About Us
Breac (IPA: bʲɾʲak) is an Irish word layered with meaning. Primarily, it is the word for trout or speckled – like the flecks of color on a trout's back, it is to be dappled, spotted, checkered. It is the mixed and variegated of Hugo Hamilton's The Speckled People. But it also means to write, to carve, to illuminate, to ripen. It is the vellum pages of An Leabhar Breac and the insistent voice of Máirtín Ó Cadhain's Páipéir Bhána agus Páipéir Bhreaca. And in the accumulation of meaning, these two aspects, to write and to be speckled, are nearer in practice than they seem. This journal proceeds in such a manner: to write in splotches and specks, to balance the beauty of particularities in a medium that is open, interdisciplinary, and global.
A peer-reviewed, paperless, academic journal, Breac begins with Irish Studies and looks outward. It pairs the work of accomplished and emerging scholars in short, focused issues with the hope of cultivating international discussions in a digital forum. Each year we will publish two issues, supplemented with additional interviews and reviews. The online journal will utilize its medium and include pictures and clips, sound-bites and shorts. The goal is to create a new space for conversation that pairs the accessibility of a digital medium with the commitment to cultural, linguistic, disciplinary, and historic diversity. Perhaps, then, we can wade cautiously into the broken, uncertain breacsholas.
Directors & Editorial Boards
- John Dillon and Nathaniel Myers, Directors
- Aedín Clements and Sonia Howell, Senior Archive Editors
- Julie McCormick Weng, Senior Reviews Editor
- Ronan Doherty and Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh, Senior Irish-language Editors
General Editorial Board
- Viviane Carvalho da Annunciação (ABEI-USP/ UFBA)
- Katarzyna Bartoszynska (Bilkent University)
- Guinn Batten (Washington University in St. Louis)
- Lisa Caulfield (University College, Dublin)
- Ronan Doherty (National University of Ireland, Maynooth)
- Kara Donnelly (University of Notre Dame)
- Maud Ellmann (University of Chicago)
- Anna Finn (University of California, Irvine)
- Derek Hand (St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra)
- Lindsay Haney (University of Notre Dame)
- Sonia Howell (National University of Ireland, Maynooth)
- Alvin Jackson (University of Edinburgh)
- Vicki Mahaffey (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
- PJ Mathews (University College, Dublin)
- Nicole Miller (University of Notre Dame)
- Robinson Murphy (University of Notre Dame)
- Brian O'Conchubhair (University of Notre Dame)
- Diarmuid Ó Giolláin (University of Notre Dame)
- James M. Smith (Boston College)
- Kelly Sullivan (Boston College)
- Spurgeon Thompson (Fordham University)
- Sonja Tiernan (Liverpool Hope University)
- Julie McCormick Weng (Texas State University)
Global Outreach Board
- Shane Alcobia-Murphy (University of Aberdeen, Scotland)
- Carmen Borbérly (Babes-Bolyai University)
- Viviane Carvalho da Annunciação (ABEI-USP/ UFBA)
- Fabrice Mourlon (European Federation of Associations and Centres of Irish Studies)
- Malcolm Sen (University of Notre Dame)
Digital Consultation Board
- June Caldwell (Irish Writers’ Centre)
- Colin Graham (National University of Ireland, Maynooth)
- Shawn Day (Digital Humanities Observatory, Royal Irish Academy)
- Sonia Howell (National University of Ireland, Maynooth)
- Joseph Nugent (Boston College)
- Matthew Wilkens (University of Notre Dame)
Creative Materials Board
- Éilís Ní Dhuibhne
- Barbara Smith