We talk to the brilliant Claire Mitchell, a sociologist and writer from Belfast about Irishness, Britishness, border crossing, the unexpected advantages of a charismatic evangelical background, observations on religion from outside of religion, her grandmothers, and being a Lundy.
As always you can read the full transcript and find some reflection questions for personal or group discussion.
Claire Mitchell’s website has links to her books and articles.
The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 1, Episode 4, Professor Anthony Reddie
Our fourth episode is an interview with Professor Anthony Reddie who considers Britishness, Belonging and Brexit through a Black Liberationist Theological point of view. Incorporating stories of his working class upbringing in Bradford, his parents' part of the Windrush generation, and his interest in both theology and history, this interview is wide ranging and informative.
Prof Anthony Reddie’s book Theologising Brexit will be available in paperback from March 31st 2021 from Routledge. A link to his academic page at Oxford is here.
The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 1, Episode 3. Rev. Dr. Johnston McMaster
Host Pádraig Ó Tuama interviews Rev. Dr. Johnston McMaster, who has spent decades - both as an ordained minister and as a writer and lecturer - considering the overlap between politics, history and religion in the divided loyalties on both sides of the border in Ireland.
Full copies of the transcript — together with four reflection questions for groups or individuals — can be found through this link.
Copies of Johnson McMaster’s book on the Churches and Partition are available from the publisher, The Junction, through this link.
The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 1, Episode 2. Dr. Gail McConnell
For episode 2 of the Corrymeela Podcast, host Pádraig Ó Tuama talks with the poet Gail McConnell, whose forthcoming collection The Sun Is Open considers an archive-box of her father’s writings, clippings, poems and pamphlets. He was murdered by the IRA in 1984. Gail also speaks about creaturely poetry, parenthood, living with loss, and identity. Full transcript of the conversation, and group discussion questions are all available here. Gail McConnell teaches at the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry at Queen’s University in Belfast.
The collection of poetry discussed — The Sun Is Open — will be released by Penned in the Margins in the Autumn of 2021.
The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 1, Episode 1. President Dr. Mary McAleese
We talked homeplace, religion, British-Irish politics, and leadership with former President of Ireland, Dr. Mary McAleese. This episode is filled with story, insight and the complicated art of compromise and negotiation. You can download the discussion question and episode transcript here. President McAleese’s memoir Here’s the Story is published by Penguin.
The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 1, Trailer.
Host Pádraig Ó Tuama gives a preview of season 1 of the Corrymeela Podcast, a season considering Irishness and Britishness in 2021: a year with Covid; a year marking the centenary of the partition of Ireland; and the first year of Brexit. For all our interviews, we asked our guests some 'Very Short Story Questions' - questions you might want to ask yourself, or people you know. You can find these questions here. (We don't broadcast all the answers the guest gives to these, just one or two.)
About the Corrymeela Podcast
During this year of the pandemic, we are not hosting any groups, or conversations at the Corrymeela centre, on the north coast of Ireland. But it is a significant year in Irish and British history, marking the centenary of the partition of Ireland, and the first year of Brexit. So, we are bringing twelve conversations from our kitchen table to yours; conversations that discuss Irishness and Britishness through the lenses of politics, history, art and theology.
So pull up a chair, listen with us as we listen, and talk with us as we talk. Every episode ends with our guest telling a very short story from their life, so don’t forget to listen right to the end.
You can hear all the episodes (one released every Thursday) below, or you can subscribe on your favourite podcast app.
With deep thanks to our funders: The Henry Luce Foundation, the Irish Government’s Fund for Reconciliation, the Community Relations Council, Northern Ireland, and the Friends of Corrymeela.