From: Noel Gilzean
Subject: RE: Ir-D USA Surname Distribution

Actually this website only shows the 50,000 most common surnames in the USA.
Gilzeans don't hack it.
Noel Gilzean
University of Huddersfield
e-mail: n.a.gilzean[at]hud.ac.uk
tel: 01484 472835
Fax: 01484 472794
http://www.hud.ac.uk/hip/

> ----------
> From: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
> Reply To: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
> Sent: Tuesday, February 29, 2000 13:46
> To: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
> Subject: Ir-D USA Surname Distribution
>
>
>
> Our attention has been drawn to this Web page...
> http://www.hamrick.com/names/
> Hamrick software's surname distribution page - shows distribution of
> specific surnames
> across each of the states of the USA.
>
> P.O'S.
>
>
> --
> Patrick O'Sullivan
> Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit
> Email Patrick O'Sullivan
> Irish-Diaspora list
> Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
>
> Irish Diaspora Research Unit
> Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
> University of Bradford
> Bradford BD7 1DP
> Yorkshire
> England
>

From: "Bruce Stewart"
Subject: Not Sheila

Irish Diaspora listers might be interested in this email about Bernadine
Evaristo which I've just received from a well-known commonwealth /
postcolonial critic:-

Dear Bruce, you are being Irish provincial. Her verse novel Lara is a
great portrait of down and out Irish working class in the UK trying to
get into the lower middle class only to have the daughter on whom
they pinned their hopes fall for a Nigerian student after the war. She
has a child, Lara, he returns to Nigeria, and Lara is a portrait of part
of the new England, neither this nor that.

The Irish side is especially of interest, probably last portrait of pre-
1960 UK Irish working class. To make it more complicated, the
Nigeria side is really Brazilian Nigeria, one of the Nigerian oruba
families who returned to West African during the late 19th century
and was for a time part of the Yoruba elite.

Evaristo does this side of things less well, as it is exotic to her,
something a black sees while travelling, tracing roots. The Irish
side and the complexities of growing up are done well. Stop fighting
over whiskies and learn a bit about the new Irish diaspora. There
are others.

In one of Mike Philips novels (black UK detective writer, very good)
there is an interesting story about the Irish working class in the Labour Party
being pushed to the side by the mulitcultural blacks, Asians, gays, and the
nasty fights with local councils over it.

[END]

PS: The comment about fighting over whiskey was unprovoked.
Bruce.
bsg.stewart[at]ulst.ac.uk
Languages & Lit/English
University of Ulster
tel (44) 01265 32 4355
fax (44) 01265 32 4963

Forwarded on behalf of Erin Pipkin

Immigrant Massachusetts, 1840-2000

May 18-20, 2000

The Massachusetts Historical Society
1154 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts, 02215

The Massachusetts Historical Society announces its Spring conference,
"Immigrant Massachusetts, 1840-2000." Participants in the conference will
review the long and important story of immigration to the state, in the
process placing recent developments in historical context. Topics for
discussion panels include: coming to Massachusetts, becoming American,
creating communities, ethnicity and public life, the Lawrence strike of
1912, and transplanting faiths.

Because the Society wants to provide the maximum opportunity for discussion,
all papers except the keynote address will be distributed in advance to
everyone who preregisters. Program sessions will consist of brief statements
by the essayists, remarks by assigned commentators, and discussion from the
floor.

Space is limited and will be filled on a first-come-first-served basis. The
registration fee is $60.00 ($35.00 for students). If interested, please
contact Erin Pipkin at (617) 646-0505 or epipkin[at]masshist.org in order to
receive a schedule and registration form.

From: Dymphna Lonergan
Subject: Re: old biddy

My Cassell's dicitonary gives for 'biddy' -corr. of
Bridget (Am) 'An Irish servant-girl'. It's interesting
that it is thought to have its origin in American
English. I've yet to check out the OED

Dymphna Lonergan
Dymphna_1[at]Yahoo.com

Forwarded on behalf of the National Maritime Museum, England...

http://www.port.nmm.ac.uk/

Port is an online catalogue of high quality maritime related Internet
resources. The catalogue now contains some 1050 resources, all specially
selected and described by a librarian or subject specialist at the National
Maritime Museum. Port also contains related electronic services such as
research guides, directory listings, conferences and an electronic
publishing section. Port is a subject gateway with a maritime focus.
Subject gateways are online services and sites that provide searchable and
browseable catalogues of Internet based resources. In the traditional
information environment human intermediaries, such as publishers and
librarians, filter and process information so that users can search
catalogues and indexes of organised knowledge as opposed to raw data and
disparate information. Subject gateways work on the same principle - they
employ subject experts and information professionals to select, classify
and catalogue Internet resources to aid search and retrieval for the users.
Users are offered access to a database of Internet resource descriptions
which they can search by keyword or browse by subject area. They can do
this in the knowledge that they are looking at a quality controlled
collection of resources. A description of each resource is provided to help
users assess very quickly its origin, content and nature, enabling them to
decide if it is worth investigating further.

Forwarded on behalf of
and

University of Swansea, Wales

CFP: "Writing Diasporas" Swansea, 20-23 September
2000 (due 6/6/2000)

Announcement and Call for Papers for an international,
multidisciplinary conference:

WRITING DIASPORAS :
Axial Writers, Plural Literacies, Transnational Imagination

University of Wales Swansea
September 20-23, 2000

... on the role of travelling and translating writers, artists and
intellectuals in the cultural politics of diasporas and nations.

Main sponsors: the "Transnational Communities Research
Programme" (Economic and Social Research Council UK),
with "Re-inventing Britain" (The British Council & Arts Council
of England).

Details at: http://www.swan.ac.uk/conferences/transcomm

CALL FOR PAPERS in six strands (deadline: 06.06.00):

"Axial Writers" - Convenor: John McLeod


"Online Diasporas" - Convenor: Marie Gillespie


"Marketing Ethnicity" - Convenor: Sujala Singh


"Transnational Cinema" - Convenor: Deniz G=F6kt=FCrk


"Performance, Poetry and Song" - Convenor: John Goodby


"Plural Literacies and Policy" - Convenor: Tom Cheesman


PLENARY PANELS including:

*Multilingual Community Publishing in the UK
*The Politics of Literary Translation
*Re-inventing Wales? Nation, Migration, Imagination

PLUS workshops for practitioners in cultural policy and
in multilingual community writing and translation,
exhibitions, readings by local and visiting writers,
literally diverse literary/social events...

General enquiries: or

Fax UK+1792 295710

From: "Elizabeth Malcolm"
Subject: Biddy

Re. Biddy in the OED
There are two references. I am summarising them.
1. Familiar abbreviation of Bridget, used chiefly in the U.S. for an Irish
maid servant;
2. Obsolete, excluding dialect. Of uncertain origin: it has been variously
conjectured to be an instinctive [??] sound in calling chickens, a form of
the Gaelic 'bideach', very small. A chicken, a fowl; also dialect for a
louse.
The first use of the word is listed as in Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night
(1601) when Sir Toby Belch says to Malvolio: 'I biddy come with me'. This
is said in the context of various puns about cocks and fowls. There's an
1875 Lancashire reference to 'biddy' meaning a louse; an 1881 Isle of Wight
reference to it meaning a chick; and an 1884 U.S. reference which is a bit
obscure but also seems to indicate a chicken.
I'm not sure that this is very enlightening, but it's what my compact OED
has to offer.
Elizabeth Malcolm
Liverpool

From: Hilary Robinson
Subject: Re: Ir-D Old Biddy

My old Chambers says 'a fowl (dial.)' [hence my remembering of bird???] 'in
Shak. applied to Malvolio; an old woman (slang, derog.)[poss. the woman's
name Biddy for Bridget]' and refers us to red where they list red biddy 'a
drink made of red wine and methylated spirit'. hmmm...

>From: Dymphna Lonergan
>Subject: Re: old biddy
>
>My Cassell's dicitonary gives for 'biddy' -corr. of
>Bridget (Am) 'An Irish servant-girl'. It's interesting
>that it is thought to have its origin in American
>English. I've yet to check out the OED
>
>Dymphna Lonergan
>Dymphna_1[at]Yahoo.com


_______________________________

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


direct phone/fax: (+44) 01232.267291)

From: "Edward O'Donnell"
Subject: ?American_atheist_Madalyn_O'Hair?

Does anyone know anything about the background of the American atheist =
Madalyn O'Hair? I'm trying to determine, among other things, if she =
was Irish (she was born Madalyn Mays) and/or Catholic. The following is =
a short biography of her from www.Biography.com=20

O'Hair, Madalyn Murray (b. Mays) Social activist; born in Pittsburgh, =
Pa. She enjoyed a normal, happy childhood, but was
overwhelmed when she read the Bible cover-to-cover =
at age 13. She gradually became an atheist
and when her son Bill objected to school prayers, =
she took the case to the Supreme Court; in a
landmark decision outlawing prayers in public =
schools, she won, in her words, the "unalienable
right to freedom from religion as well as freedom =
of religion" (1963). She was a cryptographer and
second lieutenant during World War II. She and her =
family (she married twice) were persecuted
by their neighbors while the case was being tried.

From: Noel Gilzean
Subject: Re Old Biddy

Dear All
When my PhD was young and I thought all things were possible I decided to
transfer the names of 2004 "Irish" people in Huddersfield, Yorkshire,
from the 1851 British census into a SPSS database.
This is probably the majority of the Identifiable Irish in the
1851 census, as in Huddersfield they tended to be clustered around the
centre of town.
Irish is defined as
1. Those born in Ireland.
2. The probable descendants of those born in Ireland if
a) Both parents were Irish born
b) if only one parent was listed, the parent was Irish born and was either
married, widowed or widowered.
This calculation does not include English born second generation 'Irish' or
their offspring, as such it is likely to be an underestimate of the Irish
population of Huddersfield.

In the 1851 census for Huddersfield there are two examples of Biddy as a
first name out of approximately 938 "Irish" females, their ages were
recorded as 20 and 26. (There are no Sheilas). In a history of the Irish in
Huddersfield published in 1925 Biddy is give as a first name for two Irish
women, both of these are old women. It is possible that these are the same
women as appeared in the 1851 census but there is no way of telling. What it
does seem to suggest that it was a first name in use in 1851. What this
means I have no idea.
I know you are all wondering what the top 10 "Irish" womens names in the
1851 census of Huddersfield were, so here they are
Irish Born
Name Number Percentage
MARY 176 26.1
BRIDGET 105 15.6
CATHERINE 70 10.4
MARGARET 63 9.3
ANN 40 5.9
ELLEN 37 5.5
ELIZABETH 18 2.7
SARAH 16 2.4
WINIFRED 11 1.6
JANE 10 1.5

Not Irish Born
MARY 58 22.0
CATHERINE 27 10.2
ANN 22 8.3
MARGARET 20 7.6
MARYANN 20 7.6
BRIDGET 19 7.2
ELLEN 18 6.8
ELIZABETH 13 4.9
SARAH 9 3.4
HANNAH 5 1.9

Noel
In case anyone is worried that I am completely mad I did use the transcripts
produced by the local Family History Society.
Noel Gilzean
University of Huddersfield
e-mail: n.a.gilzean[at]hud.ac.uk
tel: 01484 472835
Fax: 01484 472794
http://www.hud.ac.uk/hip/

Irish Diaspora scholars will be aware of the work of H-NET, the network of email
discussion forums, based at Michigan State University. I participate in a number of
these, and will sometimes feed items from the H-NET groups into the Irish-Diaspora list,
if I think this contributes to the development of Irish Diaspora Studies. And vice
versa - I feed Irish Diaspora items into the H-NET groups. The H-NET groups do tend to be
United States centred - which is both a strength and a weakness.

There is going to be a new H-NET forum H-Catholic, which I intend to join - on the basis
outlined above. H-Catholic might also be of interest to some Irish Diaspora list members.
I have pasted in, below, the basic information - and will leave it to people to take this
further, if they so wish.

P.O'S.


ANNOUNCING H-CATHOLIC
H-NET LIST ON International Catholic History
Sponsored by
H-Net, Humanities & Social Sciences On-line, Michigan State University,
the Canadian Catholic Historical Association, and the American Catholic
Historical Association

H-Catholic is an international and interdisciplinary discussion list
for scholars and students whose primary academic foci are the history
and/or cultures of the Catholic church and communities defined by a
Catholic religious identity. The editors and Advisory Board invite
students and scholars of the Catholic Church to participate in this
international, interdisciplinary discussion list that is intended to
serve as a forum where scholars may freely exchange ideas,
methodologies, and practical applications of their work in an
environment that transcends conventional regional and disciplinary
boundaries. This list is not intended to be a forum for people who are
interested in making individual confessions of faith, but for the
promotion of scholarly discussion. Editors exercise the discretion to
determine material they deem inappropriate for the list. The editors
encourage and welcome the membership of persons from every faith or of
no faith.

Message logs and more information about H-CATHOLIC may be obtained at
its website, linked from the H-Net website:

http://www.h-net.msu.edu/

A warm welcome to Donald MacRaild's special issue of the journal Immigrants and Minorities
(ISSN 0261-9288), 18, 2 and 3, July and November 1999.

The volume is also published as a book, by Irish Academic Press...

Donald M. MacRaild, ed., The Great Famine and Beyond: Irish Migrants in Britain in the
Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Irish Academic Press, Dublin and Portland, Oregon,
2000.
ISBN 0 7165 2700 5 (cloth)
0 7165 2720 0 (paper)
Web site http://www.iap.ie

I have pasted in, below, the full Contents of this volume. It will be seen that there is
much to interest us here - notably Roger Swift's historiographic essay, and John Belchem's
introduction of the notion of the 'enclave' (it is perhaps too grand, as yet, to talk of
'enclave theory'). Of special importance is Don MacRaild's own chapter, putting the
historiographies of the Irish in the United States and in Britain into a comparative
perspective.

A full review of this volume will appear on the Irish-Diaspora list at a later date.

P.O'S.


Donald M. MacRaild, ed., The Great Famine and Beyond

Contents

Introduction: The Great Famine and Beyond: Irish migrants in Britain in the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries, Donald M. MacRaild

1. Historians and the Irish: Recent writings on the Irish in Nineteenth-Century Britain,
Roger
Swift

2. Crossing Migrant Frontiers: Comparative Reflections on Irish migrants in Britain and
the
United States during the nineteenth century, Donald M. MacRaild

3. The foundations of the Irish settlement in Newcastle upon Tyne: The evidence in the
1851
census, Frank Neal

4. Little Islands of Erin: Irish Settlement and Identity in mid-nineteenth-century
Manchester,
Mervyn Busteed

5. The Liverpool-Irish enclave, John Belchem

6. Roman Catholicism and the Irish in England, Sheridan Gilley

7. Defining Womanhood: Irish Women and the Catholic Church in Victorian Liverpool, Martha
Kanya-Forstner

8. From Londonderry to London: Identity and Sense of Place for A Protestant Northern Irish
Woman in the 1930s, Colin Pooley

9. Irish Diaspora Politics in Perspective: The United Irish Leagues of Great Britain and
America, 1900?1914, Alan O?Day

10. ?Almost a class of helots in an alien land?: The British state and Irish immigration,
1921-45, Enda Delaney

11. 'Beyond "Plastic Paddy": towards a reconsideration of the second-generation Irish in
England', Sean Campbell



- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/

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

Irish Diaspora scholars will be aware that the traditional historiography of the early
church in Ireland has tended to focus on isolation, difference and strangeness. This
perception has tended to be woven, seamlessly, into notions of a general Irish
strangeness. We therefore need to know that the historiography of the church has changed
dramatically in recent decades - most significantly, perhaps, with Eamon Duffy, The
Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400-1580, 1992, a book which
hardly mentions Ireland. But has the cumulative effect of making religion in Ireland look
a lot less strange.

I am therefore forwarding, below, a notice of Colman Etchingham's new book, which
continues this questioning of the historiography.

P.O'S.


Forwarded on behalf of the Irish Conference of Medievalists...

Colman Etchingham
Church Organisation in Ireland, 650-1000

Laigin Publications 1999

This is the first major study in a generation of how the early Irish church was organised
in the period of its mature development. Since the church was involved in every aspect of
the political, social, economic, artistic and intellectual life of early medieval Ireland,
its importance for the history of the period cannot be overstated and it is vital to
understand how it was structured.

Traditionally, the early Irish church has been seen by scholars as fundamentally different
from the mainstream of western Christian organisation, in being characterised by the
predominance of monasticism, government by abbots instead of bishops and a high degree of
local autonomy, with a complete absence of dioceses and hierarchy.

Since the 1980s this picture of an idiosyncratic 'Celtic' mode of ecclesiastical
organisation has been seriously challenged. This new book examines in detail the Latin and
Irish sources - including the barely exploited evidence of the Old Irish 'Brehon' law
tracts - and reaches substantially new conclusions on questions such as:
the relative roles of abbots, bishops and other figures of authority
the character and extent of the spheres in which ecclesiastical jurisdiction was exercised
the delivery of pastoral ministration to the people, in theory and practice
the extent of Christian practice among the laity
the true significance of monasticism within a multi-faceted and multi-functional
institution
the legal and socio-economic position of ecclesiastical dependants, the so-called 'manaig'

The Irish Conference of Medievalists is pleased-to announce the imminent publication of
the above. It is anticipated that it will retail in Ireland at slightly less than IR£40.
Copies will be available for direct purchase at the conference for a DISCOUNT PRICE OF
£25.

Alternatively, pre-paid orders addressed to Dr Colman Etchingham, Dept of Modern History,
NUl Maynooth, Co. Kildare will be filled at the discount price + postage and packing (IR£5
within Ireland; IR£6 to the UK; IR£11 for EU countries other than UK & IR£12 for surface
mail to US and elsewhere.) Payment in sterling will be accepted. Please make cheques etc.
payable to Colman Etchingham.

I have pasted in, below, the Contents list of the latest issue of The Political
Quarterly - which looks at the deconstruction of 'Britain', 'British' and 'Britishness', a
process which is gathering momentum. And whose key text is, of course, Linda Colley,
Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707-1837 (1992, 1994). Often nowadays you will find
Colley's influence flagged (as in The Political Quarterly here) by an almost coded use of
that ambiguous word 'forging'.

It will be seen that there are a number of articles of interest to Irish Diaspora Studies,
including Mary Hickman on the Irish in Britain, and Evans & O'Leary on Northern Ireland.

The Political Quarterly is one of the Blackwell's journals that has a full text presence
on the Web - that is, it will be possible, for some people, to get instant and full access
to the these texts. I am afraid it simply is not possible to give detailed advice about
this - the rules about access will vary from institution to institution, and indeed will
vary from day to day, as publishers make concessions or allow 'guest' access.

P.O'S.


The Political Quarterly
published by Blackwell Publishers

Volume 71, Issue 1, January 2000

Commentary: The End of Britain?
Wright T.,Gamble A. 1-3

Defining British National Identity
Parekh B. 4-14

The Importance of Being British
Kearney H. 15-25

Muddled Leaders and the Future of the British National Identity
Alibhai-Brown Y. 26-30

Multicultural Citizenship: The Limitations of Liberal Democracy
Kelly D. 31-41

British Citizenship after Empire: A Defence
Hansen R. 42-49

?Binary Opposites? or ?Unique Neighbours?? The Irish in Multi-ethnic Britain
Hickman M. 50-58

The Conservative Party and Nationhood
Lynch P. 59-67

Gypsies and Politics in Britain
Turner R. 68-77

Northern Irish Voters and the British?Irish Agreement: Foundations of a Stable
Consociational Settlement?
Evans G., O'Leary B. 78-101

New Labour's Ideology: A Reply to Michael Freeden
Buckler S., Dolowitz D.P. 102-109

Ethnic Wars and the Media: A Comment on Jean Seaton
Watt D.C. 110-114

Towards an Urban Renaissance: The Final Report of the Urban Task Force
Regan S. 115-118

Book Reviews
119-139

Notes on Contributors
140-140

From Patrick O'Sullivan

As St. Patrick's Day celebrations are planned, or get underway, throughout the world, we
are now also getting requests from Ir-D list members for news of the traditional
Irish-Diaspora list St. Patrick's Day Competition.

The Ir-D St. Patrick's Day Competition in 1998 was a triumph - fondly remembered by old
hands, and a real topic of conversation wherever I went for months afterwards.

The Competition in 1999 was a disaster. It was an Irish Diaspora quiz - and I have had
several whines, from people whom I would otherwise greatly respect, that it was 'too
hard'. Though, in the intervening year, a number of people have contacted me, indicating
that they have solved at least some of the riddles. So, the Irish Diaspora quiz seems to
be enjoying a sort of after-life - and maybe, in ten or twenty years, someone will
complete it and answer all the questions. The only problem then is that I have already
forgotten most of the answers.

I can report that the Irish-Diaspora List St. Patrick's Day Competition Sub-Committee
(IR-DLSPDS-C) is now in constant session, trying to devise a competition which can be
genuinely world-wide, scholarly, and 'NOT too hard'... It is a tall order, but I have
faith in the IR-DLSPDS-C...

Expect an announcement about the Irish-Diaspora list traditional St. Patrick's Day
Competion, for the year 2000, in the very near future.

Paddy O'Sullivan


- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/

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

From: "Brian McGinn"
Re: 'Biddy' in America

The >Random House Historical Dictionary of American SlangDictionary of
Americanisms: A Glossary of Words and Phrases Usually
Regarded as Peculiar to the United StatesJuba to
Jive:
A Dictionary of African-American Slang< (Penguin Books,
1970,
1994): Biddie; biddy n. (1940s) an attractive little girl
or small old woman. "Little biddie" was often the common
expression. Example: "Daddy's little biddie baby." Or, "My
baby's a little biddie mama, but she can raise enough hell
to bring down heaven." No derivation is given for this
usage.


Brian McGinn
Alexandria, Virginia

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

Subject: RE: Ir-D American atheist Madalyn O'Hair


I don't know that much about her. But I believe the Washington Post ran a
series of articles about her and her son and daughter in the middle of
August last summer. I'm assuming it's the same woman. They were killed
under mysterious circumstances probably over money. I cannot remember if the
article had much about her background her childhood religion.
Linda Dowling Almeida
New York University


> -----Original Message-----
> From: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk [SMTP:irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk]
> Sent: Friday, March 03, 2000 5:01 AM
> To: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
> Subject: Ir-D American atheist Madalyn O'Hair
>
>
> From: "Edward O'Donnell"
> Subject: ?American_atheist_Madalyn_O'Hair?
>
> Does anyone know anything about the background of the American atheist =
> Madalyn O'Hair? I'm trying to determine, among other things, if she =
> was Irish (she was born Madalyn Mays) and/or Catholic. The following is =
> a short biography of her from www.Biography.com=20
>
> O'Hair, Madalyn Murray (b. Mays) Social activist; born in Pittsburgh, =
> Pa. She enjoyed a normal, happy childhood, but was
> overwhelmed when she read the Bible cover-to-cover =
> at age 13. She gradually became an atheist
> and when her son Bill objected to school prayers, =
> she took the case to the Supreme Court; in a
> landmark decision outlawing prayers in public =
> schools, she won, in her words, the "unalienable
> right to freedom from religion as well as freedom =
> of religion" (1963). She was a cryptographer and
> second lieutenant during World War II. She and her =
> family (she married twice) were persecuted
> by their neighbors while the case was being tried.
>
>

From: "Patrick Finn"
Subject: The Irish and Indian Independence Movements

Dear friends,

I'm looking for material on the links between the Irish and Indian
nationalist movements, particularly those of a Republican/Socialist
perspective.

Thanks,

Padraic Finn

Forwarded on behalf of
Sean Farrell Moran
e-mail: moran[at]oakland.edu

CALL FOR PAPERS

MIDWEST REGIONAL CONFERENCE
AMERICAN CONFERENCE FOR IRISH STUDIES
OAKLAND UNIVERSITY, 13-14 OCTOBER 2000


The 2000 Midwestern Regional Conference will be held at Oakland University
in Rochester, Michigan, on October 13-14, 2000. The theme of the
conference is "Politics, Culture and Identity in Ireland and
Irish-America." The plenary speaker will be Professor David Miller. The
aim of this multi-disciplinary conference is to explore the intersection
and interrelationship of politics, culture and identity in Ireland and
Irish-America. Contributors might address this theme through history,
literature, philosophy/ideas, ideology, geography, sociology, religion,
gender, race, as well as its representation in music and the visual arts.
As always, the Midwest Regional will consider papers outside of its formal
theme and encourages the participation of graduate students. The
organizers are hoping to publish the proceedings of the conference.

Oakland University is located in the northern suburbs of Detroit. The
site of this year's meeting is Oakland University's historic Meadowbrook
Hall, a 100 room mansion once belonging to the wealthiest woman in the
United States, Matilda Dodge Wilson. A national historic landmark, the
house is widely recognized as an architectural masterpiece, and has been
featured on national television as one of "America's Castles." It also
contains a gourmet restaurant which will house the meeting's banquet on
Friday evening..

Presentations should not exceed 20 minutes in length. Already formed
panels are encouraged. If you wish to participate, please send a title and
an abstract of not more than 100 words, before 15 July 2000, to Dr. Seán
Farrell Moran, Department of History, Oakland University, Rochester, MI
48309-4401. The telephone number is (248) 370-3533, and his department fax
number is (248) 370- 3528. He also may be reached via email at
moran[at]oakland.edu.

Sean Farrell Moran
Associate Professor
Department of History
Oakland University
Rochester, Michigan 48309-4401
(w)248-370-3533/3510
(fax)248-370-3528
(H)248-645-9415
e-mail: moran[at]oakland.edu

From Patrick O'Sullivan

Ed,

There was an item in the Guardian newspaper, here in Britain, last year - which I had
flagged as of interest, for the very reasons that you give.

I have dug out this item, and have posted it to the Irish-Diaspora list, as a separate,
lengthy email, 'Disappearance of Madalyn O'Hair'. It will give the background - though it
does not address your specific questions.

I had vaguely assumed that the story would still be running in the USA, and that a Web
search - maybe through Northern Light or Google - would turn up something.

P.O'S.


- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/

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


- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
[mailto:owner-irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk]On Behalf Of
irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
Sent: 03 March 2000 10:01
To: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
Subject: Ir-D American atheist Madalyn O'Hair



From: "Edward O'Donnell"
Subject: ?American_atheist_Madalyn_O'Hair?

Does anyone know anything about the background of the American atheist =
Madalyn O'Hair? I'm trying to determine, among other things, if she =
was Irish (she was born Madalyn Mays) and/or Catholic. The following is =
a short biography of her from www.Biography.com=20

O'Hair, Madalyn Murray (b. Mays) Social activist; born in Pittsburgh, =
Pa. She enjoyed a normal, happy childhood, but was
overwhelmed when she read the Bible cover-to-cover =
at age 13. She gradually became an atheist
and when her son Bill objected to school prayers, =
she took the case to the Supreme Court; in a
landmark decision outlawing prayers in public =
schools, she won, in her words, the "unalienable
right to freedom from religion as well as freedom =
of religion" (1963). She was a cryptographer and
second lieutenant during World War II. She and her =
family (she married twice) were persecuted
by their neighbors while the case was being tried.