WEST WINDSOR – The British Empire, the American War of Independence, and the associated impact on the Irish people will be the topic of a lecture by Mercer County Community College Associate Professor Padhraig Higgins on Wednesday, Oct. 23, from noon to 1 p.m.

Presented as part of the college’s Distinguished Lecture Series, “Patriot Paddies: Ireland and the American Revolution” will be held in the Communications Building, Room 107, on the college’s West Windsor campus, 1200 Old Trenton Road. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Higgins, associate professor of History, will focus on Irish politics and examine the impact of the American Revolution on other parts of the British Empire. In particular, he will focus on the ways in which languages of gender and class were central to the Irish experience in this period of imperial turmoil in the late 18th century.

In 2010, Higgins wrote a book entitled "A Nation of Politicians: Gender, Patriotism, and Political Culture in Late Eighteenth-Century Ireland," published by the University of Wisconsin Press.

In the book, he argues that the development of volunteer-initiated activities expanded the scope of political participation. In particular, Higgins examined how ubiquitous forms of communication – sermons, songs, ballads, handbills, toasts, graffiti, rumors and gossip – encouraged ordinary Irish citizens to engage in the politics of a more inclusive society and consider the broader questions of civil liberties and the British Empire. His book was the winner of the Donald Murphy Prize for Distinguished First Book by the American Conference of Irish Studies.

In 2012, Higgins spent the fall semester in Dublin, Ireland, at his alma mater, Trinity College, on a fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies. There, he built on his initial research for “A Nation of Politicians,” and researched social policy related to poverty in 18th century Dublin.

For more information on MCCC’s Distinguished Lecture Series, call (609) 570-3324 or visit www.mccc.edu/events.

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