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Geography, Archaeology & Irish Studies

Dr Méabh Ní Fhuartháin

B.A., BMus., MA.,PhD

 
researcher
 

Biography

A graduate of UCC, Méabh undertook graduate research and teaching at Boston College and Brown University and was awarded the James Carroll Memorial Fellowship and the Father Martin Harney Irish Studies Fellowship for her work in Irish Music and Dance Studies. She spent a number of years lecturing at UCC, before she began teaching at the Centre for Irish Studies.  An IRCHSS scholar, her PhD thesis Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann: Shaping tradition, 1951-1970 (2011) supervised by Professor Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh, explores the institutionalization of musical revival in the mid-twentieth century and its symbolic significance to Irish music practice and reception.Méabh has contributed articles and reviews to a variety of journals such as Ethnomusicology, Journal of Music in Ireland, Journal of the Society of Musicology in Ireland and New York Irish History Roundtable.  She is also Popular Music subject editor of the landmark Encyclopedia of Music in Ireland (UCD Press, 2013) and co-editor with David Doyle of Ordinary Life and Popular Culture in Ireland (IAP, 2013), she is centrally involved in the development of the research network Comhrá Ceoil: Irish Music and Dance Studies at NUI Galway. Her most recent work is in the area of popular music studies and Ireland and Méabh was co-editor of the special issue of Éire-Ireland  Nótaí: Music and Ireland (Summer 2019). Current projects include a monograph on the Fleadh Cheoil as festival and editorship of a special issue of Ethnomusicology Ireland on Women and Traditional / Folk Music (forthcoming 2021).

Research Interests

  • I research, present and publish work these areas of interest: emigration and Irish music; popular music and Ireland; cultural revivalism; performance studies; gender and music in Ireland; and Irish music practice.  

Peer Reviewed Journals

  Year Publication
(2019) 'Nótaí/Notes: Music and Ireland'
Ní Fhuartháin, Méabh; Commins, Verena, volume editors (2019) 'Nótaí/Notes: Music and Ireland'. Éire-Ireland, 54 (1 & 2) [Details]
(2019) ''Parish Halls, Dance Halls and Marquees: Developing and regulating social dance spaces, 1900-1960''
Ní Fhuartháin, Méabh (2019) ''Parish Halls, Dance Halls and Marquees: Developing and regulating social dance spaces, 1900-1960''. Éire-Ireland, [Details]
(2019) 'Nótaí/Notes: Music and Ireland: Introduction'
Commins, Verena, Ní Fhuartháin, Méabh; (2019) 'Nótaí/Notes: Music and Ireland: Introduction'. Éire-Ireland, :10-16 [Details]

Books

  Year Publication
(2013) Ordinary Irish Life: Music, Sport and Culture.
Ní Fhuartháin, Méabh; Doyle, David (2013) Ordinary Irish Life: Music, Sport and Culture. Dublin: Irish Academic Press. [Details]

Book Chapters

  Year Publication
(2018) '“In the mood for dancing”: Emigrant, pop and female’'
Méabh Ní Fhuartháin (2018) '“In the mood for dancing”: Emigrant, pop and female’' In: Music Preferred: Essays in Musicology, Cultural History and Analysis in honour of Harry White. Vienna: Hollitzer Verlag. [Details]
(2015) '‘“Irish Music in Irish Life”: Articulating a Vision of Revival’'
Niall Ó Cíoasán and John Cunningham (2015) '‘“Irish Music in Irish Life”: Articulating a Vision of Revival’' In: Culture and Society in Ireland since 1750, Essays in Honour of Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh. Dublin: Lilliput. [Details]
(2013) 'Introduction'
Ní Fhuartháin, Méabh; Doyle, David (2013) 'Introduction' In: Ordinary Life and Popular Culture in Ireland. Dublin: IAP. [Details]
(2013) ''Oh Me, Oh My': Reviving Joe Dolan and Gendering Performance’'
Ní Fhuartháin, Méabh (2013) ''Oh Me, Oh My': Reviving Joe Dolan and Gendering Performance’' In: Masculinity and Irish Popular Culture: Tigers Tales. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. [Details]

Edited Books

  Year Publication
(2013) Ordinary Irish Life: Music, Sport and Culture.
Méabh Ní Fhuartháin and David Doyle (Ed.). (2013) Ordinary Irish Life: Music, Sport and Culture Ordinary Irish Life: Music, Sport and Culture. Dublin: Irish Academic Press. [Details]
(2013) Encyclopedia of Music in Ireland.
Harry White et al (Méabh Ní Fhuartháin, subject editor) (Ed.). (2013) Encyclopedia of Music in Ireland Encyclopedia of Music in Ireland. Dubln: UCD Press. [Details]

Conference Contributions

  Year Publication
(2018) ACIS,
Méabh Ní Fhuartháin (2018) The Musical (Singing) Priest: Essentialising Irish-America in Film. [Oral Presentation], ACIS, UCC , 19-JUN-18 - 22-JUN-18. [Details]
(2018) Rural Ireland: Ideas and Realities in the Twentieth Century,
Méabh Ní Fhuartháin (2018) Parish halls and dance halls, transnational and social: Built spaces in the Irish landscape, 1910-1960. [Oral Presentation], Rural Ireland: Ideas and Realities in the Twentieth Century, NUI Galway , 07-JUN-18 - 08-JUN-18. [Details]
(2017) ICTM International,
Méabh Ní Fhuartháin (2017) Mise Éire: (Re)Imaginings and identity. [Conference Paper], ICTM International, UL , 17-JUL-17 - 17-JUL-17. [Details]
(2017) Chronicles of Comhaltas: Narrating and institutionalising authority in Irish traditional music, 1951-1970,
Méabh Ní Fhuartháin (2017) Ó Riada Memorial Lecture 2017. [Conference Organising Committee Chairperson], Chronicles of Comhaltas: Narrating and institutionalising authority in Irish traditional music, 1951-1970, UCC , 01-FEB-17 - 01-FEB-17. [Details]

Encyclopedia Entry

  Year Publication
(2013) ‘Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem’, ‘Liam Clancy’, ‘Comhaltas Ceoltoirí Éireann’, ‘Copley Records’, ‘Fleadh Cheoil’, ‘Earl Gill’, ‘Ray Lynam’, ‘Daniel O’Donnell’, ‘Joe Dolan’, ‘Gerry Smith’, ‘Hot House Flowers’, ‘IMRO’, ‘Seán Ó Sé’, ‘Johnny Duhan’, ‘Johnny McEvoy’, ‘Christy Moore’, ‘Ruby Murray’, ‘Dermot O’Brien’ and ‘Brendan Shine’.
Méabh Ní Fhuartháin (2013) ‘Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem’, ‘Liam Clancy’, ‘Comhaltas Ceoltoirí Éireann’, ‘Copley Records’, ‘Fleadh Cheoil’, ‘Earl Gill’, ‘Ray Lynam’, ‘Daniel O’Donnell’, ‘Joe Dolan’, ‘Gerry Smith’, ‘Hot House Flowers’, ‘IMRO’, ‘Seán Ó Sé’, ‘Johnny Duhan’, ‘Johnny McEvoy’, ‘Christy Moore’, ‘Ruby Murray’, ‘Dermot O’Brien’ and ‘Brendan Shine’. Encyclopedia Entry [Details]

Invited Lectures

  Year Publication
(2017) Recouperating the Reverend Dr. Henebry: Cultural revival, language and music.
Méabh Ní Fhuartháin (2017) Recouperating the Reverend Dr. Henebry: Cultural revival, language and music. Invited Lectures [Details]

Online Multimedia

  Year Publication
(2014) 'The Henebry-O’Neill Wax Cylinder Collection’.
Ní Fhuartháín, Méabh (2014) 'The Henebry-O’Neill Wax Cylinder Collection’. Online Multimedia [Details]

Pamphlet

  Year Publication
(2018) • Chronicles of Comhaltas: Narrating Authority in Irish Traditional Music, 1951-1971.
Méabh Ní Fhuartháin (2018) • Chronicles of Comhaltas: Narrating Authority in Irish Traditional Music, 1951-1971. Cork: Pamphlet [Details]

Honours and Awards

  Year Title Awarding Body
2009 Graduate Fellowship in Irish Studies, NUI Galway NUI Galway
2006 Government of Ireland Graduate scholarship IRCHSS
2006 Erasmus Teaching Staff Scholar Exchange Erasmus

Professional Associations

  Association Function From / To
ICTM Member /
ACIS member /
British Forum for Ethnomusicology Member /
Society for Musicology in Ireland Member /
EFACIS, European Federation for Irish Studies Member /

Teaching Interests

Below are some of the modules I deliver at NUIG.  Previous teaching includes modules in ethnomusicology, performance theory, popular music and a wide range of Irish music and dance related courses.

  • IS122 An introduction to Irish music and dance from 1893 
  • IS1100 Emigration and Irish Music
  • IS211 Tunes and texts: Constructing identity in Irish music and dance
  • IR120 Imagining modern Ireland (co-taught interdisciplinary module)
  • IS2100 Music, Gender and Ireland
  • IS6100 Representing Irish Traditional Music, 1950 to the new millennium
  • IS6103 Writing Irish Music, 1792 - 1950  
  • Service teaching into the MA in Irish Studies 
  • Service teaching into EN1100 Approaches to the Study of Literature