Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: CFP TWENTIETH IRISH CONFERENCE OF MEDIEVALISTS, KILKENNY JUNE 2006
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Forwarded on behalf of
Colman Etchingham=20
Colman.Etchingham[at]nuim.ie


Dear Colleague

Herewith the annual paper-call for the Irish Conference of Medievalists.

May we draw your attention first of all to:
A SUMMER SCHOOL for BEGINNERS in OLD IRISH, to be offered at ST KIERAN'S
COLLEGE KILKENNY, THURSDAY 8 to MONDAY 19 JUNE 2006, immediately =
preceding
the Irish Conference of Medievalists. The course will be based on Quin's =
Old
Irish Workbook. Students seeking further information are asked to =
contact:
Dr Catherine Swift, Director of Irish Studies, Mary Immaculate College
Limerick: Catherine.Swift[at]may.ie


Places on the course will be limited, so early contact is advisable.

If there is sufficient demand, A SUMMER SCHOOL IN INTERMEDIATE OLD IRISH
will be offered at ST KIERAN'S COLLEGE KILKENNY, TUESDAY 27 JUNE to =
FRIDAY 7
JULY 2006, immediately following the Irish Conference of Medievalists. =
The
course will cover the second half of Quin's Old Irish Workbook and will =
also
involve reading the law-text Uraicecht na R=EDar. Students seeking =
further
information are asked to contact:

Dr Catherine Swift, Director of Irish Studies, Mary Immaculate College
Limerick: Catherine.Swift[at]may.ie


TWENTIETH IRISH CONFERENCE OF MEDIEVALISTS
ST KIERAN'S COLLEGE KILKENNY THURSDAY 22 TO SUNDAY 25 JUNE 2006

Chair: M=C1IRE HERBERT

Organising Secretary: CATHERINE SWIFT Programme Secretary: COLM=C1N =
ETCHINGHAM

The Twentieth Irish Conference of Medievalists will be held at St =
Kieran's
College, located in Kilkenny, a compact city which boasts an unusually
impressive - by Irish standards - surviving medieval fabric and =
ambience.
The surrounding countryside is also replete with relics of the Middle =
Ages,
from ogam stones to tower houses.=20

CALL FOR PAPERS

Offers of papers are invited on medieval archaeology, art, history,
language, learning and literature in both Latin and the vernaculars.
Preference will be given to papers with a bearing on Irish and Insular
medieval studies, but all offers will be considered.

Length of papers: Either 45-50 mins or 20-25 mins (plus 10-15/5-10 mins
discussion).

Responses to DR COLM=C1N ETCHINGHAM, DEPT OF HISTORY, NUI MAYNOOTH, CO.
KILDARE, IRELAND by the deadline of 28 FEBRUARY 2006.
Phone: (353 1) 7083816; Fax: (353 1) 7086169; e-mail:
colman.etchingham[at]may.ie

Responses should indicate: (1) YOUR NAME, ADDRESS, PHONE OR E-MAIL

(2) TITLE and LENGTH OF PROPOSED PAPER

(3) BRIEF ABSTRACT OF PAPER (max. 100 words)

(4) PROJECTOR(S) REQUIRED

Details of FEES FOR REGISTRATION, ON-CAMPUS MEALS AND ACCOMMODATION will =
be
circulated, together with the CONFERENCE PROGRAMME, in March 2006. For
advance information on these details, contact DR CATHERINE SWIFT, =
Director
of Irish Studies, Mary Immaculate College Limerick: (e-mail:
catherine.swift[at]may.ie).


Dr Colm=E1n Etchingham

Department of History

National University of Ireland Maynooth

Maynooth

Co Kildare

Ireland=20

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: "Matthew L. Jockers"
Subject: Re: Book Announced, Don Jordan,
The Irish in the San Francisco Bay Area
Comments: To: William Mulligan
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The book is available from the Irish Literary and Historical Society, c/o
Eileen Kivlehan 1494 7th Avenue, San Francisco CA 94122. The book is
selling for $25 plus $2.96 postage and handling before March 17, thereafter
it will be $30 plus the postage and handling. Checks should be made out to
the IL&HS.


on 2/9/06 3:36 PM, William Mulligan Jr. wrote:

> How can copies be ordered? Is it available on Amazon or Barnes and Noble?
>
>
> William H. Mulligan, Jr., Ph.D.
> Professor of History
> Murray State University
> Murray KY 42071-3341 USA
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The Irish Diaspora Studies List [mailto:IR-D[at]JISCMAIL.AC.UK] On Behalf
> Of Patrick O'Sullivan
> Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2006 1:29 AM
> To: IR-D[at]JISCMAIL.AC.UK
> Subject: [IR-D] Book Announced, Don Jordan, The Irish in the San Francisco
> Bay Area
>
>
> From: "Matthew L. Jockers"
> To:
> Thread-Topic: New Book on Irish America
>
> Before he died in November of 2003, Don Jordan was hard at work editing a
> collection of essays dealing with the Irish in the San Francisco Bay Area.
> After Don died, Timothy O'Keefe, Professor of history at Santa Clara Univ.
> took on the completion of the project.
>
> The book is now out under the title
> _The Irish in the San Francisco Bay Area: Essays on Good Fortune_. It was
> published by the Irish Literary and Historical Society of San Francisco.
> ISBN 0-931180-00-7.
>
> The book is divided into six parts with two - four essays in each section.:
>
> Irish Identity in Literature and the Popular press
> Ethnicity and troubled ethnic relations
> Irish-American Culture and acculturation
> Education and educators
> San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Ireland
> Irish-American Identity: Personal Experience and Historical Evaluation.

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Review, Lundy, Men That God Made Mad: A Journey Through Truth,
Myth and Terror in Northern Ireland
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Email Patrick O'Sullivan

In today's Guardian...

Book of the week
Who betrayed the Lundys?

Roy Foster hails Derek Lundy's honest and personal appraisal of Northern
Ireland's endemic neuroses, Men That God Made Mad

Saturday February 11, 2006
The Guardian

Men That God Made Mad: A Journey Through Truth, Myth and Terror in =
Northern
Ireland
by Derek Lundy
368pp, Jonathan Cape, =A318.99

The title of Derek Lundy's absorbing book - part history, part memoir, =
part
reportage - comes from one of GK Chesterton's more than usually silly
jingles: "The Great Gaels of Ireland, / The men that God made mad / For =
all
their wars were merry, / And all their songs were sad." There is nothing
merry about the way the people of Northern Ireland wage war upon each =
other,
and there is little music in Lundy's account either...

...But does it gesture towards a way out of "madness"? Another ancestor =
who
recurs is the author's father, who died about 10 years ago: in a sense, =
this
book is a moving homage to a parent who was never sufficiently known.
Alexander Lundy, born (like the Irish state) in 1921, emigrated to a new
life and shed the baggage of bigotry, but apparently retained a savage
antipathy to the narrowness of life left behind. "It's not quite true to =
say
he was without prejudice; he disliked Northern Irish Protestants and
Catholics equally - their closed little minds and mealy-mouthed hatred. =
Even
after we emigrated to Canada, he could not abide the assumptions of
brotherhood and shared prejudice that other emigrant Prods, with their
Orangy Freemasonry, tried to hang on him." Successful in his adopted
country, he still became prey to debilitating depressions, and some =
moving
passages in this book suggest a deep communication difficulty between =
father
and son...

Full text at...

http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1706245,00.html

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Brendan Smith on the notion of 'colony'
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Email Patrick O'Sullivan

On a train of thought...

Looking at some notes on Brendan Smith's book, I notice that his
Introduction is currently the free sample at the Cambridge UP web site -
information below...

His Introduction is a nice - ah... - introduction to the notion of 'colony',
and so on, in the study of Irish history and literature. And in the study
of Wales and Scotland...

P.O'S.


Colonisation and Conquest in Medieval Ireland
The English in Louth, 1170-1330
Series: Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series (No.
42)
Brendan Smith
University of Bristol
Hardback

(ISBN-10: 0521573203 | ISBN-13: 9780521573207)

This book examines the development of English colonial society in the
eastern coastal area of Ireland now known as county Louth, in the period
1170-1330. At its heart is the story of two relationships: that between
settler and native in Louth, and that between the settlers and England. An
important part of the story is the comparison with parts of Britain which
witnessed similar English colonization. Fifty years before the arrival of
the English, Louth was incorporated into the Irish kingdom of Airgialla,
experiencing rapid change in the political and ecclesiastical spheres under
its dynamic ruler Donnchad Ua Cerbaill. The impact of this legacy on English
settlement is given due prominence. The book also explores the reasons why
well-to-do members of local society in the West Midlands of England in the
reigns of Henry II and his sons were prepared to become involved in the
Irish adventure.

. The book addresses the issue of colonial identity in a medieval context
. It places the Irish experience in a wider frame, and draws on the most
recent work on English, Scottish and Welsh history
. It reassesses the legacy of the twelfth-century Church reform movement for
later periods
Contents

Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. The Ua Cerbaill kingdom of Airgialla; 2.
The coming of the English; 3. Irish responses; 4. English and Irish; 5.
Authority and community; 6. The bonds of colonial society; 7. The English of
Louth and the king's wars; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index

http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521573203

http://assets.cambridge.org/052157/3203/excerpt/0521573203_excerpt.pdf

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Book Review, The Irish Stories of Sarah Orne Jewett
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Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Just brought to our attention...

P.O'S.

The Irish Stories of Sarah Orne Jewett
MELUS, Fall, 1999
Reviewed by Kristin Johansen

The Irish Stories of Sarah Orne Jewett. Jack Morgan and Louis Renza,
Editors. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1996. iii + 149 pages. $24.95
cloth.

'Editors Jack Morgan and Louis Renza made a wise choice when they decided to
compile and publish Sarah Orne Jewett's short stories on the Irish immigrant
experience of America, a task she had planned on doing in her own lifetime.
From "The Luck of the Brogans" to "The Gray Mills of Farley" to "Elleneen,"
Jewett's stories offer an alternative, more sympathetic response to Irish
experience than any of her other major contemporaries. Moreover, the
depictions of the interactions between Irish immigrants and earlier British
immigrants provide an interesting commentary on the varying stages of
assimilation to the United States. The editors also provide an introduction,
a combination of autobiographical research and theoretical discussion, which
offers credibility to the validity of Jewett's stories and what they
represent...'

Full text at...

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2278/is_3_24/ai_62350920#continue

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Time running out for Irish illegals 1
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From: MacEinri, Piaras [mailto:p.maceinri[at]ucc.ie]
To: 'The Irish Diaspora Studies List '

(Moderator's Note: For reasons of clarity and length, I have split Piaras's
message into 2 parts and 2 messages - the first message is the article from
the Irish Times, forwarded by Piaras. The second message contains Piaras's
own comments. P.O'S.)

From today's Irish Times - article on undocumented Irish in the USA by Niall
O'Dowd.

Time running out for Irish illegals

A comprehensive and long-term visa deal is required to resolve the ordeal of
thousands of Irish illegals who are living in constant fear in the US,
writes Niall O'Dowd.

There are an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 Irish illegals in the United States
at present and their plight is fast becoming desperate. Time is running out
for them.In the aftermath of 9/11 a raft of draconian legislation has left
many unable to secure driver's licences, travel to or from Ireland or create
any kind of normal living conditions for themselves or their families.

It is time for a huge effort to not only legalise their status but to ensure
that the Irish as a nation never have to deal with this issue of illegality
in the US again.

Put simply, it will not be enough to apply a band-aid solution, such as the
Morrison and Donnelly visas were, until the next generation of undocumented
come along.

Emigration from Ireland to America is a given for every generation. Celtic
Tiger or not, the historic and economic ties that bind the two countries
will always ensure that a flow of immigrants will make their way to the new
world.

Given the recent report in this newspaper that an incredible 500,000 Irish
visited the US last year, or one in eight of the population, the Boston
versus Berlin argument has been decisively settled.

Thus, now is the time, as America is considering rewriting its immigration
laws, for the first time in a decade for the Irish to plead their special
case.

There is nothing unfair about that. Recently countries such as Australia and
Chile have received special visa deals that will ensure that emigration from
those countries will be legal for the foreseeable future. Ireland too must
now seek such a solution.

The need is clear. In the Bronx two weeks ago, well over 1,000 undocumented
attended a meeting at a local banqueting hall, overwhelming the organisers
of the newly formed Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) who had
expected a few hundred at best.

It was a similar scene in Philadelphia, and large numbers are expected in
Boston, San Francisco, Queens and at a national lobbying day in Washington,
DC on March 8th. Across the United States the Irish undocumented are
rallying as they did in the 1980s to try and change their status.

But there is an important distinction between those who are undocumented
today and the last great wave of Irish illegals in the mid-1980s. Back then
it was a flood of young immigrants coming to America for economic reasons
over a short period.

These days, the majority of the undocumented are older. They are people who
came after the last Donnelly and Morrison visas were handed out in the early
1990s, and who have stuck it out through thick and thin since. They managed
to work the system until after 9/11.

Now they are placed in impossible situations. Put simply, they want to make
their lives in America.

Susan, one of the women at the meeting in New York, explained how she is
unable to see her dying 72-year-old father in Ireland. Her husband, also
undocumented, and her two kids have made their lives in America, bought a
house and started a small business. They are in their mid-30s, not highly
skilled and dread returning to Ireland to start all over again.

She knows if she goes home she cannot come back into America again.

"I love this country, I love my life here but I miss my family in Ireland.
It is killing me that I can't see my father now," she says. It is a dilemma
thousands of others share.

At the ILIR meetings there has been ill-disguised anger that so many Irish,
considering how much Ireland has contributed to America in the past, now
find themselves in this situation.

Recent laws making it impossible for illegals to secure driver's licences
have made matters much worse. Many, especially men in construction and
mothers driving kids to school, simply have to drive to get by.

The major bright spot is that the Irish Government and political parties,
alerted by affected families in Ireland, have understood the seriousness of
the issue and have moved to remedy it.Both Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern have brought it up in successive
meetings with US leaders.

The Irish diplomatic corps has made the issue of the undocumented a major
priority in recent times, and now the grassroots Irish are totally
energised. With St Patrick's Day approaching there is a stirring of hope
that significant progress can be made.

Certainly the community is focused, as the packed ILIR public meetings have
attested to. In other years, issues such as Northern Ireland took priority
for Irish Americans.

This year the community focus on St Patrick's Day is squarely on getting the
Irish undocumented legal, as no doubt many visiting politicians will be
told.

The Kennedy/McCain Bill currently before Congress would strengthen US
enforcement laws but allow a path to a green card. Its prospects are
uncertain.

There is massive nativist sentiment in America after 9/11, and a draconian
Bill offering only enforcement has already passed the House.

Equally both Republicans and Democrats realise, however, that there is a
huge problem with 11 million undocumented estimated in the country, and it
must be faced sooner or later. Looming over all the discussion is the power
of the Hispanic vote which could well decide the next election and is
overwhelmingly pro-immigrant.

Irrespective of the fate of the Kennedy /McCain Bill, however, the ILIR is
striking out for a comprehensive and long-term deal that would put the issue
of Irish undocumented to rest for the foreseeable future.

Given the importance of the economic ties and the increasing need for
foreign labour in Ireland, it is clear that a deal that would create a
working visa exchange programme between Ireland and the US could be managed.

Ironically, though Ireland has one of the most liberal immigration systems
of any country, it is relatively difficult for Americans to emigrate there.

The difficulty in passing such a bilateral agreement is ensuring that those
currently undocumented in the US receive a waiver that can make them
eligible for such a programme, and that its educational requirements are
broad enough to include them as well. If that could be achieved it would be
a remarkable feat both by the Irish Government and the Irish American
community.

If a deal is not reached the footprint of the Irish in America will be
elided in a very significant way. Within a generation, the ties between
Ireland and Irish America will begin to fray as the direct links between
both countries begins to fade.

That has significant ramifications for the vital US/Irish relationship in
the long run. Politicians who are friends of Ireland in the US Congress have
always been vital, as the peace process proved.

In the short term the Irish undocumented are managing a very difficult
situation well. It has been a crushing few years for them as the aftermath
of 9/11 has eroded their lifestyles to the point where they are living in
constant fear.

It is not good enough that Irish citizens anywhere are living their lives
this way. The Irish in the US and the Irish Government have an onerous task
ahead to seek redress.

Ironically we should never have been in this situation. In a 1986 interview
in Irish America amagazine, then House Speaker Tip O'Neill related how he
and other Irish American leaders had ended up in 1965 voting for a
comprehensive immigration Bill that essentially killed emigration from
Ireland.

"The Irish ambassador came around to our offices and asked us to vote for
that Bill because there was a tremendous brain drain out of Ireland and they
wanted to stop it. That's why we voted for it," O'Neill said.

"I can remember people in my neighbourhood coming up to me, saying furiously
they wanted cousins and relatives to come over here.

"And I told them, 'Listen we're doing this because we have been asked by the
Irish Government to help stop the brain drain'."

It didn't stop the brain drain infact, but it did ensure that successive
generations of Irish who came to America ran smack into the illegal alien
issue. Now it is time to end that forever.

Niall O'Dowd is founder and chairman of the Irish Lobby for Immigration
Reform, and founder of Irish America magazine and the Irish Voice newspaper
in New York

(end of article)

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Time running out for Irish illegals 2
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From: MacEinri, Piaras [mailto:p.maceinri[at]ucc.ie]
From today's Irish Times - article on undocumented Irish in the USA by Niall
O'Dowd.

Time running out for Irish illegals

I would be very interested to hear the views of US colleagues, in
particular, on this question. At the risk of offending some people on this
list, I think some of O'Dowd's arguments are rather specious. He says 'the
historic and economic ties that bind the two countries will always ensure
that a flow of immigrants will make their way to the new world'. The
phrasing suggests some kind of inchoate and uncontrollable mass movement,
almost a phenomenon of nature, but we are talking about individuals here,
making individual decisions, whatever the cultural and historical backdrop
of those decisions. Irish migrants to the US in the past, whether legal or
illegal, went there in part because of a severe lack of opportunity at home.


This is no longer the case; we now have almost full employment. The USA does
not owe Ireland some kind of obligation to continue to accept Irish migrants
and we do not have some kind of God-given right to go there. Of course
something must be done to address the situation of those already there whose
status is undocumented, although it's rather hypocritical for an Irish
Government which regularly says that it will not regularise undocumented
migrants in Ireland to be advocating just such a solution for its own
citizens in the US.

As an unrepentant European, I also find O'Dowd's reference to the Boston v
Berlin argument to be rather trite. So what if 500,000 visit the US? It's a
wonderful country to visit, Americans are open-hearted and generous, we
speak the same language (more or less!) and all of us are exposed to US
culture, good and bad, from our earliest years. That doesn't mean every
Irish person agrees with US foreign policy (any more than every American
does..), or feels they have an automatic right to become an American.

Finally, I wonder can someone offer any clarity about numbers. Given that
the 1980s situation was largely resolved through special visa programmes and
that migration to the US fell off dramatically during the 1990s, I wonder
where the 30,000-40,000 figure comes from. My understanding, from
semi-official and background sources admittedly working on guesstimates, is
that the real figure is closer to 10,000, but I'd be interested in what
colleagues think. The issue is becoming something of a political football
here in Ireland, with recent high-profile visits to the US by Fine Gael and
some of the Catholic Bishops.

Piaras Mac Einri

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: bill mulligan
Subject: Fwd: cfp: Migration and Cultural Change in Europe
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This may be of interest to the list.

Bill Mulligan


Below please find a call for papers for a workshop on "Migration and
Cultural Change in Europe" at the 9th EASA Biennial Conference - Europe and
the World: Bristol, UK - September
2006 (Lunchtime, Monday September 18th - end of Thursday September 21st,
2006)
For further information on the conference please refer to the following
website: http://www.nomadit.co.uk/easa/easa06/index.htm

Please send your abstracts to the workshop organizers:
Dr. Krystyna Romaniszyn, email: usromani[at]cyf-kr.edu.pl
Dr. Anastasia Christou, email: anchrist[at]hol.gr

We would be grateful if you could please forward the call to other
colleagues and lists.

Very many thanks and best wishes,
Anastasia Christou

The Workshop content

The focus of the workshop will be on, broadly speaking, the cultural
implications or changes brought about by international
migrations in the European receiving and sending societies or regions.
It rests on the following assumptions: that international migrations
amplify cultural diversity and trigger or accelerate cultural change in
societies involved. Within this general theme there is a number of
particular issues worth studying and discussing at the workshop, namely:
the spatial changes caused by migration inflows (into the receiving
regions), and outflows (from the sending regions); the demographical
changes that imply the developments of social roles (especially the
traditional women social roles) and local communities, both in sending
and receiving societies (regions); the structural change, i.e. the ethnic
structure change in the receiving societies; and the developments in
mental dimension, i.e. the change of collective identity vis-a-vis the
newcomers on one, and the hosts on the others hand, and the diffusion of
ideas and beliefs (religious among others).

Along with the presented issues papers are invited within the
following areas: the ethno-cultural mosaic and the distinct
ethno-immigrant enclaves development in result of immigrants'
settlement; the local community change and the (re)construction of
landscapes as a result of the migratory inflows (into the receiving
regions), and outflows (from sending regions); the (re)establishment of
social roles, norms and statuses, and the development of works,
organization and consumption patterns due to the migratory movements;
the challenges to the collective identity of both the indigenous
population and the newcomers.

Suggested workshop-papers' keywords: cultural diffusion, the
diffusion of ideas, cultural change, the (re)construction of landscapes,
the ethno-immigrant enclaves, the collective identity developments,
ethno-cultural mosaic.

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: "Thomas J. Archdeacon"
Subject: Time running out for Irish illegals
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For a man with as much American experience as O'Dowd has, he has no feel for
the political situation in the U.S. I am not saying that from the
perspective of somebody who is bitterly against the current administration.
In fact, the Irish probably will have a much better shot (still not good)
under Republican administrations in the future than under Democratic ones.
The Irish are losing influence daily in the Democratic Party, and the
positive experience under Clinton was an anomaly made possible by the magic
of a brilliant politician who just loved to broker deals. Don't forget that
the special lottery privileges for the Irish came through a Democratic
Congress but under Reagan and Bush 41. They were also the handiwork of Ted
Kennedy, who is not getting younger and who had a special relationship with
Alan Simpson (the former immigration hard-line Republican senator from
Wyoming), and Pat Moynihan, who is now gone.

The Irish are irrelevant to the immigration debate in the U.S. Moderate
estimates (Census, Pew Foundation) point to more than 10 million illegals in
the US, and even O'Dowd puts the number of Irish at only 40,000. That
number, by the way, was the scholars' estimate of the number of Irish
illegals at their height; the activists were claiming 150,000, but it was
nowhere close to that. Piaras's number of 10,000 is probably closer to the
current figure.

In the current debate, the Irish are not even an afterthought. Plus
Americans know that everything is rosy in Ireland to the point that you are
the New Europeans no longer in need of the transatlantic crutch -- and
indeed somewhat embarrassed about your past reliance on it. Even Piaras, a
fine man whom I've had the pleasure of meeting, feels it necessary to
announce his unrepentant European identity and his displeasure with U.S.
policy.

Although the Irish may think of themselves as beyond color, they have the
fundamental problem that Americans believe the Irish are white. If the U.S.
clamps down on immigration, those most affected with be Latinos and Asians.
(When pressed, most Latinos in the U.S. self-identify as whites, but they
effectively howl racial discrimination when Washington acts to curb illegal
entry). That is a very sensitive matter in the U.S.

At the moment, Black politicians have to identify with immigrant "people of
color." That may change as Mexicans compete for their jobs and (at least)
the Asians zoom past them in educational attainment. Mayor Ray Nagin, the
jackass who wouldn't use fleets of available school buses to evacuate New
Orleans because the lack of amenities in that mode of transport would be
demeaning to blacks, is now moaning that New Orleans may no longer be a
"chocolate city," as Mexican illegals have poured into the area to take jobs
reconstructing the city. Wherever such debates lead, however, the outcome
won't be one in which whites get bonus points as would-be immigrants.

Given the reality of U.S. politics, no politician is going to cut a special
deal for the lily white Irish. You are part of the already over-favored
dominant culture. Within the logic of American debate, arguments that you
helped build the country and therefore deserve continued access define you
as racists -- sorry about that.

The best known Irish person in the U.S. is probably Bono, and he often comes
off as just another European convinced of his moral superiority and ready to
tell Americans how bad they are. Yes, he sugarcoats it and says all the
right things while here, but then the press reports on how he has to explain
away his dealings with the devil to the rest of U-2 and when he gets back to
Europe. AS the pundits would say, it doesn't play well in the red states.
(During Bono's time on the Grammys last week, the ridiculous "American Idol"
show had twice as many viewers as his offering).

Rightly or wrongly, many Americans see Europe not as a model society but as
one circling the drain. At the moment, your fabled racial justice -- in
comparison with the daily atrocities of American life -- seems a tad
overstated. Americans are moving a lot closer to China and India -- and
even Latin America -- than to Europe; that's the flexibility that being on
two oceans gives the U.S. In regard to Europe, Americans seem more likely
to shift their focus from old Europe to the ring of countries around Russia.
Don't forget; there are a lot of Americans who have ties to those nations,
and they generally arrived in the US more recently than the Irish. Folks
from those areas and from Russia now dwarf the Irish in the green card
lotteries.

I'm not happy to see the current flow of events, and my expression of
frustration is a bit blunt. It's probably closer to reality, however, that
O'Dowd's whinging.

Tom

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The English Historical Review 2006 CXXI(490):70-103; doi:10.1093/ehr/cej003
This Article

C The Author [2006]. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights
reserved.

'Ever Reliable Friends'?: The Conservative Party and Ulster Unionism in the
Twentieth Century
Jeremy Smith

University of Chester

The article offers some thoughts and observations on the relationship
between the Conservative and the Ulster Unionist parties through the
twentieth century, though with particular emphasis on the period from 1945
to 1964. It explores the changing nature of their connection, both in terms
of practical political assistance (finance, advice, training, organisational
improvements) alongside their continuing ideological compatibility (or
rather incompatibility), to show a relationship under steady, and at times
acrimonious, decline. At the heart of this decline was a mutual
incomprehension and suspicion of each other, the product of an ever-widening
set of shared beliefs and priorities, and increasing inter-party tension.
Indeed but for the continuity of formal organisational links and periodic
rhetorical appeals to sentimental (if not antiquated) attachments, the two
parties may have carved a more independent line from each other well before
the more seismic shifts in party relations in 1972 and 1986. Such strains
were of some significance in the years leading up to the 'Troubles', helping
to generate a sense of neglect and deep anxiety amongst Unionists that added
considerably to the process of fragmentation with Unionism and the rise of a
more extreme Unionist 'rightwing'.

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Forum for Modern Language Studies 2002 38(3):252-260;
doi:10.1093/fmls/38.3.252
C 2002 by Court of the University of St Andrews

Revising a recalcitrant patriot: Oscar Wilde's Irish reviews reconsidered
A Clayworth

School of English, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9AL, UK

This article is a re-evaluation of two reviews published by Oscar Wilde in
the Pall Mall Gazette which critics have suggested reflect Wilde's
commitment to Irish Nationalist politics. It argues that the context of
these two reviews - namely the editorial policy of the paper towards Irish
politics - could have significantly influenced their content.

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Thanks to Piaras for his gracious response to my somewhat intemperate piece.
I don't think Piaras -- or most members of the list, or most Europeans for
that matter -- are anti-American. I was also aware that he was speaking as
much to O'Dowd as to any American audience.

I do disagree with Piaras on his perception of the Canadian experience. The
Canadians talk a different game than the Americans -- one imposed on the
Canadians, by the way, by their "French problem." The Canadians developed
their mosaic language, partly because it was a natural outgrowth of the
half-ass arrangement that the English and the French have to live with to
keep the country afloat and partly because the French were outraged that
most immigrants typically preferred to adapt exclusively to Anglo-Canadian
culture. (I'll leave out for the moment the old-time Irish in Quebec, who
preferred to function in a Catholic milieu, even if it were a
French-speaking one). Whether or not the Canadians have actually played the
game they talk or can continue to do so is another question. Canada is an
implosion waiting to happen, and the U.S. serves as Canada's safety valve.

I don't think that Europe will disappear soon. It is facing, however, some
pretty grim challenges, and, for all the talk of European unity, your major
countries still seem too nationalistic to quit "beggaring their neighbors."
Some Americans look upon Europe as an ideal world, but not as many Americans
as Europeans think. Other Americans look upon Europe as interesting but
essentially sclerotic society no longer able to sustain itself. In terms of
maintaining flexibility, Americans are a lot better off having Latin
Americans, who adapt very quickly to life in the US, on our doorstep than
the more culturally militant types on whom the Europeans seem to have been
relying.

Tom

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I agree with what Bill Mulligan has to say, except for two points. His
analysis of the 1965 act is the first. It's true, the aim of 1965 was to
put all nation states on the same legal footing (although allowing Ireland
to send the same potential annual maximum number of immigrants as China
hardly put those populations on the same footing). The law assumed,
however, that there would be little future immigration to the U.S. It was
primarily a sop to eastern Europeans -- "we're sorry we said you couldn't be
good Americans; now bring over mom and pop so they can croak on this side of
the water." All advocates of the law testified it would have a minimal
impact on migration. At the same time, the U.S. imposed numerical limits
for the first time on immigration from Latin America, the only area from
which anyone foresaw the possibility of increased immigration.

Saying the US should allow in anyone who wants a job is irresponsible.
Although population growth inevitably creates some jobs, jobs do not
multiple automatically to employ the number of people available for them.
Laws of supply and demand do work. The US has a relatively loose social
welfare safety net, but it does have a better one than most third world
countries, and the attraction of the US is powerful. Do you think those
Latvians (except some migratory laborers) would be flooding into Eire if
they had half a chance of getting to the land of the Big Time?

Right now, undocumented workers make up an estimated 25% of those without
health insurance in the US. That may be fine for their employers who can
shunt their care onto the public welfare system, but it contributes to a
serious social problem. The argument on long-term, net economic impact is
extremely complicated, but, insofar as immigration has short-term negative
impacts they tend to be on people already at the bottom of the
socio-economic scale, including most immigrants.

[The uninsured in the US tend not to get preventive treatment but they do
get emergency treatment. In NYC hospitals, doctors talk of a phenomenon
known as "from the DR to the ER;" the DR is the Dominican Republic; the ER
is the "emergency room," or what non-Americans refer to as the "casualty
ward." The doctors are describing a pattern in which ill people from nearby
third world nations make a quick trip to the US, show up in ERs (along with
their X-rays), and get treatment on Uncle Sam's dollar. The extent to which
that happens can, of course, be exaggerated, but it's not an "urban legend."

I don't know the answer to immigration issues. The US benefits from some
level of immigration, but it couldn't take in 100,000,000 million Chinese
(c10% of that population). That sounds not only obvious but also silly; on
the other hand, at various points in U.S. history, the percentage of people
from various sending nations has amounted to 10 percent of their overall
populations. The U.S. now employs 30% of all Mexicans (inside and outside
of Mexico) who hold jobs in the non-clandestine economy.

Successful immigration programs require some limits. A nation should allow
in enough people to meet its true labor needs and enough beyond that to
contribute to the betterment of the world. At some point, however,
immigration can cause a society to collapse. (Just ask the Native
Americans). The trick is figuring out what that level is and what
constitutes fair access to that opportunity.

Tom

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From: "William Mulligan Jr."
To:
Subject: RE: [IR-D] Time running out for Irish illegals 1


There is a great deal here. Certainly there is heightened concern about
illegal immigration into the US since 9/11. Border security is a serious
concern. I think, however, that it is a real stretch to equate these
concerns with nativism. Most people can differentiate between legal and
illegal immigrants. It is still possible to migrate to the US legally =
from
Ireland and nearly every other country. The revision of the immigration
quotas in 1965 certainly did adversely affect the Irish, as well as =
northern
Europeans generally by ending the special status inherent in the =
existing
quotas.=20

The statement, "Within a generation, the ties between Ireland and Irish
America will begin to fray as the direct links between both countries =
begins
to fade." seems absurd to me. Irish Americans will continue to visit
Ireland and think of themselves as Irish, regardless. I may have missed =
it,
but contact with recent, illegal immigrants does not appear to me to be =
a
major source for Irish American identity. It's probably another =
discussion,
but I have questions about whether any contact with Ireland is necessary =
to
sustain Irish American identity. The ground swell of support for special
treatment of Irish illegals has yet to reach western Kentucky. =20
=20
The argument for special treatment for Irish illegals, however, has =
always
puzzled me. Is it that they can call on more political muscle in =
Washington?
That is not as true as it once was. The political power of Hispanics is
growing and is already significant. An alliance would seem to be more
likely to bring success than a campaign for special treatment. Are the
Irish "whiter" than Mexicans and other Hispanics? That's about the only
reason I can come up with for special treatment. The arguments from
"history" O'Dowd advances are not very compelling and the hypocrisy of =
the
politicians on all sides is no surprise. The solution needs to be a
recognition of the need for fundamental change in US immigration policy =
- I
think we should allow anyone to come in who is willing to work -- that
treats all groups the same. That was the intent of the 1965 revision -- =
to
treat all groups the same and eliminate the preferences for northern and
western Europeans written into the 1923 quotas. =20


William H. Mulligan, Jr., Ph.D.
Professor of History
Murray State University
Murray KY 42071-3341 USA=20
=20
=20


-----Original Message-----

From: MacEinri, Piaras [mailto:p.maceinri[at]ucc.ie]=20
To: 'The Irish Diaspora Studies List '

(Moderator's Note: For reasons of clarity and length, I have split =
Piaras's
message into 2 parts and 2 messages - the first message is the article =
from
the Irish Times, forwarded by Piaras. The second message contains =
Piaras's
own comments. P.O'S.)

From today's Irish Times - article on undocumented Irish in the USA by =
Niall
O'Dowd.

Time running out for Irish illegals
=09
A comprehensive and long-term visa deal is required to resolve the =
ordeal of
thousands of Irish illegals who are living in constant fear in the US,
writes Niall O'Dowd.

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From: MICHAEL CURRAN [mailto:michaeljcurran[at]btinternet.com]
Subject: Re: [IR-D] Time running out for Irish illegals

Hi Patrick
Greetings from Belfast.
I communicated with Niall about this issue before
Christmas.
We have been trying to collate scarce data on this
topic, so once more can I remind 'members' to
encourage responses by visiting www.R-2i.com

The figures from USA tend to be scewed anyway. The 40+
million 'Irish' in the census data is an example of
this. An interesting comparison with the UK, (where
the majority of Irish emigres is located), is that
there are 0.75 million approx. Irish- born in England
and Wales, with the number on the decline. The number
of 'undocumented' Irish in the US varies from 5,000 to
50,000, but we do know from from the Irish Immigration
Centers there,that there are problems, and not just in
the area of logistics.

With the influx of Irish returnees to this island,
there can also be problems with adaptation and
re-adjustment. We have spoken to some of them. The
returnees from USA and Australia etc. are generally a
lot younger than those, often retired people,
returning from England. Many of the latter category,
unfortunately, have not done their homework. In some
cases they are finding that permanent residence (as
opposed to short holidays), combined with with no NHS,
inflated professional fees, and the higher cost of
living, can make life difficult. However, there is
advice out there for this 'invisible' cohort if they
wish to avail of it.

Some of us are in the process of collecting empirical
evidence on returnees and on potential returnees from
UK and USA. The 'Celtic Tiger' has its ups and downs,
so please direct those who are involved to:
www.R-2i.com We can then come up with a more accurate
picture for the relevant authorities here in Ireland.

Is mise le meas
Michael J. Curran

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Further from the Guardian...

The triumph of spirit

In a new series of essays by poets on poets, Seamus Heaney reflects on the
life and work of William Wordsworth

Saturday February 11, 2006
The Guardian

As a child, William Wordsworth imagined he heard the moorlands breathing
down his neck; he rowed in panic when he thought a cliff was pursuing him
across moonlit water; and once, when he found himself on the hills east of
Penrith Beacon, beside a gibbet where a murderer had been executed, the
place and its associations were enough to send him fleeing in terror to the
beacon summit...

... Wordsworth's power over his reader stems from his success in integrating
several potentially contradictory efforts. More than a century before Yeats
imposed on himself the task of hammering his thoughts into unity, Wordsworth
was fulfilling it with deliberate intent. Indeed, it is not until Yeats that
we encounter another poet in whom emotional susceptibility, intellectual
force, psychological acuteness, political awareness, artistic
self-knowledge, and bardic representativeness are so truly and resolutely
combined (William Blake also comes to mind, but he does not possess - indeed
he would have disdained - the "representativeness".)

Full text at
http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/classics/story/0,,1707188,00.html

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Apologies for the length, but there are so many issues here!

One point to note is that the recently elected president of the Irish Lobby
for Immigration Reform is an apparently influential Republican lawyer from
Long Island: Grant Lally, who was apparently a vociferous presence in the
2000 Florida recount and who was the chair of something called "Irish for
Bush/Cheney" in 2004. I was at first a bit surprised by this, but it's
obviously pretty savvy, and could be a powerful bit of pull.

On the issue of US immigration reform, I don't think that many people
appreciate how difficult it is to migrate to the US legally -- and it's
clear that the issue of illegal immigration is being conflated with
terrorism in the US right now. 9/11 kicked off an anti-immigrant backlash.
Criminalising undocumented immigrants who have been in the country for years
won't do anything to stop another attack. The two issues are simply not
related, but they are being linked in the public mind.

Right now, it seems, the battle is between several different pieces of
legislation: The Kennedy-McCain bill is widely seen as the best possible
deal for immigrants, in that that will offer undocumented immigrants the
route to legalisation and a permanent stay. There are other pieces of
legislation that would allow a temporary stay for registered immigrants
while criminalising undocumented immigrants and those who work with them.
Anyone who wants to know more about this would be well-served to look
through this most excellent and highly comprehensive web page -
http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org/policymakers.html

I am not sure I understand why the Irish group isn't more in league with
other immigrant groups in fighting for an immigration reform that would
benefit all undocumented immigrants, but I suspect fighting this an "Irish"
battle would leverage whatever political capital there's left for the Irish.
And it certainly does harken back to the heady successes of the "Legalise
the Irish" campaigns of the 1980s, although this battle is not likely to be
so easily won.

I can see why O'Dowd is fighting this fight, however: anti-immigrant
sentiment in the US is rising, and for those caught up in it, hugely
damaging. Adding the Irish voice to the chorus of those calling for
intelligent immigration reform is by no means a bad idea, though I think I'd
be a little more comfortable with a little less of the "Irish are a special
case" pleading.

On the issue of the fading links between Ireland and Irish-America, in some
ways I think O'Dowd is right -- not regarding the Irish-Americans of the
heartland (where the Irish link is likely to be weak and mostly irrelevant),
but in the first and second generation Irish communities in places like the
metro areas of Boston and New York .

I'm the daughter of immigrants raised in New York, and I spent much of the
1990s immersed in the vibrancy of the young Irish scene in Boston, when
thousands of people had their Morrisons and Donnellys. I realise that the
Irish of the first and second generation are totally dwarfed by the
oft-quoted "40 million" figure, but I think there was a particularity to our
experience, unrecognised by most of the wider Irish-America, that I'm sorry
to see ending, if only on a sentimental level.

I suspect that O'Dowd overestimates the importance of that community of
first and second-generation Irish in America to the wider Irish and
Irish-American community. Naturally enough, since he is immersed in it, and
his own publication came very much out of the crusading moment of the late
1980s when there was that large, active and successful movement toward
immigration reform.

But as to whether anyone else cares, and whether, as Piaras suggests, Irish
politicians are going be able to pull off the hypocrisy of supporting
illegals abroad while being not-so-supportive of our new immigrants here at
home is another matter.


Noreen Bowden
General Manager
Irish Emigrant Publications
http://www.IrishEmigrant.com
Cathedral Building, Middle Street, Galway
+353 (0)91 569158
noreen[at]emigrant.ie

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: "MacEinri, Piaras"
Subject: FW: [IR-D] Time running out for Irish illegals
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-----Original Message-----
From: MacEinri, Piaras
To: 'Thomas J. Archdeacon '; 'The Irish Diaspora Studies List '
Sent: 13/02/2006 19:25
Subject: RE: [IR-D] Time running out for Irish illegals

Thanks to Tom Archdeacon for a very thoughtful and hard-hitting text. I
am sure he is right in his conclusions.

On one minor point, could I just say (in my own defence) that my posting
was not intended to be anti-American (or pro-European for that matter)
in any way. I was merely objecting to the way in which O'Dowd handled
the hoary old 'Boston v Berlin' debate - it didn't seem to me that the
number of Irish visitors to the US, and how much we like the place, has
any place in the debate about undocumented Irish migrants there - or the
supposed inevitability of continuing Irish undocumented migration.

When it comes to issues of race, immigration and integration, I think
all European countries, including this one, have a lot to learn from the
experience of the 'old' immigration countries, including the US. One can
argue about the details - I think the US probably has one of the best
immigration policies in the world but Canada has a better approach to
integration. The dominance of the nation-state model in Europe, with its
assumptions of ethnic and cultural homogeneity (plus a good historical
dose of racism, xenophobia, imperialism and colonialism) mean that our
learning curve will continue to be a steep one. In Ireland we are only
in the foothills and already the first signs of nativism are all too
visible - even in a full employment economy which actually needs foreign
workers to function it seems a majority of us think there are far too
many of them. And the Irish in Ireland certainly don't think of
themselves as 'beyond color'. There is a myth peddled by politicians
that 'race' and colour are other people's problems (and we never had a
nasty old empire like the Brits) but anyone in Ireland today who looks
visibly different is likely to have found out how hollow this is.

I think most Americans are wrong if they see Europe as a society
circling the drain - the very fact that 25 countries are in the EU, with
several more knocking on the door, must mean that some things have gone
right. But there is still a smug assumption, especially in EU circles,
that we have a claim to a certain moral superiority compared to the US.
And there is a a combination of demographic issues in Europe, compared
to other developed countries - fertility decline and relatively high
migration in the context of traditionally monocultural societies - which
pose a unique challenge. So far we are not handling it well. On top of
that, we consistently pay ourselves more, take longer holidays and
retire earlier than our chief competitors, which now include not only
the US but China, India and a host of emerging regional powers like
Brazil.

I think Niall O'Dowd's piece is simply out of touch with the present
realities.

Piaras

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From: "D.C. Rose"
To:
Subject: Irish origins of English words (cont.)

Dear Colleagues

I have just found by chance the following article

Best wishes,

David Rose

Paris



An Irish renaissance
Swell duds -- English words with Irish roots

Kathleen Sullivan, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, March 12, 2004

Ever used the word highfalutin'? Or abracadabra? Or bragged about your brand
new duds?

If you have, you've been speaking Irish, says Daniel Cassidy, co-director of
the Irish Studies Program at New College of California in San Francisco.

For the past three years, Cassidy has been translating English words back
into Irish -- a process he calls "removing their phonetic overcoats' -- so
their origins can be acknowledged.

Full text at...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/03/12/EBGJL5EEKS1.DTL&
hw=Cassidy+Irish&sn=005&sc=420

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Time running out for Irish illegals
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To: IR-D Jiscmail
Subject: Time running out for Irish illegals
From: Noreen Bowden [mailto:noreen[at]emigrant.ie]


Apologies for the length, but there are so many issues here!

One point to note is that the recently elected president of the Irish Lobby
for Immigration Reform is an apparently influential Republican lawyer from
Long Island: Grant Lally, who was apparently a vociferous presence in the
2000 Florida recount and who was the chair of something called "Irish for
Bush/Cheney" in 2004. I was at first a bit surprised by this, but it's
obviously pretty savvy, and could be a powerful bit of pull.

On the issue of US immigration reform, I don't think that many people
appreciate how difficult it is to migrate to the US legally -- and it's
clear that the issue of illegal immigration is being conflated with
terrorism in the US right now. 9/11 kicked off an anti-immigrant backlash.
Criminalising undocumented immigrants who have been in the country for years
won't do anything to stop another attack. The two issues are simply not
related, but they are being linked in the public mind.

Right now, it seems, the battle is between several different pieces of
legislation: The Kennedy-McCain bill is widely seen as the best possible
deal for immigrants, in that that will offer undocumented immigrants the
route to legalisation and a permanent stay. There are other pieces of
legislation that would allow a temporary stay for registered immigrants
while criminalising undocumented immigrants and those who work with them.
Anyone who wants to know more about this would be well-served to look
through this most excellent and highly comprehensive web page -
http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org/policymakers.html

I am not sure I understand why the Irish group isn't more in league with
other immigrant groups in fighting for an immigration reform that would
benefit all undocumented immigrants, but I suspect fighting this an "Irish"
battle would leverage whatever political capital there's left for the Irish.
And it certainly does harken back to the heady successes of the "Legalise
the Irish" campaigns of the 1980s, although this battle is not likely to be
so easily won.

I can see why O'Dowd is fighting this fight, however: anti-immigrant
sentiment in the US is rising, and for those caught up in it, hugely
damaging. Adding the Irish voice to the chorus of those calling for
intelligent immigration reform is by no means a bad idea, though I think I'd
be a little more comfortable with a little less of the "Irish are a special
case" pleading.

On the issue of the fading links between Ireland and Irish-America, in some
ways I think O'Dowd is right -- not regarding the Irish-Americans of the
heartland (where the Irish link is likely to be weak and mostly irrelevant),
but in the first and second generation Irish communities in places like the
metro areas of Boston and New York .

I'm the daughter of immigrants raised in New York, and I spent much of the
1990s immersed in the vibrancy of the young Irish scene in Boston, when
thousands of people had their Morrisons and Donnellys. I realise that the
Irish of the first and second generation are totally dwarfed by the
oft-quoted "40 million" figure, but I think there was a particularity to our
experience, unrecognised by most of the wider Irish-America, that I'm sorry
to see ending, if only on a sentimental level.

I suspect that O'Dowd overestimates the importance of that community of
first and second-generation Irish in America to the wider Irish and
Irish-American community. Naturally enough, since he is immersed in it, and
his own publication came very much out of the crusading moment of the late
1980s when there was that large, active and successful movement toward
immigration reform.

But as to whether anyone else cares, and whether, as Piaras suggests, Irish
politicians are going be able to pull off the hypocrisy of supporting
illegals abroad while being not-so-supportive of our new immigrants here at
home is another matter.


Noreen Bowden
General Manager
Irish Emigrant Publications
http://www.IrishEmigrant.com
Cathedral Building, Middle Street, Galway
+353 (0)91 569158
noreen[at]emigrant.ie