EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum is pleased to present Looking East a multimedia exhibition exploring three centuries of connection between Ireland and India.
Irish soldiers had a long and often violent record of service in India while Irish civil servants played an important role in governing what was Britain’s largest colony. By the late 19th century Irishmen ran seven of the eight provinces of British India. Yet Ireland and India also share an overlapping history of anti-colonial struggle. Just as Irish republicans like Éamon de Valera stressed the common cause of Ireland and India Bengali freedom fighters drew comparisons between our colonial experiences.
The Indian diaspora today forms one of Ireland’s fastest-growing immigrant communities but Indian migration to this country stretches back much further in time. Dean Mahomet a young man born in Patna published the first English-language book written by an Indian while living in Cork in the late 1700s. A century later Mir Aulad Ali a Muslim scholar from modern-day Uttar Pradesh was appointed professor of Arabic Hindustani and Persian at Trinity College Dublin.
Join us to discover little-known histories of migration and cultural exchange – stories of empire building and brutality but also stories of solidarity and resistance.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, The Chq Building, Custom House Quay, North Wall, Dublin 1, Ireland, Dublin