While Italian historians have never produced a comprehensive survey of the current state of contemporary Irish history, their engagement with the field has, over time, given rise to a rich and valuable body of historiography through a series of significant in-depth contributions and research projects. In particular, scholars based in Italy who have studied Irish history from the first half of the 19th century to the present day have produced numerous analyses of specific questions as well as a number of valuable overarching studies, providing a proper understanding of the island’s history within the context of contemporary Italian history.
In recent years, a renewed interest in Area Studies has led to a focus on Ireland as a specific subject of study within the community of Italian contemporary historians. Specifically, a need has arisen to foster dialogue among those – both in Italy and abroad – who are reconstructing the history of Ireland from a particular perspective. This has led to the launch of an initiative aimed at providing an overview of the already existing historiography and, at the same time, the ongoing research.
In line with this scholarly initiative, Studi irlandesi. A Journal of Irish Studies is seeking unpublished contributions for Special Issue No. 17 (2027). Proposals focusing primarily (though not exclusively) on the following topics are welcome:
- the Irish independence movement;
- Irish Nation- and State-building process;
- the history of the conflict in Northern Ireland;
- the reception of contemporary Irish history in Italy;
- the evolution of the socio-religious situation in Ireland;
- Italian-Irish diplomatic relations;
- Ireland’s international relations during the 20th century;
- the analysis of forms of political mobilisation in Ireland, including comparative analysis;
- the history of Irish imm/em-igration;
- the reconstruction of significant stories and biographies related to the Irish presence in Italy;
- the historiographical context.
Abstracts in English of no more than 400 words, accompanied by brief biographies (no more than 100 words) of the authors, should be submitted to these email addresses donato.disanzo@ismed.cnr.it, p.gheda@univda.it and fiorenzo.fantaccini@unifi.it by no later than 10 December 2026. The authors of the selected proposals will be notified by 20 December 2026 and invited to submit their contribution, in accordance with the journal’s editorial guidelines (<https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-sijis/about/submissions>), ranging in length from 8,000 to 10,000 words.
The deadline for submitting full articles is 31 March 2027.
