Rose of Tralee

Last Tuesday night saw the climax of the annual Rose of Tralee Festival. The festival is now in its 53rd year. Although originally a type of carnival queen competition, it is has since become a week long festival of music (James Brown and INXS amongst others), pageantry, and a variety of other entertainments.

The festival has had a number of formats over the years (and in truth has perhaps become a little kitsch), but at its centre is the selection of the ‘Rose’. The selection is mainly based on personality – this is no ‘Miss World’ and there is no swim-suit section! The contestants come from as far as New Zealand, Australia and Dubai, and are usually drawn from the Irish diaspora. From the states, New York, Boston, Texas, Arizona, Florida, Southern California, Philadelphia, and Chicago, amongst others, are usually represented.

The idea behind the name is based on the love song ‘The Rose of Tralee’, by William Mulchinock a 19th century wealthy merchant who was in love with Mary O’Connor, his family’s maid. Mary was born in Broguemaker’s Lane in Tralee and worked as a nanny. When William first saw Mary he fell in love with her, but because of the difference in social class and religion between the two families, their love affair was discouraged. William emigrated, and some years later returned to Tralee only to find Mary had died of tuberculosis. He was broken hearted and expressed his love for her in the words of the song.

Celebrating Women

Today is International Women’s Day, a global day to celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. Along with this day, the entire month of March is Women’s History Month. In honor of the two, we’ve put together a list of course offerings for Women’s and Gender Studies at some of our interstudy programs. Contact us if you have any questions, and remember to hug your mom, grandma, aunt, sister, professor, or any other woman that you admire!

Women’s Studies Offerings:

University of Cape Town African Gender Institute
Example Course: AGI2002F Gender, Sexuality, Politics:

Gender Studies Programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Durban)
Example Course: GEST202 H2 Introduction to Gender Studies: The development of an understanding of the critical vocabulary on gender and related issues; An understanding of the instability of the concept of gender; the critical evaluation and presentation of arguments in relation to gender

Global Women’s Studies at NUI Galway

Example Course: Introduction to Women, Culture, Media and Society

Women’s Studies at the University of the Limerick

Example Course: WS 4018 Gender, Identity, Culture, Society:

The aim of this inter-disciplinary course is to examine the historical, literary and social construction of identity and citizenship as this relates to women in contemporary society. It will examine the extent to which the sense of self, of home, of community, of nationality are gendered notions and their consequences for women.

Gender Studies at Queen’s Belfast

Gender Studies Courses at King’s College, University of London

Example Course: Gender and Identity:

For over three centuries a diverse group of American women have engaged in the act of autobiographical writing. Whether living on western frontiers, southern plantations, impoverished tenements, or middle-class homes they have felt a compulsion to record in written text stories about their lives. This course will use autobiographies to interrogate the cultural history of American women. Central to the course are issues of gender, identity, and selfhood…