He has presented several series on culture and philosophy for Irish and/or British television and has broadcast extensively on the European media. In this sixth lecture in the Heaney Lecture series, Professor Kearney focuses his attention on issues of identity and otherness, drawing on philosophical and religious traditions which have frequently articulated a concern for the other through reflection, psalms, poetry, parables etc. Recent debates around identity, inclusion and interculturalism have posed significant challenges to the viability of our cultural heritage in helping us to understand our deepest concerns regarding the alterity implicit in human co-existence. Drawing on his most recent work, Richard Kearney focuses on the possibility of interpreting our received languages of the other in the context of postmodern scepticism. His lecture analyses how many wisdom traditions are founded on a wager between the stranger as enemy or guest. Looking at a series of texts and verses where this wager between primary hospitality and hostility is staged, the lecture will examine some of the critical implications of this existential decision for our contemporary culture and society. The lecture will be chaired by Dr. Andrew O’Shea, Senior Tutor, St. Patrick’s College. The audience will have an opportunity to address questions to Richard after his input. Admission is free. Refreshments will be served after the lecture. See www.spd.dcu.ie/shl for further details. We would be grateful if you could spread the word among your friends and colleagues.
The final lecture in the series will be: 23 March 2009
Theatre of the Oppressed: Theatre for Social Justice Chrissie Poulter,
Trinity College
Dublin.