You are here Research

Trinity Colonial Legacies

Trinity Colonial Legacies (TCL) is a 2-year project, with two main aims. It seeks to contextualise and historicize the university's deep links to colonialism both in Ireland itself and in the wider world. It also seeks to raise awareness of college's physical and intellectual colonial legacies, monuments, and endowments in the present.

Led by co-investigators Dr Ciaran O’Neill and Dr Patrick Walsh in collaboration with the TCL Postdoctoral Fellow Dr Mobeen Hussain and a wider project team, the TCL project seeks to investigate Trinity’s multifaceted connections with empire at home and abroad from the College’s foundation in 1592 through to the late twentieth century. Drawing on detailed research in the college archival collections alongside material objects preserved in the college and other national collections the project’s work aims to open up important debates about the legacies of colonialism on our campus. The initial results of our research can be viewed in our audit document which traces material and financial connections to British and Irish colonialism. The project’s progress can be traced on our dedicated website www.trinityscoloniallegacies.com which is an evolving space, which allows us to think out loud about the project.

The Project is supported in its work by an international advisory board chaired by the university chancellor Prof. Mary McAleese.

All enquiries about the project can be directed to either of the Co-Principal Investigators at Ciaran.oneill@tcd.ie or walshp9@tcd.ie