From: Marion Casey
Subject: Re: Ir-D Gangs of New York 4

In poor New York's defense, we should point out that Boston had Irish
gangs too. The most recent film on the subject is Dennis Leary's
Monument Avenue, also based on a true story, and like State of Grace
it's quite thought-provoking.

Marion R. Casey
Department of History
New York University


- ----- Original Message -----
From: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
Date: Monday, February 19, 2001 7:17 am
Subject: Ir-D Gangs of New York 4

>
>
> From: "MacEinri, Piaras"
> Subject: RE: Ir-D Gangs of New York 3
>
> TG4 here in Ireland recently broadcast a documentary based on the
> life of
> Vincent 'Mad Dog' Coll, a late 1920s Irish gangster in New York
> who came to
> the inevitable sticky end. Much interesting photo footage, newspaper
> cuttings and interviews. Worth a look if it turns up anywhere else
> - it's
> made in Irish, subtitled in English.
>
> Piaras Mac Einri
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
> >
> >
> >
> > From: "Matt O'Brien"
> > Subject: Re: Ir-D Gangs of New York 2
> >
> > Speaking of films about Irish gangs in New York, you might
> > check out "State
> > of Grace," where the Irish Hell's Kitchen mob is being pushed
> > out by the
> > more sophisticated Italian mob during the 1970s. It's based
> > on a true story
> > (how closely I do not know), and there are some great subthemes
> about> Irish-American mobility and consequent loss of cohesion
> > within the gang.
> > Matt O'Brien
> >
> >
>

From: Cymru66[at]aol.com
Subject: Re: Ir-D Kenny, American Irish 2

Dear Paddy,
Thanks so much. I'll order it immediately in case Kevin suffers the same
fate as Frank Neal, whose book was re-issued at 50 pounds.
Amazon, by the way, charged me $89 for Frank's book. At the current rate
of
exchange that constitutes an extra mark-up of at least $15. Amazon seems to
be determined to hasten its own demise; or is trying to fatten-up its
revenue
in order to get a better price when it's taken-over by one of the retail
giants. Either way - we lose.
For anyone interested, the publisher claims that John Belchem's book on
Liverpool is not yet available.
Best,
John

From: Robert Grace
robert.grace[at]sympatico.ca
Subject: CAIS CALL FOR PAPAERS


Dear Patrick,

For your information I have pasted the CAIS Call for Papers below.

Robert
Dear CAIS Members and Friends:

Below is the Call for Papers for our 2001 Conference. Please submit
your proposals by February 7 and encourage others, including your
students, to do likewise. The Call is also available in French, and in
a formatted version which can be pinned on bulletin boards etc. and I
would be happy to send either of these to you on request, either by
email or by Canada Post. Just let me know.

The Conference schedule will include:
Excursion to Grosse Ile led by Marianna O'Gallagher, followed by
informal reception (Wednesday, May 23)
Papers, sessions, readings, entertainment (Thursday-Saturday, May 24-26)

CAIS Annual General Meeting (Saturday afternoon, May 26)
Banquet (Saturday evening, May 26)

You may or may not receive this before Christmas. In any event, Happy
Holidays to all - Nollaig shona dhaoibh go léir. Hope to see you all at

Laval in May.
Jean Talman
Secretary-Treasurer
Canadian Association for Irish Studies
c/o Celtic Studies
St. Michael's College, University of Toronto

CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR IRISH STUDIES CONFERENCE 2001
23-26 May 2001
Université Laval, Sainte-Foy, (Quebec City)

Call for Papers : "2001: An Irish Odyssey"

Held once again in conjunction with the Congress of the Social Sciences
and Humanities, this year's conference of the Canadian Association for
Irish Studies promises to be an exciting, stimulating few days of
discussions, presentations and of course arguments about Irish culture,
history and politics. The conference largely depends, of course, on the
papers submitted by the Irish Studies community at large, so we
encourage proposals from everyone with a scholarly interest in Ireland.

The themes of this year's Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities

are "Language, Culture and Community", "Plagues and Viruses" and "The
Role of the Intellectual in Society". We encourage, then, submissions
on these topics, and also want to especially encourage proposals about
the complex, unique relationship enjoyed (and sometime not enjoyed!)
between Ireland and Québec.Some possible topics might include:

Representations of The Famine as a plague.

The contemporary meaning of the Grosse Île memorial.

Irish health care policy.

Medieval Irish representations of plagues.

Cú Chulainn: Public Intellectual avant la lettre ?

Irish creative artists engaged with Irish politics, from Pádraig
Pearse to Sean O'Faolain to Nuala Ní Dhomnaill.

The novels of Brian Moore, Jacques Ferron's Le salut de l'Irlande, or
Madeline Ferron's Sur le Chemain Craig.

Post-1960 fiction and poetry in Irish Gaelic

Important political or philosophical work being done in Irish Gaelic.

Comparisons of Bord na Gaeilge's policies with those of Comunn na
Gàidhlig or Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg.

The changing nature of the Gaeltacht communities.

Policy for the islands of Ireland, Québec or Canada.

Newfoundland English and its relationship to Irish Gaelic and Irish
variants of English.

The relationship between Irish and Francophone clergy.

Comparisons of the October Crisis and British policies in Northern
Ireland.

Relationships between Native Canadians and the Irish.

Irish women's movements in the context of international feminism.


These are just suggestions! We hope that the next conference will
reflect the enormous diversity of interest and expertise that defines
the organization. Please do not feel limited by the Congress topics, but

also please feel free to use them as a jumping off point for ideas that
might not be seen in other Irish Studies venues.

Please send a ~300 word abstract, in English or French, by 7 February
2001 to:

Canadian Association for Irish Studies Conference 2001
c/o Celtic Studies
St. Michael's College, University of Toronto
81 St. Mary Street
Toronto ON
M5S 1J4
or email to: Laura.Shintani[at]utoronto.ca

Forwarded on behalf of Shawn O'Hare

The latest issue of Nua: Studies in Contemporary Irish Writing (Volume II,
Numbers 1 & 2) is now available.

To learn more about Nua, check out our web site at:

> http://www.people.virginia.edu/~dpm5h/
>
As a special offer to Irish Studies list members, we are offering Volume I,
Number 1, Volume I, Number 2, and Volume II, Numbers 1 & 2 for $20 (each
individual volume is regularly $15). For more information about
subscribing or submitting work, please contact me at sohare[at]cn.edu, or our
Associate Editor, Jim Brown, at jbrown[at]csuniv.edu.

The Table of Contents for Volume II is :

Essays:
North: The Politics of Plurality, by Eugene O?Brien

Northern Gnomons: Jennifer C. Cornell?s Departures, by Vivian Valvano Lynch

Decaying Flesh and Human Transcendence in Eamon Grennan?s Poetry, by Gordon
Grant

Brian Friel?s Translations: Mapping Ireland?s Linguistic Paradise Lost, by
Jude R. Meche

?Expressions of Truth?: (Re)writing the Irish Poem in Eavan Boland?s Early
Poetry, by Jeannette E. Riley

Remapping America: Paul Muldoon?s Madoc?A Mystery, by Shane Murphy

Inventing Enniscorthy: Colm Tóibín?s The Heather Blazing, by Mary
Fitzgerlad-Hoyt


Interviews:
An Interview with Seamus Heaney, by J. J. Wylie and John C. Kerrigan

An Interview with Jennifer Johnston, by Caitriona Moloney

Poems:
Four Irish Poets, Edited by David Wheatley:
Aidan Rooney-Céspedes: Four Poems
Bill Tinley: Four Poems
Tom French: Four Poems
Caitríona O?Reilly: Four Poems
A Poem by David Wheatley

Review Essay:
Women Poets of the West: Moya Cannon and Mary O?Malley, by Patricia Boyle
Haberstroh

Reviews:
A Review of Eamon Grennan?s Relations: New and Selected Poems, by Gavin
Drummond

A Review of John Banville?s The Untouchable, by Adriana Bebiano



*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Check out the Nua web page at http://www.people.virginia.edu/~dpm5h

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Shawn O'Hare
Editor, Nua: Studies in Contemporary Irish Writing
Department of English
Carson-Newman College
Jefferson City, TN 37760 USA
Tel: (865) 471-3451
Fax: (865) 471-3502

Forwarded for information...

From: MichelleZi[at]aol.com

I am pleased to announce that Issue 4 of the Heroic Age entitled
"Anglo-Celtic Relations in the Early Middle Ages" is now available at
http://www.mun.ca/mst/heroicage/issues/4/toc.html

In this issue we are pleased to publish:
Articles:
"Post Severan Cramond: A Late Roman and Early Historic British and
Anglo-Saxon Religious Centre?" by Craid Cessford

"Saxon Bishop and Celtic King: Interactions between Aldhelm of Wessex and
Geraint of Dumnonia" by Martin Grimmer

"The Anglo-British Cemetery at Bamburgh: An E-Interview with Graeme Young of
the Bamburgh Castle Research Project" Interviewed by Michelle Ziegler

"What's in a name? Britons, Angles, ethnicity and material culture from the
fourth to the seventh centuries." by Keith Matthews

The Forum:
"'In the Beginning was the Word': Books and Faith in the Age of Bede" by
Michelle Brown (an extended abstract of the 2000 Jarrow Lecture)

History by Biography:
"The Last of the Romans: The Life and Times of Ambrosius Aurelianus" by Kurt
Hunter-Mann

"Oswald and the Irish" by Michelle Ziegler

The Independent Scholar: "Internet Resources in Medieval Studies" by Brad
Eden

Electronic Medievalia: "Electronic Bibliography" by L.J. Swain

Plus Web Reviews, 20 Book Reviews, a video review, and the Archaeology
Digest.

Enjoy!

Michelle Ziegler

Editor-In-Chief
The Heroic Age
http://members.aol.com/heroicage1/homepage.html

Current Issue: "Anglo-Celtic Relations in the Early Middle Ages"
http://www.mun.ca/mst/heroicage/issues/4/toc.html

Early Medieval Resources for Britain, Ireland, and Brittany
http://members.aol.com/michellezi/resources-index.html

From: "Matthew Barlow"
Subject: Re: Ir-D Gangs of...

I might also point out that, along with Boston and New York City, Montreal,
with a large Irish population of its own, also had Irish gangsters in the
20th century. My grandfather used to tell tales of the Irish gangsters in
the lower middle-class neighbourhood he grew up in the city's west end. As
far as I know, however, nothing has been done on the Irish mob here.
Generally speaking, of course, Canadian history hasn't been the subject of
film in the way that American history has.

Matthew Barlow
Ph.D. Student,
Department of History
Concordia University,
Montreal, QC

- ----- Original Message -----
From:
To:
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2001 12:00 PM
Subject: Ir-D Gangs of...


>
>
> From: Marion Casey
> Subject: Re: Ir-D Gangs of New York 4
>
> In poor New York's defense, we should point out that Boston had Irish
> gangs too. The most recent film on the subject is Dennis Leary's
> Monument Avenue, also based on a true story, and like State of Grace
> it's quite thought-provoking.
>
> Marion R. Casey
> Department of History
> New York University
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
> Date: Monday, February 19, 2001 7:17 am
> Subject: Ir-D Gangs of New York 4
>
> >

The following item has been brought to our attention...

From the Chronicle of Higher Education:

Monday, February 19, 2001

U. of Limerick May Start Bidding War for Top Researchers

By KAREN BIRCHARD

Ireland's universities may be entering into a bidding war for
top academics. The University of Limerick announced last week
its plans to pay top dollar for 24 new positions as part of
its innovative Research Scholars Program, which will involve
virtually no teaching.

The university has started an international campaign for
candidates, it said on Tuesday in its announcement.

Research spending in Ireland has increased to about
$575-million from about $3-million in less than three years,
and all of the universities are expanding their research
strengths and looking abroad for world-class additions.

Roger Downer, president of the University of Limerick, said
the program was "an unprecedented move in Irish higher
education" and would allow the university to increase both the
quantity and quality of its research.

He said the university would give seed money to the scholars
for five years but after that they would have to get their own
research money. "They will be expected to generate additional
funds from the private sector, and fromnational and
international funding councils," Mr. Downer said. "The
professors are also likely to attract established researchers
and postdoctoral fellows to their respective teams, and to
publish a significant number of research papers."

Four of the Limerick positions will be senior professors with
salaries to match, but the remaining 20 will go to promising
or established world-class researchers of any age. The
salaries will equal an associate professor's,which means that
they will be twice what the average postdoctoral researcher
usually receives. In addition, all of the research scholars
will get support staff.

The professors and fellows will carry out intensive research
in five areas, including information and communications
technology, and biosciences and biomedical engineering --- two
areas seen as being central to Ireland'scurrent research
agenda. The other areas are materials and surface science;
quality, productivity and work; and humanities and social
sciences.

Forwarded for information...

>CALL FOR PAPERS: DRH2001 - DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 24 FEBRUARY
>
>The DRH conferences
>
>The annual Digital Resources for the Humanities conference is the major
>forum for all those involved in, and affected by, the digitization of our
>cultural heritage: the scholar creating or using an electronic resource to
>further research; the teacher gathering Web resources into an online
>learning environment; the publisher or broadcaster integrating print or
>analogue with the digital to reach new audiences; the librarian, curator or
>archivist wishing to improve both access to and conservation of the digital
>information that characterizes contemporary culture and scholarship; the
>computer or information scientist seeking to apply new developments to the
>creation, exploitation and management of humanities resources. A volume of
>select papers from the conferences is published annually.
>
>DRH 2001
>
>DRH 2001 will be held at the School of Oriental and African Studies,
>University of London, Malet Street, London WC1 from 8-10 July 2001.
>
>Format
>
>The academic programme of the conference will comprise academic papers,
>panel discussions, and poster presentations. An exhibition of products and
>services of interest to participants will form an important part of the
>conference. The conference is known for its friendly atmosphere and
>welcomes developers and users of digital resources from, amongst others,
>universities, libraries,archives, museums, galleries, broadcasters,
>publishers and community groups. The conference social programme will, we
>hope, encourage informal discussion and the chance to make lasting contacts
>between members of the different groups represented.
>
>Themes
>
>The Conference Programme Committee seeks proposals for papers, panel
>sessions and posters relating to the creation and use of digital resources
>in all aspects of work in the humanities. Prospective speakers are asked to
>bear in mind the following points: - Paper and session proposals should
>seek to develop themes and intellectual approaches which will be of
>interest and relevance across the subject domain; it is not sufficient
>simply to outline recent work on an individual project. Papers should take
>account of, and seek to address, strategic themes across the subject
>domain. Preference will be given to papers which outline innovative
>technical approaches or explore subject areas which have been generally
>neglected by the humanities computing community. Areas on which DRH
>conferences have particularly concentrated in the past have included the
>creation of digital resources, providing access to digital projects, and
>digital preservation. The Conference Programme Committee from DRH 2001 will
>particularly also welcome proposals which relate to the following themes:
>
>Visualisation of data: the use of graphical interfaces, GIS and other
>techniques for the exploration of data sets. What are the major issues for
>the use of these technologies by humanities scholars? What new insights do
>they offer for those working in the humanities?
>
>A managed digital environment: How far and in what ways do the initiatives
>to knit together, coordinate and develop existing initiatives for the
>creation of digital resources address the needs of humanities researchers?
>What shape should the future digital humanities environment be? How can
>digital initiatives be used to create new communities and to support
>initiatives to consolidate such communities (as, for example, in the use of
>digital technologies in support of an e-Europe)?
>
>Diversity and multi-culturalism: How can the creation and dissemination of
>digital resources in the humanities help to underpin and further a
>multi-cultural society? What are the major issues in creating and accessing
>digital resources for different groups in society? What technical issues
>affect the use of digital resources to further a policy of social
>inclusiveness? How can network technologies be used to support community
>programmes?
>
>World Wide access: How can the development of humanities digital resources
>support the creation of genuinely international access to the new
>e-culture? How can digital technologies suport the work of humanities
>scholars working on subjects connected with Asia and Africa?
>
>Convergence: How will the anticipated convergence between
>televisual,comunication and computing media affect research in the
>humanities? What new opportunities does it offer?
>
>Submitting Proposals
>
>The deadline for submitting proposals is 24 February 2001 and notifications
>of acceptance will be sent out by 30 March 2001. Please note that all
>participants in the conference, including speakers, are expected to pay
>their own conference and accommodation costs. We hope, however, to offer a
>limited number of bursaries covering the conference fee for certain
>categories of participant. All proposals will be reviewed by at least two
>referees with relevant expertise. The final decision on acceptance into the
>conference programme rests with the Programme Committee.
>
>For all type of proposal, authors are encouraged to provide a clear
>overview of the work to be presented; state how the proposal relates to the
>themes of the conference; outline any original or innovative methods,
>technical solutions or conclusions; outline the demonstrable value of the
>work to the broad humanities community. All proposals should be submitted
>in English. All proposals should include full name, institutional
>affiliation, postal address, telephone, fax and e-mail details for all
>participants. All abstracts will be printed in the conference book of
>abstracts.
>
>Papers: We invite proposals for conference papers lasting no more than 20
>minutes. Proposals should be between 750 and 1,000 words. Papers will be
>grouped into sessions of three papers. You are welcome to propose a session
>of three papers relating to a specific theme. In this case, session
>organisers should provide a clear description (c.250 words) of how the
>papers relate to each other, in addition to the three abstracts. Please
>note that all proposals for papers, whether individual submissions or part
>of a themed session, will be independently reviewed.
>
>Themed Panel Sessions: We invite proposals for themed panel sessions
>lasting no more than 90 minutes. Proposals should be between 1,000-1,500
>words. The panel organiser should include details of the individuals or
>organisations who have agreed to form the panel. Panel sessions are
>intended to provide a forum for discussion of a specific theme or issue,
>introduced by panel members.
>
>Posters: We invite proposals for posters. Proposals should be between 750
and
>1,000 words. Posters provide the opportunity for a visual, rather than
>oral, presentation of work within an informal atmosphere. Posters will be
>on display throughout the conference in a prominent area. Posters should
>not include software demonstrations. Where a software demonstration is
>required, the proposer should apply to be an exhibitor at the academic
rate.
>
>Please forward all proposals and abstracts to the Chair of the Programme
>Committee, Professor Andrew Prescott, University of Sheffield
>(a.prescott[at]shef.ac.uk).
>
>Conference Publications: A book of abstracts, containing the revised
>versions of all accepted papers, panel sessions and posters, will be
>provided to all conference delegates. These abstracts will also be
>published on the conference web site. A volume of Selected Papers will be
>published following the conference. Everyone who presents a paper at the
>conference will be invited to submit a full version of their paper for
>consideration for the publication.
>
>Organisation: The Programme Committee, which has responsibility for the
>academic programme of the conference, is chaired by Professor Andrew
>Prescott of the Humanities Research Institute, University of Sheffield. A
>list of the programme committee will shortly be posted on the DRH website
>http://www.drh.org.uk .
>
>Call for hosts for DRH 2003
>
>The DRH Standing Committee warmly invites proposals to host the DRH
>conference in 2003 Prospective applicants should refer to the conference
>Protocol and to other information on the DRH web site. Colleagues wishing
>to host the conference should write in the first instance to the Chair of
>the Standing Committee, Dr Marilyn Deegan, at marilyn.deegan[at]qeh.ox.ac.uk.
>
>AHC Strand
>
>The 1999 DRH conference, at King's College London, was held in conjunction
>with the annual conference of the Association for History and Computing
>(UK). DRH 2001 will follow this very successful experience by including a
>substantial AHC strand of sessions, lasting for at least one day. The AHC
>strand will represent a conference within a conference, in which AHC
>members will have an opportunity to give and to hear papers on historical
>computing, while benefiting from cross-fertilisation with other humanists
>with similar interests. Proposals for papers in the AHC strand will be
>sent to the AHC (UK) committee, who will arrange for them to be refereed.
>
>
>The AHC's aims are to promote and develop interest in the use of computers
>in all types of historical study at every level, in both teaching and
>research. Recent years have seen the Association move from its traditional
>emphasis upon quantitative methods and database management to greater
>concern with such issues as digitisation, Web-based publication, teaching
>and learning with digital resources, and improving access to digital
>resources and archival holdings. The AHC invites papers on these and other
>aspects of the application of computers, whether for research, teaching or
>archives. In line with the rest of the DRH conference, African and
>oriental topics are particularly welcome, but papers may be submitted on
>any historical topic.
>
>___________________________________________________________________
>Andrew Prescott
>Humanities Research Institute
>Floor 14, Arts Tower
>University of Sheffield
>Sheffield S10 2TN
>
>a.prescott[at]shef.ac.uk
>
>______________________________________________________________________

Forwarded for information...

Subject: Oxford Religion in the British Isles Seminar 1400-1700
From: Judith Maltby

RELIGION IN THE BRITISH ISLES, 1400-1700

A joint graduate seminar sponsored by the Faculties of Theology and Modern
History, University of Oxford

The seminar meets weekly at 5 pm in the Trinity Term, 2001 in the Seminar
Room of Corpus Christi College (Merton Street). Refreshments follow in
room 2.4.


26 April: Prof Sears McGee, Dept of History, University of
California at Santa Barbara
'Francis Rous's "Dead Pile of Paper": the polemical career of a
puritan MP'


3 May Prof Margo Todd, Dept of History, Vanderbilt University
'Performing Repentance in Early Modern Scotland'


10 May Dr Alec Ryrie, Dept of History, University of Birmingham
'Stephen Gardiner and the Making of a Protestant Villain'


17 May Dr Tony Claydon, Dept of History, University of Wales, Bangor
'"Christians! Protestants! Englishmen!": faith and the European
identity of England, 1650-1750'


24 May Dr Linda Dunbar, St Ninian's Parish Church, Fife
'Reforming St Andrews: religious change in sixteenth century
Fife'


31 May Dr Judith Maltby, Corpus Christi College, Oxford
'"The Good Old Way": Prayer Book protestantism in the 1640s and
1650s'


7 June Dr Alexandra Walsham, Dept of History, University of Exeter
'"Unclasping the Book?": post-Reformation English Catholicism and
the vernacular bible'


14 June Dr James Clark, Brasenose College, Oxford
'Pre-Reformation Monasteries Reassessed'


Any queries to Dr Judith Maltby, Corpus Christi College, Oxford OX 1 4JF,
judith.maltby[at]ccc.ox.ac.uk

Linebaugh and Rediker's book is now being much discussed, and has been
favourably reviewed on both sides of the Atlantic.

Much in it to interest Ir-D members, in the light of recent discussions...

Publisher's information pasted in below...

P.O'S.

The Many-Headed Hydra
Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary
Atlantic

by Peter Linebaugh & Marcus Rediker

0-8070-5006-7
Hardcover, $30.00
Beacon, Oct., 2000
(published by Verso in UK)

http://uua.org/Beacon/f00cat/rediker.html

http://versobooks.com/books/klm/linebaugh_rediker_hydra.shtml

"A landmark in the development of an Atlantic perspective on early American
history. Ranging from Europe to Africa to the Caribbean and North America,
it makes us think in new ways about the role of working people in the making
of the modern world."
? Eric Foner, author of The Story of American Freedom

"What would the world look like had the levelers, the diggers, the ranters,
the slaves, the castaways, the Maroons, the Gypsies, the Indians, the
Amazons, the Anabaptists, the pirates . . . won? Peter Linebaugh and Marcus
Rediker show us what could have been by exhuming the revolutionary dreams
and rebellious actions of the first modern proletariat, whose stories ?
until now ? were lost at sea. They have recovered a sunken treasure chest of
history and historical possibility and spun these lost gems into a
swashbuckling narrative full of labor, love, imagination, and startling
beauty."
? Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Yo' Mama's Disfunktional!

"The Many-Headed Hydra is about connections others have denied, ignored, or
underemployed. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Europe, Africa,
and the Americas came together to create a new economy and a new class of
working people. Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker tell their story with
deep sympathy and profound insight. . . . A work of restoration and
celebration of a world too long hidden from view."
? Ira Berlin, author of Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of
Slavery in North America

"More than just a vivid illustration of the gains involved in thinking
beyond the boundaries between nation-states. Here, in incendiary form, are
essential elements for a people's history of our dynamic, transcultural
present."
? Paul Gilroy, author of The Black Atlantic

"This is a marvelous book. Linebaugh and Rediker have done an extraordinary
job of research into buried episodes and forgotten writings to recapture,
with eloquence and literary flair, the lost history of resistance to
capitalist conquest on both sides of the Atlantic."
? Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States


"For most readers the tale told here will be completely new. For those
already well acquainted with the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the
image of that age which they have been so carefully taught and cultivated
will be profoundly challenged."
? David Montgomery, author of Citizen Worker

Long before the American Revolution and the Declaration of the Rights of
Man, a motley crew of sailors, slaves, pirates, laborers, market women, and
indentured servants had ideas about freedom and equality that would forever
change history. The Many Headed-Hydra recounts their stories in a sweeping
history of the role of the dispossessed in the making of the modern world.

When an unprecedented expansion of trade and colonization in the early
seventeenth century launched the first global economy, a vast, diverse, and
landless workforce was born. These workers crossed national, ethnic, and
racial boundaries, as they circulated around the Atlantic world on trade
ships and slave ships, from England to Virginia, from Africa to Barbados,
and from the Americas back to Europe.

Marshaling an impressive range of original research from archives in the
Americas and Europe, the authors show how ordinary working people led dozens
of rebellions on both sides of the North Atlantic. The rulers of the day
called the multiethnic rebels a "hydra" and brutally suppressed their
risings, yet some of their ideas fueled the age of revolution. Others,
hidden from history and recovered here, have much to teach us about our
common humanity.


Peter Linebaugh, professor of history at the University of Toledo, is a
contributing editor of Albion's Fatal Tree and author of The London Hanged.
A member of the Midnight Notes Collective, he lives in Toledo, Ohio.

Marcus Rediker, associate professor of history at the University of
Pittsburgh, is author of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, winner of
the American Studies Association's John Hope Franklin Prize and the
Organization of American Historians' Merle Curti Social History Award. He is
a contributing author of Who Built America? and lives in Pittsburgh.

http://uua.org/Beacon/f00cat/rediker.html

http://versobooks.com/books/klm/linebaugh_rediker_hydra.shtml

From: "noel gilzean"
Subject: Re: Ir-D Gangs of...2

Along with New York, Boston and Montreal Huddersfield had it's own Irish
gang. They were called the 'small gang' because they were small. They were a
gang of children who were held to be responsible for a great number of
crimes during the 1850s and 1860s. Anything you can do we can do ...
Noel


From: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
Reply-To: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
To: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
Subject: Ir-D Gangs of...2
Date: Tue 20 Jan 2001 07:00:00 +0000

From: "Matthew Barlow"
Subject: Re: Ir-D Gangs of...

I might also point out that, along with Boston and New York City, Montreal,
with a large Irish population of its own, also had Irish gangsters in the
20th century. My grandfather used to tell tales of the Irish gangsters in
the lower middle-class neighbourhood he grew up in the city's west end. As
far as I know, however, nothing has been done on the Irish mob here.
Generally speaking, of course, Canadian history hasn't been the subject of
film in the way that American history has.

Matthew Barlow
Ph.D. Student,
Department of History
Concordia University,
Montreal, QC

From: Hilary Robinson
Subject: Re: Ir-D Seamus O'Flattery 7

noel,
ditto,
best,
hilary

>From: C McCaffrey
>Subject: Re: Ir-D Seamus O'Flattery 6
>
>Noel,
>This ball is not worth going to I think. When I went into their site after
>I
>got my 'invitation' I was a little bemused/insulted that they wanted me to
>contribute to the rubbish I read there! God only knows where they got our
>names
>from. Some random means probably.
>Carmel
>
>irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk wrote:
>
>> From: "noel gilzean"
>> Subject: Re: Ir-D Seamus O'Flattery 5
>>
>> >From Noel Gilzean
>> rosslare51[at]hotmail.com
>>
>> So what about those of us who don't get an invitation? Should we give up
>now
>> or will we get to go to the ball anyway.
>>
>> Noel
>>


_______________________________

Dr. Hilary Robinson
School of Art and Design
University of Ulster at Belfast
York Street
Belfast BT15 1ED
Northern Ireland
UK


direct phone/fax: (+44) (0) 28 9026.7291)

The following item has been brought to our attention, and is forwarded for
information...

THE NEW YORK TIMES LEARNING NETWORK LESSON PLAN
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/

Developed in Partnership with
The Bank Street College of Education in New York City

TODAY'S LESSON PLAN:
WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE: Exploring the Impact of Immigrant Minorities on
American
Society

BASED ON THE ARTICLE:
"Forging a New Vision of America's Melting Pot ", By GREGORY RODRIGUEZ ,
February 11, 2001
URL:http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/featured_articles/010212monday.h
t
ml

AUTHOR(S):
Elyse Fischer, The New York Times Learning Network
Andrea Perelman, The Bank Street College of Education in New York City


GRADES:
6-12

SUBJECTS:
Geography, Global History, Language Arts, Social Studies

OVERVIEW OF LESSON PLAN:
In this lesson, students explore the intersection between immigration and
America's vision of itself. They examine how immigrant groups view
themselves
as Americans, and how the American "mainstream" views these same immigrant
groups.

SUGGESTED TIME ALLOWANCE:
45 minutes

OBJECTIVES:
Students will:
1. Describe themselves in ethnic, cultural, religious and/or racial terms,
and articulate how such categories impact they way they view themselves and
how they are viewed by others.
2. Explore the evolving notions of race, ethnicity and culture in American
society through reading and discussing "Forging a New Vision of America's
Melting Pot."
3. Examine the cultural and social history of an immigrant group.
4. Design a mural that graphically or symbolically represents the synthesis
of their research and class discussion.
5. Articulate their design either through a sketch or a written planning
paper.

RESOURCES / MATERIALS:
- -student journals
- -pens/pencils
- -paper
- -classroom board
- -copies of the article "Forging a New Vision of America's Melting Pot"(one
per student)
- -classroom research resources (computers with Internet access, textbooks,
newspapers, periodicals and primary source material)



ACTIVITIES / PROCEDURES:
Note to teachers: As in any discussion of race, ethnicity, religion or
cultural affiliation, care should be taken to ensure that all students feel
safe.

1. WARM-UP/DO NOW: In their journals, students respond to the following
questions, written on the board prior to class: If you had to describe
yourself in terms of your race, ethnicity, religion or cultural affiliation,
what words and categories would you use? Do you think that these categories
impact the way you view yourself? Do you think that these categories impact
the judgments that other people might make about you? In what other ways do
you define and describe yourself?

2. As a class, read "Forging a New Vision of America's Melting Pot,"
focusing on the following questions:
a. What does Gregory Rodriguez, the author, mean by the "definition of
America"?
b. Why would Henry James compare the incorporation of foreigners in
American
society to a "sword- and fire-swallowing feat at a circus"?
c. What does the author mean when he says that Jews were the "paradigmatic
American minority"? What is a paradigm?
d. According to the article, America's self-image has been largely shaped
by
the effects of the forced migration (and enslavement) of African-Americans.
What immigrant group will shape the how the nation sees itself in the 21st
century?
e. Why do Mexican-Americans have a unique perspective on racial and
cultural
synthesis?
f. How many United States residents are foreign born? How does this
compare
to years past?
g. The author say, "For instead of simply adding one more color to the
multicultural rainbow, Mexican-Americans may help to forge a unifying
vision." What does he mean by this statement?
h. How did the Jewish experience help form the "melting pot" theory of
American immigration and society?
i. Why did the experience of African-Americans lead to a new vision based
on
multiculturalism?
j. What is multiculturalism?
k. How might Mexican-Americans create "new ways of being American"?
l. Why was a suit over citizenship filed in 1896 by two white politicians
in
Texas? What was the ultimate result of the lawsuit?
m. Why was the phrase "Latino issues are American issues" adopted by
lawmakers in California?
n. What are some examples cited in the article about the relative lack of
"parallel ethnic infrastructure" among Mexican-Americans?
o. What did Representative John C. Box of Texas warn his colleagues in the
House of Representatives about?
p. Why has assimilation among Mexican-Americans not been an either/or
proposition?
q. What does "mestizaje" mean? Why is the number of Latin Americans who
claim mixed ancestry emblematic of mestizaje?
r. According to Robert Rodriguez, what is the essential beauty of the color
brown?

3. Divide students into small groups. Each group chooses an immigrant
group
about whom they are interested or with whom they identify. (Groups may
include, but are not limited to, Scotch-Irish immigrants, German immigrants,
Russian Jewish immigrants, Chinese immigrants, West Indian immigrants,
Vietnamese immigrants, and Cuban immigrants.) Students research the
immigration/social history of the group paying particular attention to the
following questions:
- -During which time periods were large numbers of people from this group
coming to the United States?
- - What were the historical circumstances surrounding the period(s) of this
group's migration? From where did they come to the United States? Why? Was
there a seminal event or series of events that forced their migration?
- -How was this group viewed by "mainstream" America initially? How is it
viewed today?
- -Was there a seminal event or series of events that shaped or is shaping
their experiences here in the United States?
- -How does this group view itself within mainstream America? -Are there any
unifying views among members of this group?
- -How do multiple perspectives within the group manifest themselves?
- -What sort of cultural institutions or organizations has this group formed
to
build their "ethnic infrastructure"?
- -How has the American image of itself changed as a result of the influence
of
this group?
- -Is the migration of this group continuing and dynamic today? What are the
circumstances around their current migration?

4. Students will design a mural, representing the immigration/social
history
of the chosen group, incorporating the questions above and any that they may
generate in their research. Students should design the mural to graphically
or symbolically incorporate differing perspectives, an historical overview,
social commentary and the impact of the immigrant group upon the culture and
values of the United States of America. Students are to plan the mural;
execution is not necessary.

5. WRAP UP/HOMEWORK - Students finish their design plan and write it up so
that it may be executed by themselves or by a team of artists.
Alternatively,
students may do a preliminary sketch of the mural that they have designed.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
- --What kind of generalizations does Mr. Rodriguez make in his article? Do
you agree with them? Why or why not? Support your answer.
- --How do you think your own ethnic, religious, racial or cultural roots
impact your view of America? How do you think it shapes the American
worldview?
- --Do you see America as a "melting pot"? What are some other metaphors that
might be used to describe the United States of America?
- --Why do you think some ethnic or minority groups have chosen or been forced
to assimilate while some have not?
- --Do you think immigration, assimilation and national self-image are
difficult topics to discuss? Why or why not?

EVALUATION / ASSESSMENT:
Students will be evaluated based on participation in class and group
discussions, as well on a thoughtfully-planned, well-researched murals.

VOCABULARY:
patrimony, inconceivable, aliens, synthesis, paradigmatic, imprint,
multicultural, unifying, ambiguity, prohibition, fusion, safe harbor,
crucible, mainstream encompassed , impetus, reemergent , nascent
coexistence
, melting-pot ,imposition, dominant, prism, overarching, mantra, influx,
influx, mongrelization, vitriol, fluid , hybridity, assimilation,
proscription, intermarriage, nuanced, mestizo, preeminent, Latinization

EXTENSION ACTIVITIES:
1. Re-read the article. Note any questions that you may have for Mr.
Rodriguez, the author of "Forging a New Vision of America's Melting Pot."
(For instance, your questions might include: If Latinos make up the 2nd
largest immigrant group in American history, who makes up or made up the
largest group? How are Mexican-Americans counted in the census today? What
is
the overarching historical narrative of the Jews?) After you have carefully
re-read the article and formed a list of questions, research their answers.
Imagine you are Mr. Rodriguez and answer the questions.

2. Imagine that the mural you created in the main activity is intended for
a
museum of cultural/ethnic history, such as the National Museum of the
American Indian in New York City. Create a brochure, describing the museum
and its exhibitions.

3. Research the Mexican-American presence in the United States, focusing on
one of the following topics: changing demographics, immigration law and its
effects, or cultural institutions created by the community. Write a report
explaining the results of your research.

4. Create a historical timeline detailing immigration law and reform from
the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo to the present. Where possible, indicate
what group each law most impacted.

INTERDISCIPLINARY CONNECTIONS:
Civics - What is a census? Research the United States census, focusing on
the following questions: What does it ask? How does it count people? What
is it used for? Why is it important? Create a census for your school or
community, creating categories and questions that suit your needs.

Fine Arts - Using the written plan or the sketch that you created for your
mural, create at least one panel of the mural with paint on butcher paper.
Be
sure to offer written commentary where you think explanation would be
beneficial. Display the mural in your classroom.

Global History - Create a comparison chart on immigration policy and
attitudes towards immigrants in three countries on different continents. Use
newspaper articles where available to gauge national attitudes towards
immigrants. Older students may wish to also compare the attitudes and
policies of a former colony and a former colonial power.

Journalism - Interview an immigrant to this country, focusing on questions
of
perception, personal self-image and national self-image. How does this
immigrant perceive his or her role in the larger American culture? How does
he or she believe other Americans perceive his or her presence in America?
Write an article for publication in your school or local paper or in the
Times.

Math - What is a quota? How did policy makers compute the numbers of
immigrants that they would allow into the country at various points in
history? Research the impact of quotas on American immigration. Were the
numbers of legal immigrants consistent with the numbers laid out by law?
Postulate on how quotas have effected ethnic and racial demographics in the
United States today.


ADDITIONAL RELATED ARTICLES:
The New York Times Learning Network's Modern Immigration special news
package
(http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/specials/immigration/index-immigrat
i
on.html) offers articles and photo essays related to the "immigrant
experience."
OTHER INFORMATION ON THE WEB:
The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service Web site can be
accessed at (http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/).

National Immigration Forum (NIF) (http://www.immigrationforum.org/) defends
legal immigration, fights anti-immigrant prejudice, and seeks to preserve
the
American tradition of diversity.

>From One Life to Another (http://library.advanced.org/26786/) is a
ThinkQuest site that looks at immigration to the U.S. during the 19th and
20th centuries.

Ellis Island's official Web site (http://www.ellisisland.org/) lets you
explore this fascinating immigration museum.

NATIONAL CONTENT STANDARDS:
(This lesson plan may be used to address the academic standards listed
below.)
These standards are from Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and
Benchmarks for K-12 Education: 2nd Edition

and have been provided courtesy of the Mid-continent Regional Educational
Laboratory
in Aurora, Colorado.

Grades 6-8
United States History Standard 17- Understands massive immigration after
1870
and how new social patterns, conflicts, and ideas of national unity
developed
amid growing cultural diversity. Benchmark: Understands the background and
experiences of immigrants of the late 19th century
(CTSS - 'social', '6-8', 'us7')
United States History Standard 31- Understands economic, social, and
cultural
developments in the contemporary United States. Benchmarks: Understands
changes in the workplace and the economy in contemporary America;
Understands
demographic shifts and the influences on recent immigration patterns
(CTSS - 'social', '6-8', 'us11')
Civics Standard 24- Understands the meaning of citizenship in the United
States, and knows the requirements for citizenship and naturalization.
Benchmarks: Understands that American citizenship is legally recognized full
membership in a self-governing community that confers equal rights under the
law, is not dependent on inherited, involuntary groupings such as race,
gender, or ethnicity, and confers certain rights and privileges; Understands
what constitutes citizenship by birth in the United States; Understands the
distinction between citizens and non-citizens (aliens) and the process by
which non-citizens may become citizens; Knows the criteria established by
law
that are used for admission to citizenship in the United States
(CTSS - 'social', '6-8', 'civ5')
Geography Standard 9- Understands the nature, distribution and migration of
human populations on Earth's surface. Benchmarks: Understands demographic
concepts and how they are used to describe population characteristics of a
country or region; Knows the ways in which human movement and migration
influence the character of a place
(CTSS - 'social', '6-8', 'geo4')
Geography Standard 12- Understands the patterns of human settlement and
their
causes. Benchmarks: Knows the similarities and differences in various
settlement patterns of the world; Knows ways in which both the landscape and
society change as a consequence of shifting from a dispersed to a
concentrated settlement form
(CTSS - 'social', '6-8', 'geo4')
the forces of cooperation and conflict that shape the divisions of Earth's
surface. Benchmarks: Understands factors that contribute to cooperation
(e.g., similarities in religion, language, political beliefs) or conflict
(e.g., economic competition for scarce resources, boundary disputes,
cultural
differences, control of strategic locations) within and between regions and
countries
(CTSS - 'social', '6-8', 'geo4')
Language Arts Standard 1- Demonstrates competence in the general skills and
strategies of the writing process. Benchmarks: Uses style and structure
appropriate for specific audiences and purposes; Writes expository
compositions
(CTSS - 'english', '6-8', '1')
Language Arts Standard 4- Gathers and uses information for research
purposes.
Benchmarks: Gathers data for research topics from interviews; Uses a variety
of resource materials to gather information for research topics; Determines
the appropriateness of an information source for a research topic; Organizes
information and ideas from multiple sources in systematic ways; Writes
research papers
(CTSS - 'english', '6-8', '4')

Grades 9-12
United States History Standard 17- Understands massive immigration after
1870
and how new social patterns, conflicts, and ideas of national unity
developed
amid growing cultural diversity. Benchmarks: Understands challenges
immigrants faced in society in the late 19th century; Understands the
challenges diverse people encountered in late 19th century American society
(CTSS - 'social', '9-12', 'us7')
United States History Standard 31- Understands economic, social, and
cultural
developments in the contemporary United States. Benchmark: Understands how
recent immigration and migration patterns impacted social and political
issues
(CTSS - 'social', '9-12', 'us11')
Civics Standard 24- Understands the meaning of citizenship in the United
States, and knows the requirements for citizenship and naturalization.
Benchmarks: Understands the distinction between citizens and non-citizens
(aliens) and the process by which aliens may become citizens; Knows the
criteria used for admission to citizenship in the United States
(CTSS - 'social', '9-12', 'civ5')
Geography Standard 9- Understands the nature, distribution and migration of
human populations on Earth's surface. Benchmarks: Understands population
issues; Knows how international migrations are shaped by push and pull
factors; Understands the impact of human migration on physical and human
systems
(CTSS - 'social', '9-12', 'geo4')
Geography Standard 12- Understands the patterns of human settlement and
their
causes. Benchmark: Knows the consequences of factors such as population
changes or the arrival/departure of a major industry or business on the
settlement patterns of an area
(CTSS - 'social', '9-12', 'geo4')
Geography Standard 13- Understands the forces of cooperation and conflict
that shape the divisions of Earth's surface. Benchmarks: Understands how
cooperation and/or conflict can lead to the allocation of control of Earth's
surface; Knows the causes of boundary conflicts and internal disputes
between
culture groups; Understands the changes that occur in the extent and
organization of social, political, and economic entities on Earth's surface;
Understands why some countries are land-locked; Understands how external
forces can conflict economically and politically with internal interests in
a
region
(CTSS - 'social', '9-12', 'geo4')
Language Arts Standard 1- Demonstrates competence in the general skills and
strategies of the writing process. Benchmarks: Writes compositions that
fulfill different purposes; Writes expository compositions
(CTSS - 'english', '9-12', '1')
Language Arts Standard 4- Gathers and uses information for research
purposes.
Benchmarks: Uses a variety of news sources to gather information for
research
topics; Synthesizes a variety of types of visual information, including
pictures and symbols, for research topics; Uses a variety of primary sources
to gather information for research topics; Considers the motives,
credibility, and perspectives of the authors of primary sources; Synthesizes
information from multiple research studies to draw conclusions that go
beyond
those found in any of the individual studies; Writes research papers
(CTSS - 'english', '9-12', '4')

Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company

Forwarded through the courtesy of Peter Gray...

TOC: HISTORY IRELAND 9/1 (Spring 2001)
(ISSN 0791-8224)

Reports on the 1970 State Papers, pp. 5-9
Eamon O'Flaherty, 'RTE's "Patriots to a man": the
Blueshirts and their times', p.10
Bernadette Cunningham, 'Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar
Eirinn', pp. 14-17
Interview: Thomas Kenneally, pp. 18-21
Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, 'An Tulach Tinoil: Gathering-sites
and meeting-culture in Gaelic lordships', pp. 22-26
Tomas O'Riordan, 'The introduction of the potato into
Ireland', pp. 27-31
'Darkroom yields up dramatic momentoes of the Civil War'
[photos], pp. 32-5
Neil C. Fleming, 'Lord Londonderry and education reform in
1920s Northern Ireland', pp. 36-9
Guy Warner, 'The flying boats of Foynes', pp. 40-4

Reviews of:
M Elliott, The Catholics of Ulster, by R. Murray
S. Howe, Ireland and Empire, by D. Scanlon
R. Doerries, Prelude to the Easter Rising: Sir Roger
Casement in Imperial Germany, by A. Mitchell
S.L. Fry, Burial in Medieval Ireland, by C. Tait
K. Kenny, The American Irish, and M. Glazier, Encyclopedia
of the Irish in America, by B. Hanley
M. Farry, The aftermath of revolution: Sligo 1921-3, by A.
Burke

The History Ireland website is at: www.historyireland.com


----------------------
Dr Peter Gray
Department of History
University of Southampton, UK
Email: pg2[at]soton.ac.uk
Homepage: http://www.soton.ac.uk/~pg2/index.html

'Victoria's Ireland?' Conference
Society for the Study of 19th Century Ireland
University of Southampton, 20-22 April 2001
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~pg2/SSNCI2001.htm

[Note: This review seems worth sharing with the Ir-D list, in the light of
much recent interest in the career and thought of Burke.

P.O'S.]

H-NET BOOK REVIEW
Published by H-Albion[at]h-net.msu.edu (February, 2001)

Edmund Burke. _India: The Hastings Trial 1789-1794_. The
Writings and Speeches of Edmund Burke, volume 7, edited by Peter
J. Marshall. New York and Oxford: Clarendon Press. xiv + 728
pp. Preface, introduction and bibliographical references.
$125.00 (cloth), ISBN 0-19-820809-X.

Reviewed for H-Albion by James Conniff ,
Department of Political Science, San Diego State University

Edmund Burke's Last Crusade

This is the seventh volume of the _Writings and Speeches of
Edmund Burke_ and the third, and last, to deal with India. As
is the case with the other publications in the series, the
Clarendon Press and general editor Paul Langford have given us a
first-rate production. The work is handsomely bound, the paper
of good quality, the notes are at the foot of the page, and
there is an absolute minimum of printing errors. In addition,
P.J. Marshall, the editor of this as well as the other volumes
on India, has done an equally fine job of editing and annotating
the various individual works, setting their contexts, and
providing a brief but extremely useful and interesting
introduction to the whole.

Marshall's introductory essay is especially valuable because it
does a masterful job of setting the stage for the included
Burkean works. Where, as Marshall points out, Burke's earlier
writings on India and Hastings were the products of optimism and
hope and represent Burke at his best, these are the fruit of
despair over a nearly lost cause and the strain of years of
effort clearly shows. Burke occasionally reaches the level of
his best rhetoric but, for the most part, these works are of a
distinctly lower quality. In the most important, the four
hundred page speech closing the prosecution, Burke is often
rambling, sometimes incoherent, and more than occasionally
excessively vehement. It will, I fear, take a devoted Burke
specialist or a serious student of Indian or imperial history to
wade all the way through.

Still, there are rewards for doing so and issues worthy of
consideration are raised here. In my own mind, three stand out.
First, in the early writings and speeches in this volume, Burke
raises the question of what legal standards should be applied in
an impeachment trial. Students of American politics, and those
interested in the Nixon and Clinton impeachment debates, will
find much here to fascinate them. Critics of the effort to
impeach Hastings argued that the same standard of proof as was
used in the lower criminal courts should be applied by the House
of Lords. Given the special role of the House of Lords in the
British legal system, that argument has a certain plausibility.
At any rate, it eventually convinced the House of Lords and thus
led to Hastings's acquittal. Burke and the House of Commons, on
the other hand, argued that impeachment is essentially a
political matter, that the Commons and Lords together could
devise and employ their own standards, and that those standards
should take account of both the difficulty of proof and the
dangerous consequences of breach of political trust. In that
regard, they took a position much like that of Alexander
Hamilton in his _Federalist Papers_ explanation of the American
constitution's impeachment clause. I do not know that there is
a right answer here, but, for my own part, I have always thought
that Burke and Hamilton have had the better of the argument.

Burke also opened a second front in the standards debate by
relying heavily in the prosecution case on circumstantial
evidence. Alleging that the distance from India, the lapse of
time, and the nature of Hastings' crimes made direct empirical
proof almost impossible, Burke maintained that the Lords should
use a process of inference to convict Hastings. That is, Burke
suggested that if something illegal happened, and no other
explanation accounted for that event as well as a supposition
that Hastings and his allies had acted against British East
India Company policy, immorally, and out of self-interest, then
the Lords should assume that criminal intent and wrong-doing
were present. This is not an unreasonable position on the face
of it and courts do generally rely heavily on circumstantial
evidence. Unfortunately, even a Burke admirer has to admit that
the texts of Burke's speeches and writings raise questions about
his use of the argument. There is all too often an air of
grasping at straws and of stretching and reaching about Burke's
presentation. Often, indeed, Burke's approach is patently
circular: he declares Hastings's acts criminal because of his
(inferred) motive but then proclaims Hastings' motive base
because of his acts.

Second, Burke has a great deal to say about what he perceives to
be Hastings's method of corruption. He accuses Hastings of
forming a system of double government: that is, of playing
Indian and British authorities off against each other. Though
Burke fails to clearly and directly describe this double
government, I think its elements, or rather what he saw as its
elements, can be easily recreated. According to Burke, Hastings
first used the Indians to screen himself off from the East India
Company. He told the Company that he could not follow its rules
to the letter because Indian mores and traditions would not
allow it. Second, Burke argued that Hastings then used the
authority the Company gave him to isolate the Indian political
leaders. In Burke's view, Hastings would seize political and
economic control of an area by coercing the Indians to cede
authority to himself. Third, having acquired that authority,
Hastings would return a delegated share of it to the Indians on
condition that they satisfy certain requirements in terms of
providing revenue or other performance. Four, when those
requirements proved impossible to meet, as according to Burke
they were meant to be, Hastings would dispossess the Indian
authorities and replace them with men, either British or Indian,
loyal to himself. Finally, Burke claimed, the newly installed
regime and Hastings would collaborate to exploit the area and to
falsify the Company and other records to hide their abuses.
Worst of all from Burke's perspective, India was left
impoverished, the exploiters were enriched, and the Englishmen
among them were free to return to England and to use their
ill-gotten wealth to undermine English society and politics.

The third theme I would like to comment on concerns Burke's own
view of the Empire. It seems to me that a claim to rightly
exercise imperial authority over another people involves two
core elements: first, one must assert that you can, in some
empirical sense, govern them better than they can govern
themselves; and, second, you must be able to refute John Stuart
Mill's argument that, even if the first point is successfully
made, there is an over-riding value to self-government simply
because it is _self_-government. However, Burke seeks to make
his case against Hastings without considering either of these
points and, therefore, without considering the nature of the
British claim of a right to govern India. In my view, two
limitations of Burke's perspective stand out here. First, Burke
is an advocate of what might be called trickle-down justice. His
primary concern is with the wrongs to the great people of India.
His sympathy is, in short, mostly an aristocratic sympathy and,
while he does express concern for the lower classes, it is, by
his own admission, a second-hand concern. Second, Burke's
admiration for India is, I am convinced, sincere and important,
but it is, nonetheless, colored by prejudice. In denouncing one
of Hastings's agents, he comes back again and again to the
"blackness" of the man's appearance. This is, of course,
rhetoric but it is unfortunate, and revealing, rhetoric.
Similarly, it is not, for Burke, enough that the agents of evil
are of lower class than their victims but too often that status
itself is treated almost as though part of their crimes.

For some, the central question will be what this volume tells us
about Hastings's guilt. The answer is, I fear, not much. We
have here Burke's side of the case presented at appalling length
and in a manner which is often his own worst enemy. Burke
constantly over-states and exaggerates, he always assumes the
worst, and he abuses his opponents. Moreover, it would take a
familiarity with the evidence and with the nature of Indian
society going far beyond what can be acquired from the texts
presented here before a judgment could be rendered. Marshall,
in his excellent work on the Hastings trial, suggests that at
least some of Burke's charges were probably justified. Whatever
the case, there is more than enough evidence here to remove all
question of Burke's sincerity. The sheer magnitude of his
effort, especially when set against the unliklihood of his
achieving any success, should be enough to convince any critic
that Burke had very little to gain by his participation in the
Hastings impeachment. In fact, as Marshall notes, the day after
accepting the House of Commons' vote of thanks for conducting
the prosecution Burke resigned from Parliament.

Copyright (c) 2001 by H-Net, all rights reserved. This work
may be copied for non-profit educational use if proper credit
is given to the author and the list. For other permission,
please contact H-Net[at]h-net.msu.edu.

From: DanCas1[at]aol.com
Subject: THE NEW YORK TIMES LEARNING NETWORK LESSON PLAN -- WHEN WORLDS...

A Chairde:

The NY Times remains sadly true to its 146 years of Hibernophobia and, at
times, virulent anti-Catholicism, as evidenced by this lesson plan on
immigration to the United States. From editorially applauding the "Slaughter
on 8th Avenue," when 62 people were killed and 200 wounded, in the Orange
and
Army Riots of July 12, 1871, in NYC, down to the present day obsequiously
Anglophilic coverage of the anti-imperialist struggle in the 6 northeastern
counties of Ireland, the NY Times' record on Ireland and her Diaspora is
stained with hatred, distortion, racism and hysteria.

Please note the complete elision of the "Irish" from its study guide on
immigration to the US Though, the lesson plan does prominently cite the "
Scotch Irish?" Curiously, the NY Times lesson plan also presents "Jewish
immigration" as a paradigmatic model for the United States. Influential,
important, and a necessary subject for study, yes; but, a paradigmatic
group?
I would argue just the opposite, which in fact underlines the cultural
complexity and ethnic diversity of the Jewish Diaspora in America.

R. W. Emerson, that much admired literary light of New England, and soul
brother of The Know Nothings and The NY Times, got it right for a change: "
Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." And the NY Times.


Daniel Cassidy
Director
The Irish Studies Program
An Leann Eireannach
New College of California
San Francisco

Forwarded for information...

[Note: The volume reviewed here is NOT the forthcoming Gill and Macmillan
Encyclopedia of Ireland, General Editor Brian Lalor, which is still in
production...

P.O'S.]

H-NET BOOK REVIEW
Published by H-Albion[at]h-net.msu.edu (February, 2001)

Ciaran Brady, ed. _The Encyclopedia of Ireland_. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2000. x + 390 pp. Maps,
illustrations, chronology, webliography. $39.95 (cloth), ISBN
0-19-521685-7.

Reviewed for H-Albion by Michael de Nie ,
Department of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Containing over two thousand entries, this generously
illustrated encyclopedia is a useful reference on Irish history
and cultural, intellectual, and public life that will appeal to
a variety of readers. The volume brings together contributions
from more than forty scholars, journalists, and independent
writers under the editorial direction of Ciaran Brady. Rather
than simply a "who's who" of Irish political history, the book
includes entries on numerous artists, sports figures,
playwrights, scientists, inventors, actors, film directors, and
others. It also covers notable buildings, geographic features,
towns and counties, art forms, mythical figures, and symbols.
The entries are supplemented with photos, illustrations, maps,
and over two hundred quotes on Ireland and Irishness, mostly
from writers and dramatists. The encyclopedia also includes
nineteen one- or two-page feature essays on a range of
historical and cultural topics, including: agriculture, cinema
in the 1990s, Viking and Norman invasions. The quality of these
essays vary, but standouts include Niall Keegan's overview of
traditional Irish music and Alan O'Day's piece on
twentieth-century Northern Ireland, a model of succinct
analysis.

Any attempt to create a one-volume encyclopedia of a nation,
even one with a less contentious historiography than Ireland, is
bound to involve many difficult choices on who and what to
include or leave out. General readers who consult this book for
basic information on Irish historical figures, twentieth-century
art and culture, significant landmarks, or prominent writers and
athletes will almost certainly be satisfied with what they find.
Historians and students, however, are unlikely to use this
encyclopedia as a research reference. In fairness, they are not
the target audience. The book is designed rather as an
accessible yet scholarly compendium on Ireland and things Irish.
In this regard it certainly succeeds, as the range of entries is
fairly comprehensive and the pieces themselves are generally
concise and clearly written.

Some entries do seem overly long or offer more detail on
architectural features than is probably necessary for most
readers. Dublin, for example, commands over eight pages, four
of which are concerned with notable buildings or neighborhoods.
In contrast, the majority of entries contain only one or two
paragraphs. Space was obviously a concern, but some readers
might question why certain topics receive more attention than
others. To reveal my own biases, I was puzzled that the entry
on Irish glass contains four paragraphs while only two are
devoted to Arthur Griffith or Douglas Hyde, and the Land War is
not mentioned at all (though the Land League does receive two
short paragraphs). No doubt, an art historian would find
nothing wrong with this, and it fits with the general emphasis
of cultural over political topics throughout the text. Another
criticism is that none of the entries are attributed except for
the the feature essays. Including the initials for the author
of each piece would have been a useful aid without overly
clogging the text.

Three additional features of the encyclopedia deserve mention.
First, there are two collections of color photos which focus on
scenic landscapes and daily life and include some lovely images.
The second is a fairly detailed, eleven-page chronology of
Ireland from 7000 BC to 2000 AD, which many readers may find
useful. Finally, the encyclopedia includes a section of special
interest to this list, a webliography of sites on a wide variety
of Irish topics. Many of the resources listed are "official"
websites that should remain stable for some time, but a fair
number are personal pages that may sink into the digital sands
without notice. Still, including a list of internet resources
is an excellent idea in a reference work of this type and one
that will hopefully be repeated in other books.

Copyright (c) 2001 by H-Net, all rights reserved. This work
may be copied for non-profit educational use if proper credit
is given to the author and the list. For other permission,
please contact H-Net[at]h-net.msu.edu.

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

It will be recalled that, in a recent Ir-D message giving an outline of the
British Association for Irish Studies Newsletter, I noted that it contained
a version of David Fitzpatrick's paper, from the recent Irish Diaspora
conference at the University of North London.

I was asked if it would be possible to distribute David Fitzpatrick's paper
through the Irish-Diaspora list.

I am pleased to be able to report that David Fitzpatrick has given his
permission for this distribution. Our thanks to David and to Jerry Nolan,
the Editor of the BAIS Newsletter.

The paper is some 2500 words in long. Mindful that many Ir-D members are on
older computer systems with limited internet access, I have divided the
paper into two emails, which will follow this one as...
Ir-D Fitzpatrick 1
and
Ir-D Fitzpatrick 2

These emails are still quite long, but, I hope, acceptable. I have numbered
David Fitzpatrick's paragraphs, but otherwise the paper is as it appeared...

BAIS NEWSLETTER NO. 25
January 2001
Battle in the Books 5: How Irish was the Irish Diaspora?
by David Fitzpatrick

Neither David Fitzpatrick nor Jerry Nolan are members of the Irish-Diaspora
list. They have asked if they can be informed of any subsequent discussion
of David's paper.

This paper is distributed only for discussion within the Irish-Diaspora
list. Copyright remains with David Fitzpatrick. Note that this is an
informal version of the paper - a full academic version of the paper may
appear elsewhere at a later date.

Again, our thanks to David for this courtesy.

Patrick O'Sullivan

- --
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

BAIS NEWSLETTER NO. 25
January 2001

BATTLE IN THE BOOKS 5: HOW IRISH WAS THE DIASPORA FROM IRELAND?
David Fitzpatrick


1.
The importance of ethnicity is a central but contested issue in migration
studies. Is it useful to segment the great movement out of
nineteenth-century Europe into homogeneous and distinctive ?national?
migrations? To what extent was the performance of each national group of
settlers in the New World enhanced or inhibited by its shared nationality?
How effective were hostile stereotypes in creating or exaggerating
disparities in the performance of different ethnic group? Did ethnicity
remain important for the descendants of emigrants, and what political and
psychological factors have caused so many contemporary Americans and
Australians to claim certain nationalities of origin, but not others? My
purpose is to apply such questions to emigration from nineteenth-century
Ireland. The answers provide a partial test of the validity of Irish
Diaspora Studies, one of the most popular and well-endowed sub-disciplines
relating to the history of human migration. If nationality had less impact
on the emigrant experience than other factors such as geographical region,
class, religion, language, or sex, should scarce scholarly resources be
redeployed accordingly? Or can some justfication be found for treating
emigration from Ireland as a distinctive process, worthy of analysis in its
own right?

2.
It is notoriously difficult to define any set of characteristics common to
most of the inhabitants of Ireland, and therefore (presumably) to those who
left Ireland. Through the distribution of certain physiological traits
differ sharply from that in other European countries, few would now maintain
that the Irish population constitutes a distinctive race with a common
genetic pool radically different from that shared by north-western
Europeans. The only language spoken by most nineteenth-century Irish people
was English, the proportion of monolingual Irish speakers being minute even
at the outset of mass emigration. Although bilinguals were somewhat more
likely to leave Ireland than monolinguals in English, there is only
scattered evidence of the use of the once-national to tongue among
emigrants. Indeed, the comparative advantage enjoyed by English-speaking
settlers in North America and the British Empire gave Irish would-be
emigrants a strong incentive to suppress their linguistic ethnicity and to
?Anglicise? themselves before departure.

3.
The strong communal cleavages which weakened all attempts to achieve ethnic
solidarity at home were most clearly evident in religious differences, which
were largely replicated in the Diaspora. Though probably under-represented
among emigrants, who tended to come from largely Catholic regions,
Protestants formed a significant minority in the movement to Scotland, New
Zealand, and the United States, and a majority in the case of Canada.
Religious division is of course compatible with shared cultural practices,
as anybody conversant with Ulster would point out. Yet the steady
infiltration of British and also American culture in nineteenth-century
Ireland renders it difficult to specify what was distinctively ?Irish? in
the practices by which emigrants from Ireland interacted and constructed
their mental worlds. The often dubious evidence of Irish distinctiveness is
outweighed by the far more wide-ranging cultural affinities between
emigrants from Ireland, England, and Scotland, whose common language and
upbringing under Britain?s unique legal, administrative, and parliamentary
system set them apart from those reared in continental countries. When
segmenting European migration in order to assess the effects of ?cultural
baggage?, there is a plausible case for treating emigrants from the British
Isles as a relatively homogeneous group, and the Irish as a slightly variant
sub-group.

4.
The belief that the collective performance of Irish emigrants was
affected by their ethnicity takes many forms. The crudest variation,
recently celebrated in 300,000 words by Tim Pat Coogan in Wherever Green is
Worn ( London 2000), imputes a superior national character to the Irish
which accounts for their ?extraordinary contribution? to life in every
country of settlement. As Coogan concludes: ?I too believe in the Irish
people. Around the globe they prove themselves to be ?an incredibly good
nation?. My final wish for them is that, having conquered their demons at
home, that (sic) their Diaspora of the future may go forth only on an
optional basis intent on upholding and building on the finest traditions of
their race.? (p.666). Irish emigrant achievement , for Coogan, constitutes a
triumph of Irish racial and national virtue over the obstacles of poverty,
ignorance, alienation, and discrimination. Such a conclusion is a profession
of faith, incapable of verification.

5.
Equally tendentious, though less bombastic and more subtle, is Kerby Miller?
s celebrated thesis in Emigrants and Exiles (New York 1985) that Irish
emigrants were inhibited in their economic performance and social adaptation
by a residual ?Gaelic world-view?, which discouraged individual enterprise
and encouraged retreat into defensive ethnic alliances. The main evidence
for this notion, apart from the actual record of Irish disadvantage in
nineteenth-century America, is the reiterated expression of nostalgia by
Irish emigrants in literature, balladry, and personal letters. This seems to
me a crucial misreading of nostalgia, an outpouring of sentiment which is
perfectly compatible with rational action in daily life, and which affects
virtually everyone who leaves any home (that is, virtually every human
adult). The ?exile? motif, so powerful in Irish literature yet so rare in
personal correspondence, is a device for generalising the sense of personal
loss, not a key to archaic and irrational elements of the Irish world-view.
As for emigrant participation in ethnic networks, such as churches,
fraternities, or social groups encouraging solidarity among Irish emigrants,
there is no good reason to dismiss such alliances as defensive, archaic, or
inefficient. In a segmented society with many would-be elites vying for
preferential access to employment, marriage partners, or political power, it
makes good sense to pursue self-interest through a group bound by reciprocal
loyalties rather than to sink or swim alone. Though not the only strategy
for economic man or woman, ethnic combination had marked advantages for
recently arrived emigrants over riskier strategies such as reliance on
non-Irish trades unions, conspicuous repudiation of Irish ness, or rugged
individualism. Ethnic networks served displaced emigrants of all
nationalities, and their appeal transcended differences of culture and
?world-view?.

6.
A third interpretation of variations in emigrant performances gives primacy
to ethnic and racial prejudice, instead of national character or mentality.
Still popular among those who view history as a record of systematic
exploitation, peopled by victims and culprits, this thesis has the
attraction of representing Irishness as a fiction generated by rival
nationalities, rather than a distinctive identity actually shared by
emigrants from Ireland. The evidence of discrimination against Irish
settlers is abundant and inconvertible, as also is the prevalence of hostile
ethnic stereotypes justifying such discrimination. Yet, in many contexts,
the practical impact of anti-Irish rhetoric and discrimination was
negligible. The fabled abundance of advertisements advising that ?no Irish
need apply? coincided, in both America and Australia, with a chronic
shortage of non-Irish applicants for employment in occupations such as
domestic service and building work. Consequently, Irish settlers were often
over-represented in the very sectors where hostility to their engagement was
most raucous. Likewise, anti-Catholic prejudice did not prevent extensive
intermarriage between Irish Catholic women and Protestant men in societies
with marked male majorities, as in all regions of recent settlement in the
New World. Once again, rational action triumphed over sentiment in dictating
the decisions of employers and marriage-seekers.

7.
The profusion of ethnic stereotypes is best seen as part of the rhetoric
generated by struggle between rival sub-groups, not an assertion of
dominance by an elite over a marginal minority. Discrimination by
Protestants and nativists against Irish emigrants was counteracted by
exclusive combinations and mutual preference within the ethnic community.
Moreover, Irish emigrants proved no less adept than their adversaries in
using racial abuse and discrimination to einforce their own social and
economic status at the expense of other ethnic minorities. In the absence of
a monolithic Protestant establishment in any of the major countries of
settlement, except perhaps Britain, anti-Irish discrimination was just
another weapon in the cut and thrust of competing sub-groups striving to
survive in the fluid and amorphous societies of the New World.

© David Fitzpatrick

(Continued in next email, Ir-D Fitzpatrick 2)

BAIS NEWSLETTER NO. 25
January 2001

BATTLE IN THE BOOKS 5: HOW IRISH WAS THE DIASPORA FROM IRELAND?
David Fitzpatrick

(Continued)

8.
All three attempts to link ethnicity with the performance of the Irish
Diaspora are based on the assumption that Irish settlers were systematically
and demonstrably disadvantaged. Though true for certain destinations at
various periods, such as the north-eastern United States in the earlier
nineteenth-century and industrial Britain over a longer time-span, this
supposition is profoundly misleading as an epitome of the Irish emigrant
experience. Studies of occupational status in the United States (1900), New
South Wales (1901) and Scotland (1911) all indicate that settlers born in
Ireland were no longer at a marked collective disadvantage by comparison
with the native-born or with other immigrant groups. Though earlier evidence
of Irish poverty is abundant in all three locations, and elsewhere ,it is
clear that the strategies adopted by Irish emigrants were effective in
overcoming their initial disadvantages. Despite the still widespread belief
that Irish emigrants congregated and often remained in urban ?ghettoes?,
virtually no evidence of their protracted existence has been uncovered for
any place of settlement after innumerable statistical studies of residential
clustering. In place such as Australasia and Canada, the Irish were as
likely to live in rural areas as in cities; while in Britain and the United
States they were concentrated in regions marked by relatively high wages,
full employment, and economic buoyancy. The most sustained and ingenious
attempt to refute the thesis of Irish disadvantage and incompetence
overseas is that by Don Akenson, whose The Irish Diaspora (Toronto 1993)
convincingly documents the rationality, adaptability, and frequent success
of Irish emigrants in exploiting their sometimes restricted opportunities
abroad. If the emigrant Irish did not underperform, and were not
systematically disadvantaged, then there is no ethnic problem to be solved.
By this interpretation, the initial deprivation and poverty of
mid-nineteenth-century Irish settlers was a temporary rather than endemic
challenge, shared in some degree by all nationalities in the early period of
dislocation preceding true ?settlement?.

9.
My argument so far suggests that the millions who left Ireland during the
nineteenth century were not, in any instrumental sense, particularly ?Irish?
. Their ?cultural baggage? distinguished the Irish from continental
Europeans but gave them many advantages in common with British emigrants.
Their performance as settlers suggest rational action unconditioned by
ethnic peculiarities of outlook, apart from shared expertise in the
construction of religious and fraternal networks acting for their collective
benefit. In the case of those born overseas with emigrant parents or
ancestors, the utility of the label ?Irish? is even more dubious. Clearly,
it would be absurd to restrict the Diaspora to emigrants, since practices
and networks developed by emigrants were often used to even greater effect
by their descendants. Furthermore, the right of Americans, Australasians, or
Britons with Irish lineage to declare themselves to be Irish, is undeniable.
Yet the effect of intermarriage in all regions of settlement was rapidly to
fragment ethnic communities, inviting descendants of mixed ancestry to
select one of several plausible Old-World nationalities. Even for the first
generation born outside Ireland, Irishness was often a self-consciously
constructed identity, an amalgam of emigrant narratives and positive ethnic
stereotypes of largely foreign manufacture. Whereas most emigrants bore
their involuntary nationality lightly, their electively ?Irish? descendants
were more inclined to flaunt and exploit their assumed characteristics.

10
This tendency, evident first in the United States, later in Australia, and
most recently to a limited extent in Britain, was only in part sentimental
in origin. It is easy to understand the appeal of an exotic , ?rooted?
identity for those reared in the drab cities or suburbs of Britain, America,
or Australia. Yet, by contrast with the unavoidable but unproductive
nostalgia experienced by emigrants, the appropriation of Irishness by their
descendants often brought social, political, or material advantages. Active
participation in churches or fraternities benefited later generations more
than the emigrants themselves, since these bodies usually peaked in power
and influence early in the twentieth century, long after the period of
heaviest emigration to all destinations except Britain. The growing, if not
always justified, belief in the mystic power of the ?Irish vote? offered
part-Irish Americans and Australians a superb launching pad for political
careers in the Democratic and Labor parties respectively. In quite recent
years, the multi-cultural movement has made it profitable as well as
prestigious to claim a European identity in the not-so-New-World, and for
various reasons an Irish identity has so far proved more marketable than
Britishness. Never before has Irishness been so important, and so useful,
for those claiming association with the Irish Diaspora. And never before has
it been more bogus.

11.
Is there, then, any point in studying the Irish Diaspora as a unit? Would
scholars and foundations do better to concentrate on the Diaspora from the
British Isles, or the Ulster Diaspora, or groups of emigrants bound together
by gender, class, religion, or language? Is it a nonsense to lump together
emigrants settling in societies as diverse as England and Australia,
California and Massachusetts?

12.
The residual case for studying the Irish Diaspora rests not on the character
of Irish ethnicity, but on the peculiar part played by emigration itself in
Irish life. What distinguished Irish from British as well as most European
migrations was its remarkable scale and unique profile. No other territorial
unit used in official statistics had so consistently high a ratio of
emigrants to population throughout the later nineteenth century. Only
briefly was Irish pre-eminence challenged by the Germans in the intensity of
movement to America. The persistent removal of over a third of each cohort
of population was found elsewhere only in small isolated regions, and no
other country experienced steady depopulation throughout the century after
the Great Irish Famine. The composition of the movement out of Ireland was
even more distinctive than its size, with its uniquely even balance of the
sexes and preponderance of young unmarried adults. Despite substantial
variations in intensity, no Irish region, religious group, or class escaped
systematic emigration. Though temporary links developed between certain
sub-populations and particular destinations, the emigrant experience was
more homogeneous than one might ext. Since many families sent children to
Australia and Britain as well as America, and since many emigrants thought
nothing of roaming the English-speaking world in search of still better
opportunities, the Irish Diaspora was not rigorously segmented according to
destination.

13.
The outcome was to create a people ?reared for emigration?, increasingly
well informed and prepared for life abroad, deeply affected in its social
organisation at home by foreign influences. Even today, historians are only
beginning to plumb the profound effects of emigration on Irish marriage
practices, fertility, economic organisation, political priorities, religious
observance, and popular culture. If the experience of emigrants was only
marginally affected by their Irishness, the character of Irish society was
transformed by emigration. The peculiar interest of the Irish Diaspora
therefore arises from its domestic consequences, and above all from the
uniquely intricate process by which it was organised. The manner in which
Irish emigration became institutionalised, and regulated by powerful social
obligations and constraints, is an extraordinary example of the capacity of
collective interests and assumptions to govern millions of seemingly
independent, individual decisions. The impulse to change one?s country of
residence thus became a defining feature of ?Irishness?. It remains to be
seen whether the current reversal of net migration, resultant from
unexampled prosperity, will eradicate the long-fostered belief that to be
truly Irish one must leave Ireland.

David Fitzpatrick, Trinity College Dublin

© David Fitzpatrick 2001