Ataya: HUMA Interdisciplinary Seminar Series
Project/Paper: ‘An accumulated wrong: Roger Casement and the anticolonial moments within imperial governance’ by Gerry Kearns and David Nally in Journal of Historical Geography, 2019.
Bio: Gerry Kearns is a Professor of Geography at Maynooth University, Ireland, and a member of the Royal Irish Academy. His research is at the intersection of health, historical and political geographies. This research on Roger Casement comes from his interest in geopolitics and in the intellectual work of subaltern thinkers. He is currently completing a book, Making Space for AIDS, which examines the place of spatial metaphors in the social construction of epidemic disease and documents the ways creative labour queers those metaphors creating space for imaginings that are less racist, patriarchal, homophobic, or neoliberal.
Topic: Roger Casement (1864–1916) was a civil servant within the British Empire who used a relatively minor position to develop criticisms of colonialism that flashed brilliantly from dull parliamentary papers and that provoked not only some of the most profound self-examination of imperial rule but brought him official honours within the Empire. But Roger Casement turned dramatically against that Empire, and having taken up insurgency on behalf of Britain’s very first colony, was executed for anticolonial nationalist rebellion. Roger Casement as an Irish nationalist martyr was an awkward hero for a Catholic country, not only on account of his Protestantism and his Ulster allegiances, but also his queer sexuality. Roger Casement was a subaltern intellectual who developed a theory of colonialism, dispossession and proletarianization on one side, and a theory of legitimate governance based on love on the other, showing the necessary illegitimacy of all Empire. No wonder he has attracted the attention of so many artists. He is good to think with, and to reflect upon.
How Ataya works: One presenter and their work – in exchange with the audience. Each Ataya session engages with selected work by the presenter (a text, artwork, performance, even food). The presenter introduces their work and grounds the subsequent discussion with the participants. For best engagement, we recommend participants to view the work (made available in advance on our website) before the session. More on the Ataya Series
