Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Thesis, Keening community: Mna caointe, women, death,
and power in Ireland
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I am hearing good reports of this thesis, which certainly seems to offer =
an
interesting approach to the research material and, judging from the =
outline,
below, also has its diasporic dimensions. The advisor was Kevin =
O'Neill.

P.O'S.

Keening community: Mna caointe, women, death, and power in Ireland
by Brophy, Christina S., Ph.D., Boston College, 2010, 357 pages; AAT =
3433125
Abstract (Summary)

This is a study of mn=E1 caointe , Irish keening women. Ranging from the
semiprofessional to the more occasional, mn=E1 caointe performed the =
caoineadh
(Irish women's lament) at wakes and funerals and led their communities =
in
the public expression of grief. Their performances included =
extemporaneously
composed, sung, oral elegiac poetry, interspersed with choruses of =
wailing
cries. In addition to praising the deceased, mourning his/her passing, =
and
aggressively criticizing his/her enemies, mn=E1 caointe articulated =
their own
concerns and assorted social tensions. Mn=E1 caointe grieved incidents =
of
domestic violence and social slights and cursed those who offended them. =
The
practice of the caoineadh originated prior to the Christian period in
Ireland and ceased in the early twentieth century.

Employing a multitude of diverse source material, this study relies most
heavily upon folklore manuscripts held by the Department of Irish =
Folklore
at the National University of Ireland, Dublin in Belfield. Unlike the =
works
of scholars of folklore, music, and literature that have preceded, this
study examines mn=E1 caointe to better understand the dynamics of =
colonialism
and community and to elucidate moments of innovation involving women and
understandings of identity, death, and power.

This work chronicles the religious and historical significance of mn=E1
caointe , from the medieval period through the twentieth century Irish
Diaspora, by contextualizing the practice and performers, in various
cultural settings. Throughout these periods, keening and mn=E1 caointe =
were
central to both positive and pejorative definitions of "Irish" identity. =
In
medieval mythology, keening was one of the ways otherworldly women
demonstrated the intimate connection between the land and those who =
resided
upon it. In the colonial era, British colonists and travel writers cited =
the
caoineadh and mn=E1 caointe among the elements that made Irish culture
inferior. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, aware of =
colonizers'
disdain, agrarian agitators, Eileen O'Connell (the most famous keening
woman), and Daniel O'Connell resorted to folk traditions centered on
allegorical women and keening to protest British ascendancy, as well as
political and economic injustice.

Through their performances, nineteenth century mn=E1 caointe managed =
grief for
their communities, mediated between the living and the dead, effected =
the
transfer of the deceased to the afterlife by impersonating supernatural
females, and provided women and colonized Irish with tools to =
rhetorically
resist domination. Though economically marginal, for much of the =
nineteenth
century, skilled mn=E1 caointe were compensated in ways that =
demonstrated
their value and importance to rural communities. Demographic changes =
that
began before the mid-nineteenth century Irish Potato Famine and =
accelerated
after, especially the rise of strong farmers and the decimation of the
laboring poor, resulted in the slow and uneven decline in hiring mn=E1 =
caointe
. While Catholic priests and Roman devotions usurped many of their
functions, and religious and cultural underpinnings of the caoineadh
deteriorated, folk traditions regarding the mediatory role of longhaired
mourning women persisted into the twentieth century Irish Diaspora. The
legacy of mn=E1 caointe can be found in how the Irish ritualized =
emigration,
conceived transatlantic identity, redefined community, and understood =
the
bean s=ED (banshee, i.e. the Irish supernatural death messenger). In =
sum,
Irish history and culture are more fully understood through an =
examination
of mn=E1 caointe . Their mythological heritage, religious significance, =
and
legacy demonstrate ways that largely disenfranchised Irish women =
employed
understandings of the transcendent to shape, protest, and change their
lives.

Indexing (document details)
Advisor: O'Neill, Kevin
Committee members: Reinburg, Virginia, O'Leary, Philip
School: Boston College
Department: Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
School Location: United States -- Massachusetts
Keyword(s): Ireland, Banshee, Death customs, O'Connell, Eileen, Irish
history, Keening, Mna caointe
Source: DAI-A 72/02, Aug 2011
Source type: Dissertation
Subjects: Religious history, European history, British and Irish
literature
Publication Number: AAT 3433125
ISBN: 9781124383811
Document URL:
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdlink?did=3D2235093631&Fmt=3D7&clientI
d=3D79356&RQT=3D309&VName=3DPQD
ProQuest document ID: 2235093631

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Book Review, Creating Irish Tourism. The First Century 1750-1850
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Creating Irish Tourism. The First Century 1750-1850, William
H.A. Williams. Anthem Nineteenth Century Series. London and
New York (2010). ISBN-13: 978 1 84331 844 6.

This book has been much needed and is most welcome. There has been of late a
surge of excellent writing about the history of tourism in Ireland, but most
of the attention has been on its more recent experience after the Famine and
indeed post WW2. Although Mary Davies has charted the rise of Bray as a
late eighteenth century seaside resort, in general much less has appeared
on the early phase when Ireland first began to make an appearance as a
tourist destination. The primary source for this excellent study is 100 or
so travel accounts of Ireland written between c1750 and 1850, looking at
where they visited, what they found, andassessing their reactions. These
visitors, primarily British, were moneyed and leisured, and possessed of
both curiosity and courage: getting to Ireland involved crossing the Irish
Sea which until the coming of steamships in 1820s was always uncertain
and sometimes dangerous. And Ireland had an uneasy reputation; agrarian
unrest and an actual uprising in 1798 did not encourage tourism. Nor was
Ireland possessed of as full a range of attractions as other parts of
Britain or the Continent; it lacked a Walter Scott or a Shakespeare to put
it on the literary tourist's map; its museums, art and urban architecture
were at best second division, its climate a mixed blessing, its culture and
heritage suspect. What powered Hibernian tourism was landscape and scenery;
as Williams points out, Killarney, the Giant's Causeway and the Wicklow
Glens were top ranking attractions to the European traveller in search of
the picturesque...

Williams divides his analysis into three parts. The first deals with the
problems of getting to, and around Ireland. The railways were late on the
scene in Ireland, and much rested on horse drawn transport, of which the
jaunting car was one form. Accommodation was another issue for tourists; the
amiability of hosts was not always matched by efficiency. Williams then
reviews where people went and why; some were motivated by a desire to
understand Ireland and the Irish, a question of weight for the British. The
second part focuses in depth on the Irish landscape, with a fascinating
section on the development of Killarney. It discusses the tourist
experience; what the Irish of all classes gave and what they got; guides,
beggars, singers and souvenir vendors and well as hotel proprietors and
landowners. The final part looks interalia at Irishness; what the visitors
found difficult in terms of language, religion and custom including pattern
pilgrimage and fairs. What many visitors saw as the curse of Ireland, the
backwardness of peasant agriculture leads to consideration of what remedies
they proposed, and then to the consequences in the famine, and beyond There
are interesting reflections on what tourism meant for visitors and visited;
and lots of local detail; for example, the evolution of the kissing stone
tradition at Blarney...

...what Williams gives us is plentiful indeed, a pleasurable, informative
and important study, with very good footnoting. It is, and this is a shame,
somewhat slipshod. There are surprising errors of fact - Thomas Cook becomes
James Cook - and of spelling, even at the level of chapter headings, one of
which is termed Semeiotics. But these are but midge bites which should not
spoil a very worthwhile journey.
Alastair Durie
The University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland, UK

SOURCE
Tourism Management 32 (2011) 195-206

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Article,
From Angela's ashes to the Celtic tiger: Early life conditions
and adult health in Ireland
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From Angela's ashes to the Celtic tiger: Early life conditions and adult
health in Ireland

Original Research Article

Journal of Health Economics, Volume 30, Issue 1, January 2011, Pages 1-10

Liam Delaney, Mark McGovern, James P. Smith

Abstract
We use data from the Irish census and exploit regional and temporal
variation in infant mortality rates over the 20th century to examine effects
of early life conditions on later life health. The urban mortality penalty
collapsed in Ireland in the years right after World War II. Our main
identification is public health interventions centered on improved
sanitation and food safety, which we believed played a leading role in
eliminating the Irish urban infant mortality penalty. Our estimates suggest
that a unit decrease in mortality rates at time of birth reduces the
probability of being disabled as an adult by about 12-18%.

Article Outline
1. Background
1.1. Trends in mortality
1.2. Literature
2. The Irish urban infant mortality penalty
2.1. The 1947 Health Act
3. Data
3.1. Census data on disability and health
3.2. Infant mortality data
4. Results
4.1. Model Specification
4.2. Regression analysis
4.3. Possible selection biases
5. Conclusions
References

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Book Query, Irish in Britain
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I have been re-reading
Mac Laughlin, Jim, 1994. Ireland: the emigrant nursery and the world
economy. Cork University Press, Cork.

I wanted something with a bit of anger in it. And I was looking back at the
shaping of Irish Diaspora/Migration Studies in the 1980s and 1990s. The
book is of its time and type - it is a little paperback, part of a series
edited by Fintan O'Toole. It gets Kerby Miller's name wrong.

Sections of the book are available on Google Books.

One of the book's sources is given as
John A. Kennedy, The Irish in Britain, Routledge and Kegan Paul London 1973
As the source for a table on p 24 and as a source in footnote 57 on page 84.

Obviously we like to track all books with that resonant title The Irish in
Britain.

The trouble is that I have never seen a copy of John A. Kennedy, The Irish
in Britain, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973. I cannot find it in the
standard library catalogues, nor in the ISBN lists.

The book DOES appear on a list on
http://migration.ucc.ie/bibliography.htm
which is part of the migration resources website at University College Cork.

It is cited in
MacLaughlin, J. 1991. Social characteristics and destinations of recent
emigrants from selected regions in the West of Ireland. Geoforum 22: 319 -
331.

But that is all I have been able to find,

Without going into a lot of detail, but looking at books that MIGHT have
been cited, the obvious ones are

Kennedy R.E. (1973) The Irish: Emigration, Marriage and Fertility. Berkeley:
University of California Press.

Jackson, J. A. (1963). The Irish in Britain. London: Routledge and Kegan
Paul.

Has anyone ever seen a copy of John A. Kennedy, The Irish in Britain, 1973?
Does anyone know anything about this book?

P.O'S.

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Liam Greenslade Academic
Subject: Re: Book Query, Irish in Britain
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Hi Patrick,

I recall that I used to have a copy of this book but it went astray in
my moves back and forth across the Irish Sea. It wasn't published by
Routledge though.

It was a small paperback, of mainly anecdotal data, published by one of
the smaller Irish publishers I think. It may even have been self
published. Not much to write home about even in a field which relevant
literature was as scarce as hen's teeth. I don't think I ever cited it
in my own work on the IinB.

Hope this helps

Liam





On 12/04/2011 14:05, Patrick O'Sullivan wrote:
> I have been re-reading
> Mac Laughlin, Jim, 1994. Ireland: the emigrant nursery and the world
> economy. Cork University Press, Cork.
>
> I wanted something with a bit of anger in it. And I was looking back at the
> shaping of Irish Diaspora/Migration Studies in the 1980s and 1990s. The
> book is of its time and type - it is a little paperback, part of a series
> edited by Fintan O'Toole. It gets Kerby Miller's name wrong.
>
> Sections of the book are available on Google Books.
>
> One of the book's sources is given as
> John A. Kennedy, The Irish in Britain, Routledge and Kegan Paul London 1973
> As the source for a table on p 24 and as a source in footnote 57 on page 84.
>
> Obviously we like to track all books with that resonant title The Irish in
> Britain.
>
> The trouble is that I have never seen a copy of John A. Kennedy, The Irish
> in Britain, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973. I cannot find it in the
> standard library catalogues, nor in the ISBN lists.
>
> The book DOES appear on a list on
> http://migration.ucc.ie/bibliography.htm
> which is part of the migration resources website at University College Cork.
>
> It is cited in
> MacLaughlin, J. 1991. Social characteristics and destinations of recent
> emigrants from selected regions in the West of Ireland. Geoforum 22: 319 -
> 331.
>
> But that is all I have been able to find,
>
> Without going into a lot of detail, but looking at books that MIGHT have
> been cited, the obvious ones are
>
> Kennedy R.E. (1973) The Irish: Emigration, Marriage and Fertility. Berkeley:
> University of California Press.
>
> Jackson, J. A. (1963). The Irish in Britain. London: Routledge and Kegan
> Paul.
>
> Has anyone ever seen a copy of John A. Kennedy, The Irish in Britain, 1973?
> Does anyone know anything about this book?
>
> P.O'S.
>

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Bill Mulligan
Subject: FW: Submission: Ireland's Wailing Women (the Irish keen).
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Further to Ireland's wailing women:



For a lovely edition of Eibhlin Dubh Ni Chonaill's classic keen, over the
dead body of her husband, colleagues

may appreciate seeing Malachi McCormick's handcrafted, bilingual
(Irish-English) edition of this famous keen which

Seamus Deane judged the greatest love poem in Irish: the "Caoineadh Airt Ui
Laoghaire" (Keen for Art O'Leary, 1773).



For McCormick's information on his translation of the keen, and his Stone
Street Press in Staten Island, New York, see:

http://stonestreetpress.com/book-store/handmade-books/lament-for-art-o-leary
/

http://stonestreetpress.com/864/lament-for-art-oleary-malachi-mccormick-tell
s-the-story-behind-one-of-the-great-irish-poems/



I look forward to seeing Dr Brophy's work on the Irish keen, with its fresh
& valuably extended contexts;

and hearty congratulations to her and to her advisor, Kevin O'Neill at
Boston College. The keen was an established form

in the oral culture of many ethnic groups, dating to classical Greek
funereal rites, and doubtless earlier. The definitive edition, to 1961,

of the storied O'Leary keen is Sean O Tuama's Irish-language edition with
impressive scholarly apparatus. A fascinating subject,

to be sure.



With our appreciation to Christina Brophy and her associates,



MEM



Maureen E. Mulvihill, PhD (Brooklyn, NY).

Scholar & Writer, Princeton Research Forum, NJ.

Author, "Eileen O'Connell", Encyclopedia of British Women Writers,

eds Paul & June Schlueter (Rutgers UP, 1998), pp 484-487, with

primary & secondary bibliography.



___________________________

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: "Walter, Bronwen"
Subject: Re: Book Query, Irish in Britain
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Dear Paddy

Perhaps he meant

Kevin O'Connor (1972) The Irish in Britain London: Sidgwick and jackson

or just amalgamated the others you list...?

All the best

Bronwen

-----Original Message-----
From: The Irish Diaspora Studies List on behalf of Patrick O'Sullivan
Sent: Tue 12/04/2011 14:05
To: IR-D[at]JISCMAIL.AC.UK
Subject: [IR-D] Book Query, Irish in Britain
=20
I have been re-reading
Mac Laughlin, Jim, 1994. Ireland: the emigrant nursery and the world
economy. Cork University Press, Cork.

I wanted something with a bit of anger in it. And I was looking back at =
the
shaping of Irish Diaspora/Migration Studies in the 1980s and 1990s. The
book is of its time and type - it is a little paperback, part of a =
series
edited by Fintan O'Toole. It gets Kerby Miller's name wrong.

Sections of the book are available on Google Books.

One of the book's sources is given as=20
John A. Kennedy, The Irish in Britain, Routledge and Kegan Paul London =
1973
As the source for a table on p 24 and as a source in footnote 57 on page =
84.

Obviously we like to track all books with that resonant title The Irish =
in
Britain. =20

The trouble is that I have never seen a copy of John A. Kennedy, The =
Irish
in Britain, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973. I cannot find it in the
standard library catalogues, nor in the ISBN lists.=20

The book DOES appear on a list on
http://migration.ucc.ie/bibliography.htm
which is part of the migration resources website at University College =
Cork.

It is cited in
MacLaughlin, J. 1991. Social characteristics and destinations of recent
emigrants from selected regions in the West of Ireland. Geoforum 22: 319 =
-
331.

But that is all I have been able to find,

Without going into a lot of detail, but looking at books that MIGHT have
been cited, the obvious ones are

Kennedy R.E. (1973) The Irish: Emigration, Marriage and Fertility. =
Berkeley:
University of California Press.

Jackson, J. A. (1963). The Irish in Britain. London: Routledge and Kegan
Paul.

Has anyone ever seen a copy of John A. Kennedy, The Irish in Britain, =
1973?
Does anyone know anything about this book?

P.O'S.

--=20
Email has been scanned for viruses by Altman Technologies' email =
management
service -
www.altman.co.uk/emailsystems

=
--=20=0D=0A=0D=0AEMERGING EXCELLENCE: In the Research Assessment Exerci=
se (RAE) 2008,=20=0D=0Amore than 30% of our submissions were rated as '=
Internationally=20=0D=0AExcellent' or 'World-leading'. Among the academ=
ic disciplines now rated=20=0D=0A'World-leading' are Allied Health Prof=
essions & Studies; Art & Design;=20=0D=0AEnglish Language & Literature;=
Geography & Environmental Studies;=20=0D=0AHistory; Music; Psychology;=
and Social Work & Social Policy &=20=0D=0AAdministration. Visit www.an=
glia.ac.uk/rae for more information.=20=0D=0A=0D=0A=0D=0A=0D=0A=0D=0ATh=
is e-mail and any attachments are intended for the above named=20=0D=0A=
recipient(s)only and may be privileged. If they have come to you in=20=0D=
=0Aerror you must take no action based on them, nor must you copy or sh=
ow=20=0D=0Athem to anyone please reply to this e-mail to highlight the =
error and=20=0D=0Athen immediately delete the e-mail from your system. =
Any opinions=20=0D=0Aexpressed are solely those of the author and do no=
t necessarily=20=0D=0Arepresent the views or opinions of Anglia Ruskin =
University. Although=20=0D=0Ameasures have been taken to ensure that th=
is e-mail and attachments are=20=0D=0Afree from any virus we advise tha=
t, in keeping with good computing=20=0D=0Apractice, the recipient shoul=
d ensure they are actually virus free.=20=0D=0APlease note that this me=
ssage has been sent over public networks which=20=0D=0Amay not be a 100=
% secure communications=20=0D=0A=0D=0AEmail has been scanned for viruse=
s by Altman Technologies' email=20=0D=0Amanagement service - www.altman=
co.uk/emailsystems=20=0D=0A=0D=0A=

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: "MacEinri, Piaras"
Subject: Re: Book Query, Irish in Britain
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Dear Paddy

Embarrassing as it may be to have to admit it, I cannot account for the =
appearance of this reference in an early bibliography on our website. It =
does indeed appear (endnote 57, page 84, in MacLaughlin J.(1994) =
Ireland: The Emigrant Nursery and the World Economy Cork: Cork U.P.)in =
Jim's well-known work, but as far as I can see there is no book of this =
title and author. I thought, like Bronwen, that O'Connor's work was the =
one referred to, or that it might have been conflated in some way with =
R.E.Kennedy's 1973 work.=20

Piaras

-----Original Message-----
From: The Irish Diaspora Studies List on behalf of Walter, Bronwen
Sent: Tue 4/12/2011 6:07 PM
To: IR-D[at]JISCMAIL.AC.UK
Subject: Re: [IR-D] Book Query, Irish in Britain
=20
Dear Paddy

Perhaps he meant

Kevin O'Connor (1972) The Irish in Britain London: Sidgwick and jackson

or just amalgamated the others you list...?

All the best

Bronwen

-----Original Message-----
From: The Irish Diaspora Studies List on behalf of Patrick O'Sullivan
Sent: Tue 12/04/2011 14:05
To: IR-D[at]JISCMAIL.AC.UK
Subject: [IR-D] Book Query, Irish in Britain
=20
I have been re-reading
Mac Laughlin, Jim, 1994. Ireland: the emigrant nursery and the world
economy. Cork University Press, Cork.

I wanted something with a bit of anger in it. And I was looking back at =
the
shaping of Irish Diaspora/Migration Studies in the 1980s and 1990s. The
book is of its time and type - it is a little paperback, part of a =
series
edited by Fintan O'Toole. It gets Kerby Miller's name wrong.

Sections of the book are available on Google Books.

One of the book's sources is given as=20
John A. Kennedy, The Irish in Britain, Routledge and Kegan Paul London =
1973
As the source for a table on p 24 and as a source in footnote 57 on page =
84.

Obviously we like to track all books with that resonant title The Irish =
in
Britain. =20

The trouble is that I have never seen a copy of John A. Kennedy, The =
Irish
in Britain, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973. I cannot find it in the
standard library catalogues, nor in the ISBN lists.=20

The book DOES appear on a list on
http://migration.ucc.ie/bibliography.htm
which is part of the migration resources website at University College =
Cork.

It is cited in
MacLaughlin, J. 1991. Social characteristics and destinations of recent
emigrants from selected regions in the West of Ireland. Geoforum 22: 319 =
-
331.

But that is all I have been able to find,

Without going into a lot of detail, but looking at books that MIGHT have
been cited, the obvious ones are

Kennedy R.E. (1973) The Irish: Emigration, Marriage and Fertility. =
Berkeley:
University of California Press.

Jackson, J. A. (1963). The Irish in Britain. London: Routledge and Kegan
Paul.

Has anyone ever seen a copy of John A. Kennedy, The Irish in Britain, =
1973?
Does anyone know anything about this book?

P.O'S.

--=20
Email has been scanned for viruses by Altman Technologies' email =
management
service -
www.altman.co.uk/emailsystems

--=20

EMERGING EXCELLENCE: In the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008,=20
more than 30% of our submissions were rated as 'Internationally=20
Excellent' or 'World-leading'. Among the academic disciplines now rated=20
'World-leading' are Allied Health Professions & Studies; Art & Design;=20
English Language & Literature; Geography & Environmental Studies;=20
History; Music; Psychology; and Social Work & Social Policy &=20
Administration. Visit www.anglia.ac.uk/rae for more information.=20




This e-mail and any attachments are intended for the above named=20
recipient(s)only and may be privileged. If they have come to you in=20
error you must take no action based on them, nor must you copy or show=20
them to anyone please reply to this e-mail to highlight the error and=20
then immediately delete the e-mail from your system. Any opinions=20
expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily=20
represent the views or opinions of Anglia Ruskin University. Although=20
measures have been taken to ensure that this e-mail and attachments are=20
free from any virus we advise that, in keeping with good computing=20
practice, the recipient should ensure they are actually virus free.=20
Please note that this message has been sent over public networks which=20
may not be a 100% secure communications=20

Email has been scanned for viruses by Altman Technologies' email=20
management service - www.altmanco.uk/emailsystems=20

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Professor Don MacRaild to publish new research
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Professor Don MacRaild to publish new research

"Migration is part of the human life-cycle. Like a birth, a marriage or a
death, it is a threshold event, a moment of profound choice or change that
affects people forever."

This is Professor Don MacRaild, explaining his fascination with the history
of migration. As the author of the standard text on the Irish Diaspora in
Britain, Professor MacRaild is active in several related research areas
including the history of English migration to the world and, particularly,
to America, an area in which he is working closely with colleagues David
Gleeson and Tanja Bueltmann. "I believe historians can learn a lot from the
science model of collaborative research," commented Professor MacRaild.
One of the surprising aspects of Professor MacRaild's research is the
revelation that Englishness used to be just as much an ethnic identity in
the US as Irishness or Scottishness. "From the late eighteenth century and
throughout the nineteenth century many US towns and cities boasted
organisations such as the Sons of St George where 'roast beef, plum pudding
and English cheer' could be enjoyed," he explains.

Professor MacRaild's soon-to-be published research in this area reveals how
other expressions of Englishness were once also commonplace. St George's Day
was celebrated along with Shakespeare's birthday, toasts to Queen Victoria
were drunk (alongside those to the President), and English characters such
as Robin Hood, Walter Raleigh, Morris dancers and chimney sweeps were
incorporated into May Day celebrations.

FULL TEXT AT
http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/sd/academic/sass/events/sassnews/Donrsch

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: CFP Diaspora Strategies,
UCD Clinton Institute of American Studies, Dublin,
9-10 September, 2011
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Forwarded on behalf of
Martin Russell

Dear Patrick,

Please find below a call for papers which may be of interest to you and the
Irish Research Diaspora Unit. I would be grateful if you could forward it on
to any relevant/interested individuals or parties.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Regards
Martin
Martin Russell
IRCHSS Postgraduate Scholar
The Clinton Institute for American Studies
University College Dublin


CALL FOR PAPERS

Diaspora Strategies: Encouragement, Evolution, and Engagement
9-10 September, 2011 UCD Clinton Institute of American Studies, Dublin,
Ireland

Plenary Speakers:

Prof. Gabriel Sheffer (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Gabriel Sheffer is Emiterus Professor at the Department of Political Science
at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has researched and published
extensively on diasporas. His publications include Diaspora Politics: At
Home Abroad, which was awarded the Israeli Political Science Association
Prize for best book in 2004. During his career, he has been a Senior Fellow
at the Woodrow Wilson Center and the Max Planck Institute, amongst others.
He has also served as a member of the editorial boards of leading journals
and publications such as Diaspora and India Journal of Diaspora. He is a
regular contributor to Israeli newspapers such as Ha`aretz, Ydioth
A'haronot, and Ynet.


Kingsley Aikins, (Networking Matters)
Kingsley Aikins worked for The Ireland Funds for 21 years and during that
time over a quarter of a billion dollars was raised and distributed to over
1200 projects in Ireland, North and South. These projects were in the areas
of peace and reconciliation, arts and culture, education and community
development. The Funds are now active in 39 cities in 13 countries around
the world and over 40,000 people attend more than 100 events annually. He is
also co-founder on Networking Matters.


Tim Finch (Institute for Public Policy Research)
Tim Finch is ippr's Director of Communications and is an expert in the areas
of politics and media and strategic communications. He has degrees in
politics from the London School of Economics and the University of Essex.
His research and publications on diaspora strategies include GlobalBrit:
Making the most of the British diaspora. He worked for a number of years for
the BBC, latterly as a senior political journalist based at Westminster. He
is a trustee of Asylum Aid, the Zimbabwe Association and the Ramphal Centre,
and sits on the Housing and Migration Network.


"There is much more to learn about diaspora engagement. Part of its promise
lies in its extraordinary diversity- there is a diaspora partner for every
dimension of development and for every corner of the earth. But for diaspora
engagement policy to be most effective, it needs to move beyond the familiar
language of using, tapping, or even exploiting diaspora ties into the
language - and practice - of mutuality and reciprocity." (Migration Policy
Institute)

This conference will engage with one of the most pertinent political
discourses emerging in recent decades, diaspora strategies. The conference
aims to examine the definitional, theoretical and practical frameworks of
diaspora strategies. It will examine historical connotations of the subject
matter as well as more contemporary policy implications. It will examine the
role diaspora strategies play in both the domestic and foreign policy of
Ireland. Furthermore, it will locate such discourses within the broader
international community, drawing out comparative analysis on questions of
nationalism, identity and representation.


Possible topics:

Defining Diaspora: How do we define 'diaspora'? Are there competing
definitions of the term? How do they inform our understanding of different
diasporas?

Diaspora Frameworks and Agency: How are diasporas structured, or indeed, are
they? How do they evolve? Who or what instigates these processes?

Diaspora, Homelands and Hosts: What role does the perceived homeland play in
diaspora consciousness? Does it have to be real, or can it be imagined? What
is the relationship between diasporas and their homelands? Concurrently,
what role does a host country play in a diaspora strategy?

Diaspora Strategies and Engagement: What is a diaspora strategy? Who should
encourage diaspora strategies? What is their purpose? How can we progress to
the language and practice of mutuality and reciprocity?

Diaspora Sections: Where can diasporas be strategically engaged?
Historically, what had their role been in such areas as conflict resolution,
philanthropy, and Foreign Direct Investment?

Diaspora Language: How central are native languages to diaspora communities?
How many retain their language as a form of identity and community?

We invite single paper and panel proposals for this conference. Please send
an email to diasporastrategies[at]gmail.com with the following information

1. Name, contact details and academic affiliation
2. Paper title
3. 200-300 word abstract
4. Brief CV or biographical statement

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: JUNE 4 2011.


For more information on the conference see
www.diasporastrategies.wordpress.com

The conference is kindly supported by the UCD Graduate School of Arts and
Celtic Studies.

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Childhood in Irish Society: An Interdisciplinary Conference,
April 18th and 19th
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Childhood in Irish Society: An Interdisciplinary Conference (18-19 =
April)
April 18th and 19th

Childhood Studies =96 examining issues about childhood and children from =
birth
to eighteen years =96 is an emerging academic field internationally =
which
draws on scholarship across a range of disciplines. The recent reports =
into
child abuse in modern Ireland, which implicate both Church and State, =
have
led to an examination of the treatment of children in Irish society, =
while
the proposed constitutional referendum on the rights of the child has =
raised
questions about the nature of the child and childhood. The importance of =
an
interdisciplinary exploration of childhood in Irish society is =
highlighted
by these reports and by the proposed referendum. This interdisciplinary
conference will include papers from history, theology, education, =
religious
education, philosophy, literature and child welfare.
=20
Keynote Speakers:

Professor John Wall, Rutgers University.=20
Professor Wall is chair of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) =
Childhood
Studies and Religion Consultation. He is the author of Ethics in Light =
of
Childhood (Georgetown University Press, 2010) and Children and Armed
Conflict, co-edited with Daniel Thomas Cook (Palgrave Macmillan, =
forthcoming
2011).

Professor Harry Hendrick, Associate Fellow at the Centre for the History =
of
Medicine, University of Warwick.=20
Recently retired from the University of Southern Denmark, Professor =
Hendrick
is the author of Children, Childhood and English Society, 1880-1990
(Cambridge University Press, 1997) and Child Welfare. Historical =
Dimensions,
Contemporary Debate (Policy Press, 2003).

SOURCE
http://www.materdei.ie/index.cfm/page/childhoodinirishsociety_aninte

http://www.materdei.ie/index.cfm/page/conferenceprogramme

Conference Programme
Day 1: April 18, 2011
=09
Words of Welcome: Dr. Dermot Lane, President of Mater Dei Institute of
Education, Dublin City University

Session One
Tuairim=92s challenge to the conservative consensus on childcare, =
1954-75
Tom=E1s Finn, National University of Ireland, Galway
=91A God-given opportunity to save them=92: Church, State and the advent =
of
Child Guidance services in independent Ireland
Tom Feeney, University College Dublin
Childhood Identity as a Regulatory Ideal: Governing the Child within the
context of the Irish Juvenile Justice System
Paul Sargent, Trinity College Dublin

Session Two
Clerical abuse of Irish Children in Communities and Institutions: =
Evidence
and Response
Catriona Crowe, National Archives of Ireland
The Child in Catholic Social Teaching
Ethna Regan, Mater Dei Institute, Dublin City University
=20
Session Three
Grappling with the Trauma of Child Sexual Abuse: History and the Pursuit =
of
Blame in Modern Ireland
Lindsey Earner-Byrne, University College Dublin
Moral Absolutes and the Clerical Child Sex Abuse Scandals
John Murray, Mater Dei Institute, Dublin City University
=20
Session Four
=91Don=92t ask my mother about me, ask me! =92: The case for abandoning =
the
ventriloquism act in Child Research=94
Maria O=92Dwyer, University of Limerick
Paternalism and the choices of children
Kevin Williams, Mater Dei Institute of Education, Dublin City University
=20
Session Five
Education of Body and Mind: child recreation from 1886
Vanessa Rutherford, University College Cork
Whose play is it anyway; Play, power, adults and children on the school
playground
Carol Barron, Dublin City University
Plenary Lecture
The Place of Children: Ethical, Theological, and Human Rights =
Considerations
Professor John Wall, Rutgers University
=20
=20
Day 2: April 19, 2011

Session One
Child welfare initiatives: case studies from nineteenth and early =
twentieth
century Ireland
Jacinta Prunty, National University of Ireland, Maynooth
=91One of the family=92? Children and the challenges of foster care, =
1828-95
June Cooper
Poverty and Child Welfare
Mary Daly, University College Dublin
=20
Session Two
The Need for Child Contact centres in Ireland: learning from =
international
best practice
Candy Murphy, One Family
=93Children Are Not Like the Books:=94 Family Support=92s Perception of =
Childhood
in Ireland
Beth McGettrick, Health Service Executive

Plenary Lecture
Children as Human Capital: historical and contemporary perspectives on
social investment, well-being, and financial austerity
Harry Hendrick, Associate Fellow at the Centre for the History of =
Medicine,
University of Warwick

Session Three
=93Train up a child in the way s/he should go=94. Childhood education in =
the
book of Proverbs
Jessie Rogers, Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick
Millstones, Stumbling Blocks, and Dog Scraps: Children in the Gospels
Peter Admirand, Mater Dei Institute, Dublin City University

Session Four
Children: Entering - and exiting =96 Jerusalem!
Clare Maloney, Marino Institute of Education
Let the Little Children Come: The Significance of Awakening the =
Spirituality
of the Child and the Teacher in the Irish Primary School Context.
Thomas G. Grenham, Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick
=20
Session Five
Plato, Art, Children
Ian Leask, Mater Dei Institute of Education, Dublin City University
Children and Religion in Irish Fiction
Patrick Hannon, St. Patrick=92s College, Maynooth
=20
Concluding Remarks
William Murphy, Mater Dei Institute of Education, Dublin City University

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Article, A Teapot, a House,
or Both? The Material Possessions of Irish Women's California
Assemblages
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A lengthy and wide ranging article which will interest many Ir-D members -
the starting points involve archaeological assemblages from the San
Francisco/Oakland area, where Irish houses and households were identified.
Of special interest are attempts to connect what can be seen in San
Francisco with patterns within Ireland, and with archaeology in other parts
of the world. There are some odd absences in the bibliography.

Note that this article is in the Online First section, and has not yet ben
assigned a place in the published journal.

P.O'S.

Reference Type: Journal Article
Author: Yentsch, Anne
Primary Title: A Teapot, a House, or Both? The Material Possessions of Irish
Women's California Assemblages
Journal Name: Archaeologies
Cover Date: 2011-04-06
Publisher: Springer New York
Issn: 1555-8622
Subject: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law
Start Page: 1
End Page: 52
Url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11759-011-9170-z
Doi: 10.1007/s11759-011-9170-z

Abstract: Using a woman-centered approach, artifact assemblages and
background documents are analyzed to discern gender behavior and ethnic
variations in women's work-cooking, dining, housecleaning-in more frivolous
areas-flowers, pets, girls' toys-and personal adornment. Issues of gender
bias are discussed. The data show that negative evidence (absence vs.
presence) is, at times, misleading and must be carefully considered.
Detailed study of the artifacts connected with Irish women suggests their
gender values that organized their lives differed from those of
Anglo-American women who had a voice in small expressive purchases while men
made final decisions on major household purchases. Irish women owned small
items too. However, a crucial distinction was an element not covered by the
archaeology: a house of their own and owner-occupied, a fact solely visible
in documents.

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Article,
Creativity in the Margins: Identity and Locality in Ireland's
Fashion Journey
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Creativity in the Margins: Identity and Locality in Ireland's Fashion
Journey
Author: de Cl=E9ir, S=EDle 1
Source: Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture, Volume 15,
Number 2, June 2011 , pp. 201-224(24)
Publisher: Berg Publishers

Abstract:
Ireland has undergone significant economic changes in the last 170 =
years:
from the destitution of the Great Famine of the 1840s to the affluence =
of
the Celtic Tiger years at the end of the twentieth century. This article
examines the relationship of Irish people with fashion, whether as =
producers
of crafted textiles for export to larger centers of culture in the
nineteenth century, or as consumers who integrated elements of fashion =
with
folk dress traditions. The effect of Ireland's heritage of folk material
culture on the discourse of dress in the cultural nationalism of the =
early
twentieth century is explained. The early flowering of fashion design in
Dublin and the international success of designers such as Sybil Connolly =
and
Irene Gilbert is discussed through the use of classic histories of Irish
fashion: the subsequent performance of the industry in the freer trade
environment of the 1970s and 1980s is assessed. Irish fashion today is
building an international profile, while the industry copes with the
challenges of multinational retailing and globalization of production. =
The
article concludes by looking at localized fashion discourses, where =
groups
use ritualized display to build a local engagement with the =
international
aesthetic discourse of fashion.

Keywords: Ireland; fashion design; identity; textiles; wool

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Scotland's Irish question
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1.
Sorry, Phil Lynott, I'm sticking with the Scots
Like the Thin Lizzy star, I have Irish forebears. But my heart belongs to
Glasgow, not Dublin


Kevin McKenna
The Observer, Sunday 10 April 2011

Like a good citizen, I dutifully filled out my Scottish census form the
other week and eventually came to question 15. Some people have called it:
"The Phil Lynott question". The poet and lead singer of Thin Lizzy liked to
ask this of his live audiences before his epochal musing on battle and war
in Warriors: "Is there anybody out there with any Irish in them?" Question
15 on the census invites those of us with Irish ancestry to claim our
heritage by ticking a box. With a name like Kevin Joseph Patrick Aloysius
McKenna, it would have seemed a little dishonest to have marked the box next
to Scottish, English, Asian or Polish.

I had no hesitation in doing so because on the previous question I had
confidently claimed my Scottishness. Like 500,000 or so other citizens of
this country, I am a Scot with Irish forbears. This all seems
straightforward, but, this being the west of Scotland, it isn't really...

...Scotland's Irish question has become a contentious issue in recent years.
At Old Firm matches these days, the Rangers supporters have taken to singing
a charming couplet from their rich cultural oeuvre. It is called The Famine
Song and its chorus, to the tune of the Beach Boys' Sloop John B, goes like
this: "The famine's over, why don't you go home?" These sentiments have
variously been described as "racist", "hate-filled" and "discriminatory". I
really have to be honest here, though. As a Catholic Irish Celtic supporter,
I have listened to this song on several occasions and have really, really
tried to feel a sense of outrage about it. I have even attempted to become
bereft and undermined at it. But I can't: it's simply not that abusive; a
little off-colour, perhaps, and a tad wounding, yes. Abusive and racist?
Behave yourself.

Indeed, it probably seeks to satirise those Irish Catholic Scots among us
who try to convince themselves and others that they are more Irish than
Norah, the pride of Kildare. On certain occasions, I have even been guilty
of such ethnic posturing myself.

Not a few years ago, I was surprised to be admonished by a respected
academic and chronicler of all things to do with the Irish diaspora

FULL TEXT AT
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/10/kevin-mckenna-scotland-i
reland-census


2.
Phil Mac Giolla Bhain
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 13 April 2011 12.42 BST

A recent piece by Kevin McKenna painted a somewhat Pollyanna-ish picture of
our community, the Irish in Scotland. McKenna and I are of the same
ethnicity and the same generation. Born in the 1950s, we would both be in
our 30s before occupational parity was achieved in Glasgow for Irish
Catholics in 1991. The Irish who went to New York instead of Glasgow
achieved that economic benchmark status in 1901.

I know from my time in Glasgow as a youth worker in the 1980s and as a
social worker in the 1990s that men of Irish Catholic ethnicity were
disproportionately represented in the prison population. That continues to
be the case. The Irish in Scotland also have a much worse health profile
than the rest of the country.

Of the notorious "famine song" football chant, Kevin says: ". it's simply
not that abusive; a little off-colour, perhaps, and a tad wounding, yes.
Abusive and racist? Behave yourself." Thankfully Lord Justice Carloway
disagreed in June 2009 when he ruled of the lyrics of the famine song: ".
they are racist in calling upon people native to Scotland to leave the
country because of their racial origins. This is a sentiment which . many
persons will find offensive."

... I finally left Glasgow in the mid-1990s. I wanted better for my young
family. Since then my native city's intolerance of all things Irish has, if
anything, got worse. The Scotland that schooled both McKenna and I was built
on generations of Irish sweat and often Irish blood. I don't owe the place a
thing.

If McKenna is happy to be Scottish in Scotland then I'm happy for him. It is
basic human right to be able to self-define. However many others of Irish
extraction find that their seat is still at the back of the bus in Scotland.

Last weekend, like McKenna, I also filled out a census, the Irish one. These
words blink to life on Ireland's Atlantic coast in the parish that reared
generations of my clan, including my father. Philip Joseph Gerard Mac Giolla
Bhain has only ever had an Irish passport. This is my island. I'm glad I'm
home in Ireland with my young Irish family and although we have many
problems here, having become a virtual protectorate of the IMF, it still
isn't a social crime to assert an Irish identity. I can't say that is the
case for Scotland yet. Pretending that a cultural oppression doesn't exist
merely compounds the disempowerment.

FULL TEXT AT
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/13/irish-heritage-scotland-
cultural-oppression

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Central Station, Sydney March, 2011
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Irish dancing Flashmob video ranks fifth in world
April 13, 2011

By James Carder
Tourism Ireland's Flashmob of Irish dancers in Sydney is one of the world's
top branded viral videos, according to marketing magazine Contagious.

The magazine's Contagious Viral chart, which rates the hottest marketing
videos around the globe each month, has named the 'Top Ten Most Shared
Videos' in March...

...The Flashmob, organised by Tourism Ireland in Australia, is on YouTube,
where it has been viewed by almost 740,000 people around the globe. It
features unsuspecting commuters passing through Sydney's Central Station on
St Patrick's Day, who were stopped in their tracks when a group of Irish
dancers brought the busy station to a standstill.

http://insideireland.ie/2011/04/13/irish-dancing-flashmob-video-ranks-fifth-
in-world-14918/

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Don MacRaild
Subject: IR-D] Professor Don MacRaild to publish new research
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Dear Paddy and crew,

The things universities do these day for news, eh?

Adding to the rather cryptic bumf below, which is actually just an =
extract from
a research brochure (so I'm not really sure why it's on our website), =
the=20
following may be of marginal interest to Irish Diasporans, which are =
referred
to below:

Tanja Bueltmann and David Gleeson, Locating the English Diaspora, =
1500-2010=20
( Liverpool University Press). This will be out late 2011/early 2012.

The use of 'diaspora' to describe English ethnicity may ruffle a few =
feathers,
but as an old empiricist, I regard diaspora (by one definition) as an =
act of
measurable agency, and by some measures, Morris dancing, St George's =
societies,
and all manner of other stuff looks not unlike Irish associational and =
cultural
ethnicity to me, albeit with polar opposite politics: imperialist rather =
than=20
nationalist. So if not 'diaspora', then definitely 'ethnicity'. =
Moreover, the role of
middle-class coordinators reminds me very much of Kerby Miller's =
fascinating
study of Irish-American politicos in Yans-McLaughlin, ed, Immigration =
Reconsidered.=20

=91Child-Stripping in the Victorian City=92, Urban History, forthcoming =
2011.

This article looks at the phenomenon of stealing children's clothes and =
pawning
them. It is nothing more sinister than that, though that is sinister =
enough! There
is an Irish sub-text, since many of the perps and victims are Irish. But =
it's only
a thin ribbon of relevance to this group. The piece is really about how =
juvenile
crime is seen and dealt with.

Cheers,


Don









-----Original Message-----
From: The Irish Diaspora Studies List on behalf of Patrick O'Sullivan
Sent: Wed 4/13/2011 15:40
To: IR-D[at]JISCMAIL.AC.UK
Subject: [IR-D] Professor Don MacRaild to publish new research
=20
Professor Don MacRaild to publish new research

"Migration is part of the human life-cycle. Like a birth, a marriage or =
a
death, it is a threshold event, a moment of profound choice or change =
that
affects people forever."=20

This is Professor Don MacRaild, explaining his fascination with the =
history
of migration. As the author of the standard text on the Irish Diaspora =
in
Britain, Professor MacRaild is active in several related research areas
including the history of English migration to the world and, =
particularly,
to America, an area in which he is working closely with colleagues David
Gleeson and Tanja Bueltmann. "I believe historians can learn a lot from =
the
science model of collaborative research," commented Professor MacRaild.
One of the surprising aspects of Professor MacRaild's research is the
revelation that Englishness used to be just as much an ethnic identity =
in
the US as Irishness or Scottishness. "From the late eighteenth century =
and
throughout the nineteenth century many US towns and cities boasted
organisations such as the Sons of St George where 'roast beef, plum =
pudding
and English cheer' could be enjoyed," he explains.

Professor MacRaild's soon-to-be published research in this area reveals =
how
other expressions of Englishness were once also commonplace. St George's =
Day
was celebrated along with Shakespeare's birthday, toasts to Queen =
Victoria
were drunk (alongside those to the President), and English characters =
such
as Robin Hood, Walter Raleigh, Morris dancers and chimney sweeps were
incorporated into May Day celebrations.

FULL TEXT AT
http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/sd/academic/sass/events/sassnews/Donrsch

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Book Review, Ella Young, Irish Mystic and Rebel
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Published in: Folklore, Volume 122, Issue 1 April 2011 , pages 103 - =
105=20

To cite this Article: Ballard, Linda-May 'Ella Young, Irish Mystic and =
Rebel', Folklore, 122:1, 103 - 105=20

Ella Young, Irish Mystic and Rebel=20
By Rose Murphy, Dublin: Liffey, 2008, 165 pp, Illus, =E2=82=AC16.95 =
(pbk), ISBN 978-1-905-78531-5

Rose Murphy introduces her subject by remarking that Ella Young =
=E2=80=9Chas never emerged from the shadows of more famous =
luminaries=E2=80=9D (p. 1), and goes on to outline a life-story that in =
many ways may be described as remarkable. Young was born into an Ulster =
Presbyterian family in 1867 and died in California in 1956. As a young =
girl she began to have supernatural encounters, and apparently these =
were shared by other members of her family. This mystical aspect of her =
personality flourished throughout her life; she heard fairy music, was =
accompanied on walks by elves, apparently recalled previous lives in =
Ireland, Egypt, and Italy, and her journey to America was predicted in =
1914 by =E2=80=9Ca gypsy =E2=80=A6 a woman whose family had surely come, =
at some ancient time, from the Romany tribes of Eastern Europe=E2=80=9D =
(p. 89). It is no surprise to find her attending Theosophy meetings, in =
the company of George Russell and W. B. Yeats, or later in life =
=E2=80=9Cconsumed =E2=80=A6 with the exotic ceremonies of New =
Mexico=E2=80=9D p. 102. In 1909 she published The Coming of Lugh, =
followed in 1910 by Celtic Wonder Tales, and later by other books =
related to Irish mythology and to folklore. Celtic Wonder Tales was =
illustrated by Young's friend, Maud Gonne. Murphy explains that =
=E2=80=9CElla's involvement in Celtic literature and oral stories =
progressed from a love of Ireland's culture to her sense that it was =
vital to throw off the rule of a coloniser who threatened that =
culture=E2=80=9D (p. 61), and that =E2=80=9Cshe had been involved in =
gun-running and other rebel activities long before the independence =
struggles erupted into the 1916 rising=E2=80=9D (p. 60). Nonetheless, =
this smuggler of:
ammunition, rifles and bayonets [=E2=80=A6] often found herself at odds =
with her British-leaning parents. She once asked a friend to forward her =
contribution to the =E2=80=9Cmen who are making such a splendid =
fight=E2=80=9D and she requested that her name not be attached to the =
money because =E2=80=9Cmy family would object so heartily=E2=80=9D (pp. =
63 and 69).

Other aspects of her life were contradictory too: =E2=80=9CIn 1893, Ella =
began study at Dublin's Royal University; this lover of all things =
magical studied economics and law=E2=80=9D (p. 16), and later secured a =
teaching position at the University of California at Berkeley.

...It seems that Ella Young was aware of Casement's involvement in Irish =
affairs, and Murphy speculates: =E2=80=9CPerhaps Ella had not yet heard =
the news of Casement's arrest when she expressed optimism about the =
success of his mission and mused that 'he should be with us when the =
Flag of Ireland takes the wind'=E2=80=9D (p. 65). While Ella was not the =
only notable Antrim woman born in the 1860s to take a deep interest in =
Gaelic culture, there is no reference to either Rose Young or Ada =
McNeill in the book. There are also certain anomalies in the text: for =
example, despite paying close attention to Young's revolutionary =
activities, Murphy comments when her subject was =E2=80=9Cthree years =
old, her family first moved from Northern Ireland to Limerick=E2=80=9D =
(p. 11) and makes other=E2=80=94in the context, rather =
surprising=E2=80=94anachronistic references to =E2=80=9CNorthern =
Ireland=E2=80=9D during the period before Irish Partition.

Shorthand of this type can be forgiven in a book that perhaps is not =
intended to look too far beneath the surface or to depart from a rather =
stereotypical point of view. In my considered view it is disappointing =
that the opportunity has not been taken to examine Young and her life =
more closely and in much greater depth, to place her more firmly in the =
context of female contemporaries of a broadly similar background who =
developed similar interests (at least in terms of culture), nor to =
question the relationship between Protestantism in Ireland and the =
orally acquired knowledge of folklore. Nonetheless, Murphy has performed =
a service in casting a light on Ella Young (whose Celtic Wonder Tales, =
incidentally, may be found on the Sacred Texts website) and perhaps =
there may yet be closer scrutiny of her subject.

=C2=A9 2011, Linda-May Ballard

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Article, French Military Intelligence and Ireland, 1900-1923
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Fascinating article - French intelligence archives offer an oblique comment
on all major events in Ireland during the period. The Irish general with
the secret mission was General J.J. O'Connell.

French Military Intelligence and Ireland, 1900-1923

Intelligence and National Security
Volume 26, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 46 - 71

Author: Jerme aan de Wiel

Abstract
As many unused sources in the Service Historique de la Dfense in Vincennes
and the Quai d'Orsay in Paris reveal the French Deuxime Bureau, and also
naval intelligence, monitored events during the home rule crisis, the Easter
Rising, the First World War, the Peace Conference in Paris and the Civil
War. Also worthy of note are the elaboration of Franco-Irish invasion plans
during the Boer War and the secret mission of an Irish general in Paris
shortly after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921. The
aims of this article will be to give an overview of French military
intelligence activities regarding Ireland and to give an assessment of its
interest in the country during the period under consideration.

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Article, Irish Corned Beef: A Culinary History
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I have pasted in this article information above an earlier IR-D message,
about the conference paper from which the published article derives.


Irish Corned Beef: A Culinary History=20
Journal of Culinary Science & Technology=20
Volume 9, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 27 - 43=20

Authors: Mairtin Mac Con Iomairea; Padraic Og Gallaghera=20

Abstract
This article proposes that a better knowledge of culinary history =
enriches
all culinary stakeholders. The article will discuss the origins and =
history
of corned beef in Irish cuisine and culture. It outlines how cattle have
been central to the ancient Irish way of life for centuries but were
cherished more for their milk than their meat. In the early modern =
period,
with the decline in the power of the Gaelic lords, cattle became an =
economic
commodity that was exported to England. The Cattle Acts of 1663 and 1667
affected the export trade of live cattle and led to a growing trade in
salted Irish beef, centred principally on the city of Cork. Irish corned
beef provisioned the British navy fleets for over two centuries. It was =
also
shipped to the English and French colonies. The article discusses the =
growth
of the corned beef industry and how Irish immigrants popularized corned =
beef
and cabbage in America. It also presents evidence of corned beef =
consumption
in Ireland as a festive food. Changing meat consumption patterns in =
modern
Ireland are discussed and the negative influence of canned South =
American
=93bully beef=94 on traditional Irish corned beef is highlighted. The =
influence
of war on changing dietary habits and on accelerating food innovation is
also discussed.


-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick O'Sullivan [mailto:P.OSullivan[at]bradford.ac.uk]=20
Sent: 05 February 2011 13:11
To: IR-D Jiscmail
Subject: Conference Paper, Corned Beef: An Enigmatic Irish Dish

Source
http://arrow.dit.ie/tfschcafcon/10/

The actual Conference Paper can be downloaded through the button, top =
right.
They don't seem to mind.


Corned Beef: An Enigmatic Irish Dish
M=E1irt=EDn Mac Con Iomaire Ph.D., Dublin Institute of Technology
Padraig Og Gallagher, Gallagher's Boxty House

Conference Paper

Rights
This item is available under a Creative Commons License for =
non-commercial
use only

Disciplines
5.4 SOCIOLOGY

Publication Details
Mac Con Iomaire, M. and P. Gallagher (2011). Corned Beef: An Enigmatic =
Irish
Dish. in Saberi, H. Smoked, Cured and Fermented: Proceedings from the =
2010
Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. Devon: Prospect Books.

Recommended Citation
Corned beef and cabbage, which is consumed in America in large =
quantities
each Saint Patrick=92s Day (17th March), is considered by most Americans =
to be
the ultimate Irish dish. However, corned beef and cabbage is seldom =
eaten in
modern day Ireland. It is widely reported that Irish immigrants replaced
their beloved bacon and cabbage with corned beef and cabbage when they
arrived in America, drawing on the corned beef supplied by their
neighbouring Jewish butchers, but not all commentators believe this
simplistic explanation . This paper will trace the origins and history =
of
corned beef in Irish cuisine and chart how this dish came to represent =
Irish
cuisine in America. The name corned beef originates in seventeenth =
century
England, derived from corns =96 or small crystals =96 of salt used to =
salt or
cure the meat. The paper will discuss the anomaly that although corned =
beef
was not widely eaten in Ireland, it was widely exported, becoming one of
Ireland=92s leading food exports, mostly from the city of Cork. Irish =
corned
beef provisioned the British navy fleets for over two centuries and was =
also
shipped to the colonies. There is evidence of a strong trade in Irish =
corned
beef as a staple for African slaves in the French West Indies and in =
other
French colonies. Irish corned beef also became a staple in Pacific =
islands
visited by the British navy, where it is called keg. These Pacific =
Islanders
later corned their own beef, but sailors labelled it =91salt junk.=92
=20

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Book Review, Benign Anarchy: Alcoholics Anonymous in Ireland,
by Shane Butler
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To cite this Article: Warren, Keith 'Benign Anarchy: Alcoholics Anonymous in
Ireland, by Shane Butler', Journal of Social Work Practice in the
Addictions, 11:1, 88 - 89

Benign Anarchy: Alcoholics Anonymous in Ireland, by Shane Butler


In Benign Anarchy: Alcoholics Anonymous in Ireland, Shane Butler makes a
thoughtful contribution to the growing literature that attempts to explain
the status of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) as one of the most important social
movements of the last century. Butler identifies the beginning as one
meeting in Dublin in 1946, and the central personality in the first three
decades of Irish AA as Sackville O'Conor-Mallins-a retired military officer
who stumbled drunk into a Dublin AA meeting, immediately quit drinking, and
subsequently devoted the last 32 years of his life to expanding AA in
Ireland. He was a skilled organizer who could afford to devote himself
full-time to the fellowship. In his personal correspondence, O'Conor-Mallins
was willing to say nearly anything, and any quotation from his letters
immediately enlivens the page. Also delightful are the recollections that
Butler has gathered from longtime (and anonymous) AA members.

Butler's analysis includes potential risks to the movement from conflicts
between the Protestant Oxford Group out of which AA in Ireland originated
and Roman Catholic orthodoxy in a nation where Catholicism was, in the
1940s, the dominant provider of social services. The modernizing Irish
medical profession also might have looked askance at a movement based
entirely on untrained alcoholics as helpers. Neither the clergy or medical
professionals seriously impaired recruitment, however, and Butler argues
that the reasons lie both in the 12 Steps and the 12 Traditions. Although
the 12 Steps contain obviously religious language, they are fundamentally
grounded in orthopraxis (a set of correct actions) rather than orthodoxy (a
set of correct beliefs). Philosophically this is an outgrowth of the
pragmatic approach to religion first stated by William James, and was meant
as an attempt to allow alcoholics of all religious beliefs (or none) to
benefit from the fellowship. But it had a useful side effect; clergy who
might have felt obliged to oppose AA on doctrinal grounds, even if they
approved of the work it was doing, could take refuge in the almost complete
doctrinal nonspecificity of the Steps. The 12 Traditions, in addition to
establishing a decentralized governance structure that clearly helps AA to
adapt to different cultures, state flatly that AA offers no opinion on
outside issues, thereby dodging many serious potential controversies.

The narrowness of the topic in Benign Anarchy means that it will not appeal
to everybody. Further, Butler could have taken a more skeptical attitude
toward official AA positions. For instance, he argues that AA played no role
in promulgating the disease model of alcoholism, seeing it as an outside
issue. Although technically correct, many if not most individual AA members
did adopt the disease model, and in such a decentralized organization this
might have mattered more.

This book is not directly aimed at the classroom. However, it could make a
useful supplement for courses in substance abuse or social movements,
particularly those with an international dimension. It might also help shift
perspectives in the substance abuse community, where there is an
understandable tendency to look at self-help groups as simply another form
of treatment. AA never refers to itself as treatment. It is a fellowship of
recovering alcoholics, a loose network of autonomous meetings. Everyone who
sponsors a new member adds to AA. Every new member changes AA. Because of
this, it fits uneasily within the current professionalized literature on
substance abuse treatment. There might come a time when researchers have
fully integrated the contemporary complex systems approach into their
worldview and are able to grapple with AA on its own terms. Until then,
histories such as this one mark a vital first step.

Keith Warren

The Ohio State University