Liquid States: A Closer Look at Sustainability and Sacred Water

Transitions toward a more sustainable future is a key theme at the University of Notre Dame for the academic year 2021/22. Lisa Caulfield (Director of the Global Centre at Kylemore) and Fay Stevens (Adjunct Assistant Professor, London Faculty) have been working together on a number of projects around sustainability. In this seminar they reflect on their collaborative work and shape their thinking in the direction of sacred water and sustainability. They will talk about case studies from the west of Ireland and the monastic site at Kylemore revealing the importance of biodiversity, the significance of water within landscape and the art of contemplation (Caulfield) and on the River Thames in London with a focus on rivers as sites of ritual deposition, cultural flow and sustainable thinking (Stevens). They then extend their discussion into wider considerations of water sustainability and cultural references to liquid states; water types that transform and are transformed by the sacred. This event was recorded on March 16, 2022.

Speakers:
Lisa Caulfield is the Director of the Kylemore Global Centre in Connemara, Ireland. Lisa completed an M.A. in modern Irish literature from the National University in Maynooth, County Kildare and has worked for the University of Notre Dame since 2004. In 2014, Lisa was appointed Director of the Kylemore Abbey Global Centre and by 2018 created an additional opportunity for ND junior semester abroad at the National University of Galway. Lisa teaches the Immunity to Change module on the Executive education program that is annually hosted at Kylemore and is responsible for curating the interdisciplinary programs, courses, residencies and retreats hosted at the Global Centre.

Fay Stevens is an archaeologist and award-winning lecturer and researcher. She has worked in archaeological projects in Armenia, Europe and the UK and has travelled on academic research including Syria, Jordan, USA and Japan. She specializes in the philosophy of phenomenology in archaeology and was part of a ground-breaking project at UCL developing phenomenological research methods and thinking in landscape archaeology. This includes research into the ritual deposition of material cultures into watery locales, and the development of new courses around sustainability and water including ‘Rivers and Tides. A Biography of the River Thames, London’ for the University of Notre Dame, London Faculty and ‘Environmental Conservation and Sustainable Thinking. Natural Places as Heritage’ for University of Notre Dame Pre-College Programme.

For more information visit the event website.

Notre Dame London

March 16, 2022

Art and HistoryGlobal AffairsHealth and SocietyScience and TechnologyDigest170EnvironmentFay StevensLisa CaulfieldNotre Dame LondonSustainabilityUKClubLondon