Literary scholar Ann Rigney elected Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy
Prof. Ann Rigney, Professor of Comparative Literature, has been elected as Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy (the equivalent of the Dutch KNAW).
The distinction of Honorary Membership is usually reserved for academics who have made a major international contribution to their disciplines but who are not normally resident in Ireland. Rigney was born and raised in Dublin and she studied at ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ College Dublin, part of the National ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ of Ireland. Her research into memory practices and memory politics has also considered (Northern) Ireland.
This distinction feels like a great honour and above all as a homecoming.
Ann Rigney
Rigney has played a leading role in the development of the field of cultural memory studies. Her research explores the intersections between narrative, collective identity, and contestations of the past across a wide range of media and cultural practices. She currently leads a large project on the afterlife of protest in cultural memory: how are mass demonstrations remembered when they are no longer news? For this project, Rigney has received an ERC Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (2019-2023). She is also a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and of the Academia Europea.
Royal Irish Academy
The Royal Irish Academy, founded in 1785, recognises outstanding achievement in research and scholarship by persons with a connection to Ireland. The Academy promotes awareness of how science and the humanities enrich our lives and benefit society. There are currently over 600 members, of whom nearly 90 are honorary members. Candidates for honorary membership are proposed and elected by Academy members.
Admission ceremony
Rigney's formal admission will take place in May. As part of the ceremony, she will sign the Roll Book of Members that was begun in 1802 and is still in use. It contains almost all members’ signatures, including all Irish presidents, the poet W.B. Yeats (signed 1924) and physicist Sheila Tinney (1949).