joseph dollard 

B.A. (Honours) NUI, Galway (2005-2008).
Mlitt (Research) Candidate
N.U.I. Galway (2008 - present).
Room 116, Geography Department 
Email: j.dollard1nuigalway.ie
Ph: 091-524411 ext 3829

Biography

Joseph after gaining diplomas in Structural Steel formation, Architectural Panelling  and Carpentry he entered N.U.I. Galway in 2005 undertaking a B.A. degree, studying Geography, Sociology and Politics, English and History, in his first year. Joseph during a state led aptitude exam achieved a percentage grade ranked in the top 3% in Ireland in the area of Technical Graphics. It was in this area of interest that Joseph unexpectedly found reignited in the realm of ’Human’ Geography especially in the spheres of iconography, semiotics and hermeneutics.
For his degree Joseph chose to study Geography and English, graduating with an Honours B.A. in 2008 that incorporated a First Class Honours in Geography. Joseph’s passion for Human Geography prompted him to immediately apply for a Research Mlitt course in N.U.I.G. where he then embarked on his postgraduate curriculum under the direction of Prof Ulf Strohmayer.

Research Interests

Joseph’s interests lie firmly in the realm of Human Geography. His appreciation for the physical structures in the Urban landscape are further fuelled by Human Geography’s propensity to unearth the patterns and processes that shape human interaction with the built environment. The Cultural, Urban, Political, Historical and Philosophical disciplines within Human Geography are essential in his hypotheses as they serve to deconstruct perceived perceptions and ’myths’.
Being a humanist geographer interested in the Marxist philosophical approach, Joseph has relished the task of forging a link between what some might say are ’incompatible disciplines’ (Louis Althusser). Under the sphere of Human Geography Joseph’s allure to the inimitable branches of iconography, semiotics and hermeneutics along with the key concepts of Nationalism, Power, Space and Place and Myth are all advocated in his Mlitt project.

Current Research

Irish Church Architecture: A Nationalist Design

Joseph’s research will depart from the well worn depiction of the political aspect of the Church/State relationship that centres on constitutional amendments and civic and liturgical conflicts. His investigation has embarked on a detailed analysis of the physical structures of the Roman Catholic and, to a lesser extent, the Church of Ireland disciplines of Catholicism after Catholic Emancipation in 1829.

This chosen field of enquiry has eclipsed any consideration and is an unlighted area of twentieth century Irish history; as the separation of State / Religion and Nationalism will be explored in a new dimension to previous studies. By binding Historical Materialism and Humanism through ecclesiastical constructions (Cathedrals and Churches) after the push for independence at the turn of the 20th Century, these hallowed monuments will be scrutinised through iconographic investigation, thereby allaying the rationale for their chosen form, style and appearance. By means of empirical analysis and using the key concepts of Nationalism, Power and Space and Place, these religious structures, which have an acknowledged civic importance, shall be laid bare to ascertain if ’Nationalism’ has contributed to any shift in liturgical thought and/or ecclesiastical design and whether the Catholic Church, maintained its authority in the social realm by infusing itself with this new concept of Nationalism.

By utilising the works of Williams, Thompson and Sartre, the ’incompatible’ disciplines of Marxism and Humanism grounded in the ’concrete material’ of religious edifices and exposed through Iconography, shall seek to uncover the Power relations concealed under the guise of Nationalism.

Selected Readings:

Agnew, J, 2005, ’Space: Place’, in P. Cloke & R. Johnston (eds), Spaces of Geographical Thought – Deconstructing Human Geography’s Binaries, Sage, London, pp. 81-96.

Althusser, L, 1964, ’Marxism and Humanism’ Cahiers de l’I.S.E.A..

Breuilly, J, 2005, (ed) in Gellner, E, 2nd Ed, Nations and Nationalism, New York: Blackwell Publishing.

Cloke, P, et al, 2004, Practicing Human Geography, Sage, London.

Daniels, S, & Cosgrove, D, 2000, The Iconography of Landscape – Essays on the Symbolic Representation, Design and Use of Past Environments, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Gottlieb, R, 1993, History and Subjectivity, New Jersey: Humanities Press.

Gellner, E, 2005, 2nd Ed, Nations and Nationalism, New York: Blackwell Publishing.

Hegel, F, 1975, Lectures on the philosophy of world history : introduction, reason in history, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Heidegger, M, 1978, Being and Time, Oxford: Blackwell.

Hubbard, P, 2005, ’Space/Place’, in D. Atkinson et al (eds), Cultural Geography – A Critical Dictionary of Key Concepts, I.B. Tauris, London, pp.41-48.

Keith, M and Pile, S, (eds.), 1996, Place and the Politics of Identity, Routledge, London.

Lefebvre, H, 1991, The Production of Space, translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith, Blackwell, London.

Marx, K, 1977, A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, Moscow: Progress Publishers.

Panofsky, E, 1962, Studies in Iconology; Humanistic Themes in the Art of the Renaissance. Harper & Row, New York.

Ruskin, J, 1855, The Seven Lamps of Architecture, Smith & Elder, London.

Sartre, J.P, 1973, Existentialism and Humanism  transl. Philip Mairet, Methuen, London.

Thompson, E.P, 1994, Making History: Writings on History and Culture, New York: New Press.

Williams, R, 1963, Culture and Society, New York, Columbia University Press.