From: Linda Almeida
"Almeida, Ed (Exchange)"

Just off the top of my head, Kerby Miller spends a few pages on the wake and
the "American wake" (grieving in advance for departing emigrants) in
Emigrants and Exiles (19th century). I would also suggest two of Alice
McDermott's novels: Charming Billy and At Weddings and Wakes, which are
fictional accounts of 20th Irish American life in New York City that include
wake scenes.
Hope this helps.
Linda Almeida
New York University

> -----Original Message-----
> From: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk [SMTP:irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2000 9:46 AM
> To: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
> Subject: Ir-D American Wake 1
>
>
>
>
> Irish-Diaspora list member
> J'aime Morrison
> Department of Performance Studies
> New York University
>
> is looking for information on the American Wake. She is searching for
> images, letters, fictional accounts, filmic representations, studies -
> relating to the practice in any historical period.


***********************************************************************
Bear Stearns is not responsible for any recommendation, solicitation,
offer or agreement or any information about any transaction, customer
account or account activity contained in this communication.
***********************************************************************

From: Marion Casey
Subject: Re: Ir-D American Wake 2


If anyone wants to see what Paddy is talking about, go the the Library
of Congress' American Memory site

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amhome.html

and search for "A Wake in Hell's Kitchen."

This is a 1903 short film that you can download for viewing at home.
It's contemporary description if as follows: "This scene is laid in
the parlor of a New York tenement. Two watchers at the wake are smoking
and drinking, while the widow is weeping over the coffin. The attention
of the three is attracted for an instant, and the supposed corpse rises
up, drinks all the beer in the pitcher which is standing on a table
nearby, and lies down in the coffin again. The mourners return, and
seeing that the beer is gone, engage in a controversy over it. During
the scrap the corpse jumps out of the coffin and takes part in the
melee."

Boucicault's The Shaughraun was written in NYC in 1874, at a time when
the tradition of a wake from the home was dying out (excuse the pun).
>From the 1860s the New York clergy had been trying to center ceremonies
of baptism, marriage and death in the parish (see Jay Dolan's The
Immigrant Church, pp. 60-62), but it wasn't easy for people to give up
such customs. Boucicault no doubt was aware of local 'nostalgia' for
the wake when he wrote that famous corpse scene into The Shaughraun.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with the "American wake" as
we usually understand it.

Marion R. Casey
Department of History
New York University
-----------------------





- ----- Original Message -----
From: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
Date: Tuesday, October 24, 2000 11:08 am
Subject: Ir-D American Wake 2

>
>
> From Email Patrick O'Sullivan
>
> I find that the best introduction to the whole notion of the
> American Wake remains the
> last few pages, the last Chapter in Kerby Miller, Emigrants and
> Exiles, Oxford UP, 1985.
> The Chapter is called simply 'Conclusion' - and in it, at last,
> Kerby stops quarrelling
> with his thesis, and simply writes... beautifully. The Chapter
> weaves together much
> material from folklore, letters and literary sources. It is a
> very moving piece of
> scholarly writing.
>
> There is a background problem to the whole subject of Wakes - real
> Wakes as opposed to
> American Wakes. There is a very old theatrical gag - best seen in
> the Marx Brothers 1938
> movie Room Service, or in Boucicault's play The Shaughraun - where
> the pretended 'corpse'
> plays tricks on the mourners. The gag is in fact far older that
> the intersection of Irish
> folkloric custom with theatrical practice. But the easiest way to
> set up the gag in the
> theatre is to set up a 'Wake', and invent thereafter. Boucicault,
> for example, had not
> the slightest personal acquaintance with the customs of the
> peasants of the West of
> Ireland. All over the world people know that the Irish hold Wakes
> - or used to. But most
> of their 'knowledge' of Wakes comes from that theatrical gag...
>
> P.O'S.
>
>

From: Sarah Morgan
Subject: Re: Ir-D American Wake 2

Paddy,

just to point out that the latest use of the theatrical gag you refer to
was in the BBCs recent Irish comedy programme The Fitz, penned by
comedian JimEoin. For those of you who did not have the pleasure/misery:
this was a 6 part sitcom based around a large, red-haired Irish family
whose house was situated on the Irish border.

The very first episode involved Ma practising for her funeral by having
a coffin put into the front room and reposing in it. There was a scene
where the postman, trying to find someone to deliver mail to, was scared
out of the house by Ma sitting up in excitment at the latest Chelsea
(soccer) goal, scored by one of her sons (she was listening to the match
on radio headphones). The gag was extended by Ma insisting on having a
mock funeral.

Sarah Morgan.

On Tue 24 Oct 2000 13:46:00 +0000 irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk wrote:

>
>
> From Email Patrick O'Sullivan
>
> I find that the best introduction to the whole notion of the American Wake remains the
> last few pages, the last Chapter in Kerby Miller, Emigrants and Exiles, Oxford UP, 1985.
> The Chapter is called simply 'Conclusion' - and in it, at last, Kerby stops quarrelling
> with his thesis, and simply writes... beautifully. The Chapter weaves together much
> material from folklore, letters and literary sources. It is a very moving piece of
> scholarly writing.
>
> There is a background problem to the whole subject of Wakes - real Wakes as opposed to
> American Wakes. There is a very old theatrical gag - best seen in the Marx Brothers
1938
> movie Room Service, or in Boucicault's play The Shaughraun - where the pretended
'corpse'
> plays tricks on the mourners. The gag is in fact far older that the intersection of
Irish
> folkloric custom with theatrical practice. But the easiest way to set up the gag in the
> theatre is to set up a 'Wake', and invent thereafter. Boucicault, for example, had not
> the slightest personal acquaintance with the customs of the peasants of the West of
> Ireland. All over the world people know that the Irish hold Wakes - or used to. But
most
> of their 'knowledge' of Wakes comes from that theatrical gag...
>
> P.O'S.
>
----------------------
Sarah Morgan,
Deputy Director,
Irish Studies Centre,
University of North London,
166-220 Holloway Rd.,
London N7 8DB
s.morgan[at]unl.ac.uk

From: "Caledonia Kearns"
Subject: Re: Ir-D American Wake 3

Another work of fiction, a classic Irish American novel that has been all
but forgotten, is Elizabeth
Cullinan's House of Gold. I wanted to include it in my anthology Cabbage
and Bones, but it was too hard
to excerpt so I used another story of Cullinan's. In House of Gold there is
the wake that goes on while
the family waits for the mother to die and the one after she dies -- I think
the novel is just amazing.
I know it's in the main branch of the NY Public Library. The first scene of
Charming Billy -- in the
restaurant after the funeral -- is one of the best fictional renderings of
Irish American ritual I've read.
Good luck.
Caledonia Kearns


- ----- Original Message -----
From:
To:
Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2000 12:46 PM
Subject: Ir-D American Wake 3


>
>
> From: Linda Almeida
> "Almeida, Ed (Exchange)"
>
> Just off the top of my head, Kerby Miller spends a few pages on the wake
and
> the "American wake" (grieving in advance for departing emigrants) in
> Emigrants and Exiles (19th century). I would also suggest two of Alice
> McDermott's novels: Charming Billy and At Weddings and Wakes, which are
> fictional accounts of 20th Irish American life in New York City that
include
> wake scenes.
> Hope this helps.
> Linda Almeida
> New York University
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk [SMTP:irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk]
> > Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2000 9:46 AM
> > To: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
> > Subject: Ir-D American Wake 1
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Irish-Diaspora list member
> > J'aime Morrison
> > Department of Performance Studies
> > New York University
> >
> > is looking for information on the American Wake. She is searching for
> > images, letters, fictional accounts, filmic representations, studies -
> > relating to the practice in any historical period.
>
>

From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Dymphna=20Lonergan?=
Subject: Re: Ir-D American Wake 1

As a side issue it might be of interest that Dr
Charles Perkins, Australia's first Aboriginal
university graduate and first Aboriginal member of
Parliament is being buried today, followed by a
'wake'. The thought occurred to me 'where does the
word 'wake' come from'?

Dymphna Lonergan
The Flinders University of South Australia

From: Don MacRaild

Subject: RE: Ir-D American Wake 1


Just an aside to the American Wake discussion. According to Jim Hunter, the
folk of eighteenth-century Skye indulged in ritual dubbed 'A Dance Called
America', which was seemingly different to Kerby Miller's wake, in that this
frenzied jig--the centre-piece of an indulgent farewell ritual for the
leavers--was intended to celebrate their leaving. I think the earliest
reference to this is Boswell and Johnson's tour or the Hebrides (but I might
be wrong). This does, however, contrast with contemporary images drawn from
the famine period which have men being bound and gagged and sent to Canada,
while women hold their children aloft as the ships rounded Ardnamurchan
point so that the young could have one last glimpse of the Cuillin
Mountains, etc. By then, the sense is much more haunting, much more
oppositional, much less celebratory.

For those interested, Hunter has a book entitled (wait for it) 'A Dance
Called America'.

This whole notion of 'fever', 'wakes', 'wild jigs', etc., is very
interesting.

Don MacRaild
Northumbria

> -----Original Message-----
> From: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk [SMTP:irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2000 2:46 PM
> To: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
> Subject: Ir-D American Wake 1
>
>
>
>
> Irish-Diaspora list member
> J'aime Morrison
> Department of Performance Studies
> New York University
>
> is looking for information on the American Wake. She is searching for
> images, letters, fictional accounts, filmic representations, studies -
> relating to the practice in any historical period.
>
> My own note on the American Wake will follow as a separate Ir-D email...
>
> P.O'S.
>
>

From: Alexander Peach
Subject: RE: Ir-D American Wake 1

Just a speculative aside on the issue of "Wakes". The term itself is
interesting in its connection to funerary rites. I am presuming that the
term "wake" is etymologically connected to "awake". The last thing a corpse
would do is "wake" of course, the chance to pun upon this would not be lost
on theatrical writers I am sure.

Also, there is an English tradition connected with the harvest festival of
Lammas when hiring-fairs were held in various countryside localities.
These were often called "Wakes" (such as the Lancashire Wakes week, Bunbury
Wakes and Wrenbury Wakes). The poet Robert Graves, in his famous (and not
altogether reliable) book on ancient British poetics and myth, The White
Goddess, suggests these wakes -and indeed the celebration of the harvest in
general - were connected to a pre-Christian death cult surrounding the
passing of the seasons, i. e. the death of the spirit of the harvest or the
Corn King. Also in Ireland - where many of these mythological rites sur
vive - the famous Tallitean Games were held at Lammas and had a funeral
connection apparently. Presumably the tradition of the Irish "Wake" is
connected to this folk memory of celebration surrounding death? The Corn
King would be celebrated at passing (during a time of plenty) and of course
would be replaced by a new deity who presumably would "wake" at this time
of year?

Yours hypothetically,

Alex Peach.

- -----Original Message-----
From: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk [SMTP:irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk]
Sent: 24 October 2000 14:46
To: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
Subject: Ir-D American Wake 1




Irish-Diaspora list member
J'aime Morrison
Department of Performance Studies
New York University

is looking for information on the American Wake. She is searching for
images, letters, fictional accounts, filmic representations, studies -
relating to the practice in any historical period.

My own note on the American Wake will follow as a separate Ir-D email...

P.O'S.


- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

Forwarded on behalf of


Conference: European Migration History (Berlin)


Working Group "European Migration History" in cooperation with the Research
Group on Comparison of Societies (Forschergruppe Gesellschaftsvergleich)
and the Chair for Demography (Bev=F6lkerungswissenschaft) at
Humboldt-University. The workshop is financially supported by the Hertie
Foundation, the Bundeszentrale politische Bildung, AuDFenstelle Berlin,
the Forschergruppe Gesellschaftsvergleich and Siemens Berlin.

Unfortunately the workshop is already booked out, no places left for
outside participants. However, papers can be obtained directly from the
participants (emails of participants see below at the end of this mail).

Assimilation - Diasporization - Representation: Historical Perspectives on
Immigrants and Host Societies in Postwar Europe

Humboldt-Universit Berlin, Hauptgebe (Main Building), Room 2103

Preliminary Program

Thursday, October 26, 2000

12.00 pm - 2 pm: Check in and reimbursement

I. Opening and Welcome (Rainer Ohliger/Karen Sch=F6nw=E4lder)
(2.00 - 2.30 pm)

II. Panels

First Session: Migratory Movements and Their Determinants
(2.30 - 4.15 pm)

Chair: Rainer Ohliger
Phil Triadafilopoulos (New School for Social Research, New York),
Reassessing the Political Consequences of Refugee Incorporation in Greece
and Germany
Catalin Turliuc (Romanian Academy, "A.D. Xenopol" Institute of History
Iasi), Jewish Emigration from Romania 1945-1965
Hill Kulu (U. Tartu), Postwar Immigration to Estonia in Comparative Perspect=
ive

Coffee Break
(4.15 - 5.15 pm)

Second Session: Identities and Representation I
(5.15 - 7.00 pm)

Chair: Volker Ackermann
Volodymyr Kulyk (Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies, Academy of
Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev), Political Emigration and Labor Settlement:
Ukrainian Displaced Persons in Germany and Austria, 1945-1950
Angelika Eder (Forschungsstelle f=FCr Zeitgeschichte Hamburg), Polish Life in
West Germany. A Case Study on Hamburg 1945 to 1990
Judith Fai-Podlipnik (Southeastern Louisiana U.), Divisions Among Magyar
Expatriates in Europe: An Impediment to Anti-Communist Goals 1945-1955

Dinner (Restaurant McBride, Oranienburger Strade 32; Heckmann-courtyard)
(8.00 pm)


Friday, October 27, 2000

Breakfast
(9.15 - 10.00 am)

III. Panels

Third Session: Identities and Representation II
(10.00 - 12.00 am)

Chair: Anne v. Oswald
Pertti Ahonen (U. Sheffield), Expulsion, Public Representation,
Assimilation: On the Integration of the Expellees in West Germany,
1945-1970
Isa Blumi (New York U.), Historical Dynamics of Albanian Identity: Shifting
Borders in Exile
Andrea Klimt (U. of Massachusetts, Dartmouth), Do National Narratives
Matter?: Identity Formation among Portuguese in France and Germany
Laure Teulires (U. Toulouse), Memories of Migration - Migrants' Memories
in France

Lunch(12.00 - 2 pm)

Fourth Session: Labor Migration and Incorporation I
(2.00 - 4.00 pm)

Chair: Hanna Schissler
Anne v. Oswald/Karen Schilder/Barbara Sonnenberger (Berlin/Marburg),
Labor Migration - Immigration Policy - Integration: Reinterpreting West
Germany's History?
Anne Morelli (ULB Brussels), Labor Migration to Belgium: Bilateral
Agreements 1946 to 1964)
Esra Erdem (Oxford U./U. of Massachusetts), Mapping Women's Migration: A
Case Study of the Economic Dimensions of Female Migration from Turkey to
Germany
Umut Erel/Eleonore Kofman (Nottingham Trent U.), Professional Female
Immigration in Post-war Europe: Counteracting an Historical Amnesia

Coffee Break
(4.00 - 4.30 pm)


IV. Panel Discussion: Migration History of the Future: Trends and Challenges

(4.30 - 6.30 pm)
Chair: N.N.
Eleonore Kofman (Nottingham Trent University): Gender and Migration History
Volker Ackermann (U. D=FCsseldorf): Refugee History as Migration History
Klaus Manfrass (German Historical Institute Paris): Comparative Approaches
In Migration History (TBA)
Hanna Schissler (Eckert Institute Braunschweig): Beyond the National
Narrative: Teaching World History in a Time of Global Migration

Get-together over Drinks
(7.30 to 8.30 pm)
Dinner (Restaurant La Rustica, Kleine Pr=E4sidentenstra=DFe 4)
(8.30 pm)

Saturday, October 28, 2000

Breakfast
(9.00 - 9.30 am)

V. Panel

Sixth Session: Political Responses to Migration I
(9.30 - 11.15 am)

Chair: Andrea Schmelz
Rainer Ohliger (Humboldt U. Berlin): Making (European) Immigrants Visible:
Clio as an Integrative Actor - Clio as a Political Factor?
Damir Skenderovic (NYU/U. of Fribourg), Discourse and Politics of Exclusion
in the Swiss Immigration Society
Hallvard Tjelmeland (U. Tromso), Culture Clash and Cultural Encounter. How
Third-World Immigrant Workers Challenged Norwegianness in the early 1970s

Brunch
(11.15 - 12.00 am)
VI. Presentation and Discussion

Project Presentation
(12.00- 12.30 pm)
Patrick Veglian (Geriques Paris) : Archival Documentation of Immigration
History: 'Les Etrangers en France' as Role Model?


VII. Panel

Seventh Session: Political Responses to Migration II
(12.30 - 2.00 pm)

Chair: Karen Schilder
Mathias Beer (U. T=FCbingen), "Organische Eingliederung". The Integration
Concept of the West German Expellee and Refugee Administration
Wim Willems (IMES Amsterdam), Don't Governments Ever Learn? Colonial
Migrants and Later Refugees in the Postwar Netherlands


Optional: Guided tours in the afternoon: Berlin's Immigrant Neighborhoods
(Kreuzberg/Scheunenviertel)

Contact: mighistconf[at]rz.hu-berlin.de
T. 030/2093-1937, -1918
=46ax : 030/2093-1432
http://www.demographie.de/mighist


Name and email of participants

1. Ackermann, Volker
volker.ackermann[at]hsa.nrw.de
2. Ahonen, Pertti
p.ahonen[at]sheffield.ac.uk
3. Beer, Mathias
Beer[at]idgl.oe.uni-tuebingen.de
4. Blumi, Isa
ngapeja[at]rocketmail.com
5. Eder, Angelika
eder[at]fzh.uni-hamburg.de
6. Erdem, Esra
esra.erdem[at]economics.ox.ac.uk
7. Erel, Umut
umut.erel[at]ntu.ac.uk, umuterel[at]hotmail.com
8. Fai-Podlipnik, Judith
jfai-podlipnik[at]selu.edu
9. Klimt, Andrea
aklimt[at]umassd.edu
10. Kofman, Eleonore
eleonorekofman[at]hotmail.com
11. Kulu, Hill
hill[at]math.ut.ee
12. Kulyk, Volodymyr
kulyk[at]uct.kiev.ua
13. Manfrass, Klaus
kmanfrass[at]dhi-paris.fr
14. Mattes Monika
mmatimag[at]linux.zrz.tu-berlin.de
15. Morelli, Anne
amorelli[at]ulb.ac.be
16. Ohliger, Rainer
rohliger[at]sowi.hu-berlin.de
17. Oswald, Anne von
oswalda[at]zedat.fu-berlin.de
18. Schissler, Hanna
hannaschissler[at]mac.com
19. Schmelz, Andrea
andrea_schmelz[at]hotmail.com
20. Sch=F6nw=E4lder, Karen
kschoenwaelder[at]t-online.de
21. Skenderovic, Damir
damir.skenderovic[at]unifr.ch
22. Sonnenberger, Barbara
Schmid2a[at]Stud-Mailer.Uni-Marburg.de
23. Teuli=E8res, Laure
laure.teulieres[at]voila.fr
24. Tjelmeland, Hallvard
hallvard[at]sv.uit.no
25. Triadafilopoulos, Triadafilos (Phil)
triadafilos[at]sprint.ca
26. Turliuc, Catalin
turliuc[at]fapa.ro
27. Veglian, Patrick
generic[at]imaginet.fr
28. Willems, Wim
willems[at]pscw.uva.nl

Conference mail box
mighistconf[at]rz.hu-berlin.de

Subject: Re: O'Sullivan/Sullivan Seminar
From: Eileen A Sullivan

Paddy,

The O'S/Sullivan seminar is over, but a project in Ireland regarding the
clan has been envisioned. Two men from Calif who did not know each other
before their participation in the Florida seminar will begin a
feasibility study of the project. Neither has a Sullivan surname. but
have a maternal connection.

Of course, we missed you here. You would have enjoyed meeting Norman
Houston, Deputy Director of the N Ireland Bureau at the British Embassy
in Washington, D.C. He is an extraordinary scholar and charmed the
Russian wife of one of the participants by his ability to chat with her
about present and past historical Russian figures.

Prof Joel Hollander, Fl Gulf Coast University , gave a fine presentation
about A.M. Sullivan and the Manchester Martyrs. He is a great gift to the
study of the Irish in Fl and informed me that you had referred him to me.
Thanks, Paddy.

I passed on info about General John of Revolutionary fame and a copy of
his basically unknown Proclamation of 1786 for a General Thanksgiving and
continuance of the gospel of Jesus Christ, recognizing his help in the
extraordinary survival of the united colonies. At the time Sullivan was
President of New Hampshire; later title in the states was Governor. He
is Grandson of Philip O'Sullivan of Ardea, and son of Master John
Sullivan of Maine. Had the proclamation copied with the help of Terence
Spillane of Dublin, another person with maternal O'S heritage, and we
gave Ambassador Sullivan a copy when we met with him in Dublin this
summer.

Also passed on info about the canonization of father John Sullivan of
Dublin and the work on The Book of Kells by his brother, Sir Edward
Sullivan of London. Showed a picture of the 1597 Cornelius O'Sullivan
Chalice of Berehaven and distributed a copy of the poem, The Lord of
Dunkerron, which appeared in the DUBLIN PENNY JOURNAL, 1834.

Brian Mc Ginn did his thing on the Irish in South American and Timothy
O'Sullivan, the 19th century American photographer after whom Mount
O'Sullivan in Utah is named.

Just a sample of what you missed!!

Now, back to Carleton bio

Dr. Eileen A. Sullivan, Director
The Irish Educational Association, Inc. Tel # (352) 332
3690
6412 NW 128th Street E-Mail :
eolas1[at]juno.com
Gainesville, FL 32653

From: "Brian McGinn"
To: "Irish Diaspora Studies"
Subject: 'Garryowen'

Can anyone explain the connection, if any, between the marching tune and the
place name in Limerick?

Brian McGinn
Alexandria, Virginia
bmcginn[at]clark.net

This item appeared originally on the Ethnic Politic list...

Forwarded on behalf of
Stefan Wolff
S.Wolff[at]bath.ac.uk

Subject: FW: Experts on the position of minority languages sought

Dear all,

I received the below email/enquiry this afternoon. After a further exchange
of emails, experts are not only sought on the UK and Ireland, but also on
Spain, Luxembourg, France, and Finland.
If anyone is interested, please let me know, and I'll put you in touch with
Jens.
Best wishes,
Stefan.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Stefan Wolff, M.Phil. (Cantab.), Ph.D. (LSE)
S.Wolff[at]bath.ac.uk
www.bath.ac.uk/~mlssaw/
Specialist Group on Ethnic Politics:
www.bath.ac.uk/~mlssaw/ethnic_politics/home.htm
Ethnopolitics Mailing List: www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/ethnopolitics

- -----Original Message-----
Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2000 1:06 PM
To: S.Wolff[at]bath.ac.uk
Subject: Experts on the position of minority languages in the UK


Stefan Wolff
Department of European Studies
University of Bath



Dear Stefan Wolff,
I contact you in your capacity of contact person for the Specialist Group
on Ethnic Politics in the Political Studies Association of the UK.
The European Parliament has asked AR Consulting, which I represent, to
prepare a proposal for a consultancy study on "the position of minority
languages" and the EUs contribution to the promotion of minority languages
in 7 different European Union countries, two of them being Ireland and the
UK.
In that connection I am looking for national experts who could assist on a
minor scale with primarily the first part of the study: A brief description
of the history, legal status, use and offical policy vis-vis minority
languages in each country. AR Consulting will be able to provide an outline
of the description, but we are looking for experts who will be able to
provide quality assurance and updates of the analysis made by us.
I would appreciate it very much if you could refer me to one or more
relevant persons, who could potentially contribute to the proposed study,
for the UK and perhaps also for Ireland. Perhaps you could be a relevant
person yourself?
I should mention that AR Consulting is a small Danish consultancy company
carrying out analyses and evaluations in particular for European Union
institutions.
Thanking you in anticipation!
Yours sincerely


AR Consulting
Jens Henrik Haahr, Ph.D.

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Liam Harte has written an outline of his work on the autobiographies of the Irish in
Britain...

Irish Times
Tuesday, October 24, 2000

EXTRACT BEGINS>>>

Lives of Irish emigrants the history books forgot

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

History books have been scant in detail on the everyday lives of the Irish in Britain. But
many, often neglected, memoirs paint a revealing picture, as Liam Harte, who is compiling
an anthology of such writings, has discovered

Like oil lamps we put them out the back, of our houses, of our minds. We had lights better
than, newer than and then a time came, this time and now we need them. Their dread,
makeshift example.

These lines from Eavan Boland's poem, The Emigrant Irish, are an eloquent reminder of the
communal forgetting of the migrant generations who have left Ireland down through the
centuries. The poem calls for Irish people at home to regenerate the narratives of
cultural meaning inscribed by the migrant experience, to "imagine how they stood there,
what they stood with,/that their possessions may become our power".

EXTRACT ENDS>>>

And this Web address SHOULD get to to the Irish Times Web version of Liam Harte's
article...

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/features/2000/1024/features1.htm

Remember that your own emailer's line breaks might fracture that long Web address...

P.O'S.


- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

This is the entry on 'Wake' from Britannica - which, of course, disappears into the usual
'Celtic' vagueness.

http://www.britannica.com/

wake

watch or vigil held over the body of a dead person before burial and sometimes accompanied
by festivity; also, in England, a vigil kept in commemoration of the dedication of the
parish church. The latter type of wake consisted of an all-night service of prayer and
meditation in the church. These services, officially termed Vigiliae by the church, appear
to have existed from the earliest days of Anglo-Saxon Christianity. Each parish kept the
morrow of its vigil as a holiday. Wakes soon degenerated into fairs; people from
neighbouring parishes journeyed over to join in the merrymaking, and the revelry and
drunkenness became a scandal. The days usually chosen for church dedications being Sundays
and saints' days, the abuse seemed all the more scandalous. In 1445 Henry VI attempted to
suppress markets and fairs on Sundays and holy days.

Side by side with these church wakes there existed the custom of "holding a wake over" a
corpse. The custom, as far as England was concerned, seems to have been older than
Christianity and to have been at first essentially Celtic. Doubtless it had a
superstitious origin, the fear of evil spirits hurting or even removing the body. The
Anglo-Saxons called the custom lich-wake, or like-wake (from Anglo-Saxon lic, a corpse).
With the introduction of Christianity, the offering of prayer was added to the vigil. As a
rule, the corpse, with a plate of salt on its breast, was placed under the table, on which
was liquor for the watchers. These private wakes soon tended to become drinking orgies.
With the Reformation and the consequent disuse of prayers for the dead, the custom of
waking became obsolete in England but survived in Ireland. Many countries and peoples have
a custom equivalent to waking, which, however, is distinct from funeral feasts.


- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
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Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

I think my original train of thought must have been to remark the oddity that in these two
most visible manifestations of the Wake, the American 'Wake' and the theatrical gag, the
'corpse' is NOT dead.

The American 'Wake' is a goodbye party for the emigrant - Kerby Miller tells us that in
Donegal the used the term 'American bottle night...' So, prosaic Donegal.

In earlier times of course there is the knowledge that the emigrant will never be seen
again in this life - so that there is grief, and the emotional connection with loss
through death is real.

By the way, in every account of the American 'Wake' that I can recall the emigrant is
referred to as 'he' - is this just sloppy use of pronouns or was there a genuine gender
difference?

On Wakes... 'Wake' is a perfectly decent English word meaning watch or vigil. Can we
please stop pooling ignorance on this? - it is un-Ir-D. Worthy of comment, maybe, is the
fact that a practice that was, and is, widespread has come to be seen, within the
English/Irish relationship, as distinctively Irish. I have sent, as a separate Ir-D
email, Britannica.com's item on 'Wake' - for information.

Paul O'Leary, in his book on the Irish in Wales, Immigration and Integration (University
of Wales Press, 2000), and in his chapter in Patrick O'Sullivan, ed., Religion & Identity,
makes a point which I do not recall having seen anywhere else - that, for the Irish poor,
the wake was a way of collecting money towards funeral expenses. Hence the display of the
corpse, the delay and the alcohol.

Paul also outlines the clergy's wish to monoplise these 'liminal' rites. Wakes were
attacked by an unlikely alliance of Catholic clergy and the Medical Officer of Health.
And I guess, in fairness, our present knowledge would suggest that it is not really a good
idea to keep dead bodies, in a warm room, for too long...

P.O'S.


- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From: Patrick Maume
Subject: Re: Ir-D 'Garryowen'

From: Patrick Maume
I understand the tune was associated with a song celbrating the
hard-drinking eighteenth-century bucks of that district - a sort of
Limerick equivalent of the Rakes of Mallow. Cf. the first chapter of
Gerald Griffin's novel THE COLLEGIANS (source for the popular
nineteenth-century melodrama and opera, THE LILY OF KILLARNEY).
bEST WISHES,
Patrick


On Fri 27 Oct 2000 07:28:00 +0000 irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk wrote:

> From:irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk> Date: Fri 27 Oct 2000 07:28:00
+0000
> Subject: Ir-D 'Garryowen'
> To: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
>
>
> From: "Brian McGinn"
> To: "Irish Diaspora Studies"
> Subject: 'Garryowen'
>
> Can anyone explain the connection, if any, between the marching tune
and the
> place name in Limerick?
>
> Brian McGinn
> Alexandria, Virginia
> bmcginn[at]clark.net

From: Marion Casey
Subject: Re: Ir-D 'Garryowen' 2


Isn't Griffin's The Collegians the basis for The Colleen Bawn?

Marion Casey
Department of History
New York University


- ----- Original Message -----
From: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
Date: Friday, October 27, 2000 11:36 am
Subject: Ir-D 'Garryowen' 2

>
> From: Patrick Maume
> Subject: Re: Ir-D 'Garryowen'
>
> From: Patrick Maume
> I understand the tune was associated with a song celbrating the
> hard-drinking eighteenth-century bucks of that district - a sort
> of
> Limerick equivalent of the Rakes of Mallow. Cf. the first chapter
> of
> Gerald Griffin's novel THE COLLEGIANS (source for the popular
> nineteenth-century melodrama and opera, THE LILY OF KILLARNEY).
> bEST WISHES,
> Patrick
>
>
> On Fri 27 Oct 2000 07:28:00 +0000 irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk wrote:
>
> > From:irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk> Date: Fri 27 Oct 2000
> 07:28:00
> +0000
> > Subject: Ir-D 'Garryowen'
> > To: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
> >
> >
> > From: "Brian McGinn"
> > To: "Irish Diaspora Studies"
> > Subject: 'Garryowen'
> >
> > Can anyone explain the connection, if any, between the marching
> tune
> and the
> > place name in Limerick?
> >
> > Brian McGinn
> > Alexandria, Virginia
> > bmcginn[at]clark.net
>
>
>

From: peter c holloran
Subject: Re: Ir-D 'Garryowen' 2

Garryowen was General George Armstrong Custer's song for the 7th Cavalry
and was still played by the First Air Cavalry when I was in the US Army in
1970.

Peter Holloran
Worcester State College

From: Cymru66[at]aol.com
Subject: Re: Ir-D 'Garryowen' 2

Dear Paddy,
If my memory serves me correctly the term 'Garryowen' is also used to
describe, in Rugby Football, a high, testing kick into the opponent's
territory with the objective, rarely achieved, of unsettling their defence
and/or providing your side with a scoring opportunity.
Interestingly, the term is only used by commentators when Ireland are
playing. For everyone else the phrase is 'up and under'.
Best,
John

From: DanCas1[at]aol.com
Subject: Re: Ir-D 'Wakes' and Wakes


In a message dated 10/27/00 8:39:47 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk writes:


> Wakes were
> attacked by an unlikely alliance of Catholic clergy and the Medical
Officer
> of Health.
> And I guess, in fairness, our present knowledge would suggest that it is
not
> really a good
> idea to keep dead bodies, in a warm room, for too long...

Dear Ir-D List:
A Chairde:

My mother, who is a lively 82 year old living, and mourning the Mets, in
Murray Hill, Manhattan, recalls that her (I was going to add the descriptive,
"shanty Irish," but I gather that term is now non-PC) jack-Catholic family
held wakes at home, sans caioining, well into the Depression. She has never
forgotten the fear she felt as a young girl being left briefly alone with her
dead grandmother, "Mamie" Byrnes, laid out on blocks of ice in a stifling
Brooklyn apartment, while the adults went out for growlers of beer and cold
cuts.

Generally, the wake would last a day or two, followed by a bargain basement
mass at the local parish, and then the final trip to Calvary cemetery, the
sprawling Catholic necropolis between Brooklyn and Queens in NYC. Afterwards,
all would retire back to the house for more libations.

As my family (like many others) laboriously pulled itself up the
socio-economic ladder during WWII and afterwards, the wakes were held at
local funeral parlors like Lynch's in Sunnyside, and the post-burial
ritualizations would be held in the back room of a local gin mill, invariably
next door to the funereal establishment.

The only other New York Irish-American wake ritual I recall, which I believe
may have its origin in the archaic medieval religious practices which
prompted Pope Adrian's Bull Laudabiliter and the fulmination's of St. Malachy
himself, is the highly gendered ceremony of "retreating from rosary." This
ritual consisted of a series of highly stylized, slow, synchronous, silent
backward steps towards the front door by most of the post-pubescent male
mourners. Upon reaching the street, the practitioners would convene at a
local public house, ritually "loosen their ties," and rapidly consume a
series of short beers and "shots" of rye whiskey, known as "boilermakers."
The latter term, "boilermakers," I believe may be derived from certain
hieratic anti-Masonic practices within the Irish Catholic-dominated
construction trades of Gotham.

Recently, I have observed contemporaneous less-stylized versions of rosary
retreating at Irish wakes in San Francisco's Mission and Sunset Districts.
Post-Second Wave Feminism these backward rituals have taken a progressive
step forward and now include women.

Regards,
Slan,

Daniel Cassidy
New College of California
San Francisco

From San Francisco... One of Danny Cassidy's MA students, Cathy Broderick Collins -
originally from Belfast - shares some recollections with the Irish-Diaspora list...

From: Cathy Collins

I attended many a wake up the Falls as a child. For us morbid children anyone
dying was a great adventure as we were invariably let into a 'strange' house and
given a penny (cent), then we knelt down at the end of the bed and said a prayer
and all the adults thought we were absolutely little angels. We were there for
the money,cake and lemonade.. I saw more dead bodies as a child than I care to
recall. We would cruise the neighbourhood as soon as we heard of a death.
Little Capitalists.

The men always walked behind the coffins in the north, the women not so. The
first time I saw a woman carrying a coffin was at an IRA funeral, probably in
the 70's. Women were never allowed the public ritual of death. Certainly, we
had the women come in and bathe the body, set out the candles, or the death set
as it was known by, and put the black cloth, shaped like a cross on the outside
door, so everyone knew there was a death in the house.

I think in Southern Ireland it might have been more acceptable for women to walk
behind the coffin, I am not sure about that, but I would imagine in more rural
areas, the people would gather and walk behind the hearse.

The wakes were great fun for us children, full of talking and adults behaving
strangely, alternatively, laughing and crying and arguing, telling jokes and
guiltily laughing, but generally ignoring whatever us kids were up to.

How sanitized and clean death has become now. Both my parents, taken from the
house and brought to the funeral parlor - then to the church in the evening,and
buried the next morning. Even the earth is disguised by green felt more
appropriate for the covering of a snooker table than earth. I did think this
was rather appropriate covering for my father who had been both a billiards and
snooker champion, and I thought at least they got the colour (green) right, he
was very patriotic, and the cloth would make him feel near to his favourite
pastime.

The wake thing started me off.....

I am going home now - theres a dinner in aid of St.Vincent De Paul in
Burlingame that I will have a glass or two at, just for old times sake.

Cathy