The 2015 Burke Conference

The conference aims to trace the development in the relationship between patriotism, liberty, and duty through reference to Burke’s understanding of the political and constitutional issues at stake in Ireland, the American colonies, and France during his lifetime. How may Burke’s response to each of those events help us nowadays to reassess the concept of “patriotism,” and rescue it from misunderstandings or misappropriations in recent decades?

Our keynote speakers include:

• Dr. David Bromwich, Sterling Professor of English at Yale University and author, most recently, of The Intellectual Life of Edmund Burke: From the Sublime and Beautiful to American Independence (Belknap / Harvard U.P., 2014).
• Dr. Michael Brown, Professor of Irish, Scottish and Enlightenment History at the University of Aberdeen, who has published studies of Francis Hutcheson (Francis Hutcheson in Dublin 1719-30. The Crucible of His Thought) and John Toland (A Political Biography of John Toland), and is presently completing a book on “The Irish Enlightenment” for Harvard U.P.
• Dr. Regina Janes, Professor in the Department of English at Skidmore College, who has published on Edmund Burke and Irish Affairs, “Edmund Burke’s Flyting Leap from India to France,” and Losing Our Heads: Beheading in Literature and Culture (NYU Press, 2005).

Those who wish to present papers at the scheduled panel sessions should consult the conference “Call for Papers.” The deadline for consideration of proposals is November 15, 2014.

Registration and Logistics

• The registration fee for the conference is $100.
• Click here for a PDF registration form.
• To register, mail your completed conference registration form along with a check payable to ‘The Russell Kirk Center,’ to The Russell Kirk Center, P.O. Box 4, Mecosta, Michigan, 49332.
• To pay by credit card, you may use the Kirk Center donation page to pay online, and then either mail your registration form to the Kirk Center or send a filled-out PDF or equivalent to icrowe@bpc.edu.

Accommodation

A limited conference room rate of $99 per night, plus tax ($119 plus tax for double occupancy), is available for February 27 & 28 at the Radnor Hotel, 591 E. Lancaster Ave., Wayne, PA, close to the university campus. This is on a “first-come, first-served” basis. Please book directly with the hotel: tel. (610) 688-5800 or 1-800 537-3000, and use the reference “Edmund Burke Society.”

The Edmund Burke Society thanks The Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal, the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen, and Villanova University and the Irish Studies Program for their generous support in organizing this event.

Please direct inquiries to the Society’s secretary, Ian Crowe, at icrowe@bpc.edu (or tel. 980 237-1513).