A talk by Prof. Erick Langer
Georgetown University’s Global Irish Studies Initiative presents:
“An Irishman in South America: the life and times of Francis Burdett O’Connor”
A talk by Prof. Erick Langer
The Global Irish Studies Initiative is delighted to introduce Prof. Erick Langer, a professor and GIS Faculty Fellow at Georgetown University. The event will occur on Tuesday, November 18 from 5:30 – 6:30 pm in New North 311, Hilltop Campus. The talk is free to attend, and all are welcome, but reservations are required.
About the talk:
Francis Burdett O’Connor was one of the most significant figures in nineteenth-century South American history. The talk will discuss his accomplishments as one of the great leaders of independence in South America in the 1820s, his role as Minister of War in the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, as organizer of settler colonies on the Chaco frontier, and the person who determined the modern-day borders between Bolivia and Argentina. In middle age, he was also an owner of vast estates and an anchor of political stability in southern Bolivia. His diaries are also one of the most important sources for understanding daily life in the center of South America during the nineteenth century. The talk will focus on his accomplishments and the reasons why his many roles have been underappreciated until now.
About the speaker:
Erick D. Langer is Professor of History at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. He teaches courses on Latin American History. He is the author, co-author, and editor of eight books and author or co-author of more than 50 articles in journals and book chapters. Dr. Langer is the U.S. History Representative of the Pan American Institute of Geography and History. He is presently working on three projects: a history of frontiers in the Chaco region of South America, a book of the economic development of the south-central Andes, and the diary of Francis Burdett O’Connor, independence hero who fought with Bolivar and became one of the largest landlords in Spanish America during the 19th century.