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Staff Profiles

Dr Verena Commins

B.Sc., M.A., Ph.D.

Contact Details

Lecturer
Centre for Irish Studies
Martha Fox House
Distillery Rd
NUI Galway
Galway

T: 091 495046
E: verena.commins@nuigalway.ie
 
researcher

Biography

                       

 

                       

Research Interests

I am currently preparing my PhD thesis ‘Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy: Transmission, Performance and Commemoration of Irish Traditional Music, 1973-2012’ for publication. The thesis locates the emergence of the School in 1973 as a transformative revivalist moment in the history of Irish traditional music. An engagement with this site of practice problematises concepts such as re-traditionalisation, surrogation and authenticity as well as highlighting the specific micro-site elements that prefigured the capacity for the School and its culture economy.

Two further sites of enquiry have emerged from this body of research in the fields of commemoration and gender studies. Further research into Gender and Irish traditional music performance practice post-1973 will draw initially on initial ethnographic findings from the Willie Clancy Summer School (1973-2012). A project in the digital humanities on the commemoration of Irish traditional music is currently in development and includes work on Éamonn Ceannt, foregrounding his less commemorated legacy as a revivalist and uilleann piper.

Book Chapters

  Year Publication
(2016) '‘Top of the Ballard Road - piperland, always piperland, still piperland’: Place attachment and learning spaces at the Willie Clancy Summer School'
Commins, Verena (2016) '‘Top of the Ballard Road - piperland, always piperland, still piperland’: Place attachment and learning spaces at the Willie Clancy Summer School' In: Lifeworlds: Space, Place and Irish Culture. Cork: Cork University Press. [Details]
(2015) 'Musical Statues: Monumentalising Irish Traditional Music'
Commins, Verena (2015) 'Musical Statues: Monumentalising Irish Traditional Music' In: Towards 2016: Old and New Irelands. Irish Studies in Europe Series: EFACIS. [Details]
(2013) 'Locating the Centre: Irish Traditional Music and Re-Traditionalisation at the Willie Clancy Summer School'
Commins, Verena (2013) 'Locating the Centre: Irish Traditional Music and Re-Traditionalisation at the Willie Clancy Summer School' In: Ordinary Irish Life: Music, Sport and Culture. Dublin: Irish Academic Press. [Details]

Other Journals

  Year Publication
(2016) '‘The crustiest and most personally unbiddable of instruments’: Éamonn Ceannt and the pipes'
Commins, Verena (2016) '‘The crustiest and most personally unbiddable of instruments’: Éamonn Ceannt and the pipes' An Píobaire, 12 (2) :19-22. [Details]
(2008) 'A Journey of Found and Lost’: The Concept of East Galway Regional Style in Irish Traditional Music'
Commins, Verena (2008) 'A Journey of Found and Lost’: The Concept of East Galway Regional Style in Irish Traditional Music' Béascna - Journal of Folklore and Ethnology, . [Details]

Conference Contributions

  Year Publication
(2015) Irish Studies Lecture Series,
Commins, Verena (2015) Performing place: Irish traditional music and re-traditionalisation at the Willie Clancy Summer School. [Invited Lecture], Irish Studies Lecture Series, St John Fisher University, NY , 03-NOV-15 - 03-NOV-15. [Details]
(2016) 'To trouble the living stream’: 1916-2016, Lectures in the Library,,
Commins, Verena (2016) ‘Ireland over all’, Éamonn Ceannt: A musical rebellion?. [Conference Organising Committee Chairperson], 'To trouble the living stream’: 1916-2016, Lectures in the Library,, Galway City Library , 01-MAR-16 - 01-MAR-16. [Details]
(2016) Ceannt Symposium,
Commins, Verena (2016) Éamonn Ceannt, the Irish piper’. [Invited Lecture], Ceannt Symposium, Ballymoe, Co. Galway , 08-MAY-16 - 08-MAY-16. [Details]
(2016) The Galway Sessions seminar series,
Commins, Verena (2016) Éamonn Ceannt: A piper rising. [Invited Lecture], The Galway Sessions seminar series, Galway City Museum , 16-JUN-16 - 16-JUN-16. [Details]
(2016) Farming and Country Life, 1916,
Verena Commins (2016) 1916: the musical aesthetics of rebellion. [Conference Paper], Farming and Country Life, 1916, Teagasc, Athenry, Co. Galway , 11-JUN-16 - 11-JUN-16. [Details]

Conference Paper

  Year Publication
(2008) Modelling the sustainability of Irish agriculture. Paper presented at the European Association of Agricultural Economists Seminar 'Modelling of Agricultural and Rural Development Policies'.
Dillon, E, Hennessy, T, Hynes, S, Commins, V (2008) Modelling the sustainability of Irish agriculture. Paper presented at the European Association of Agricultural Economists Seminar 'Modelling of Agricultural and Rural Development Policies'. Seville, Spain: Conference Paper [Details]
(2008) Assessing the sustainability of Irish agriculture (1996-2005). Paper presented at the Agricultural Economics Society 82nd Annual Conference.
Dillon, E, Hennessy, T, Hynes, S, Commins, V (2008) Assessing the sustainability of Irish agriculture (1996-2005). Paper presented at the Agricultural Economics Society 82nd Annual Conference. Circencester, England: Conference Paper [Details]

Encyclopedia Entry

  Year Publication
(2011) Various articles. The Companion to Irish Traditional Music.
Commins, Verena (2011) Various articles. The Companion to Irish Traditional Music. Cork: Encyclopedia Entry [Details]
(2003) Various articles. The Encyclopaedia of Ireland.
Commins, Verena (2003) Various articles. The Encyclopaedia of Ireland. Dublin: Encyclopedia Entry [Details]
(1999) Various articles. The Companion to Irish Traditional Music.
Commins, Verena (1999) Various articles. The Companion to Irish Traditional Music. Cork: Encyclopedia Entry [Details]

Teaching Interests

Modules I currently or have recently taught:

 

  • IS122 An introduction to Irish music and dance from 1893

  • SS122 Negotiating identities through Irish music and dance (Irish Studies Summer School)

  • Tutorial in Irish Studies

  • Dissertation Workshop Series: MA in Irish Studies

  • DT205 Irish traditional arts: Festival, Ritual, Commemoration

  • IS302 Irish Studies independent research project

  • Irish music and the diaspora

  • IR120 Imagining modern Ireland (co-taught interdisciplinary module)