Digital Commons Network^™

An Exploratory Study Of Food Traditions Associated With Imbolg (St. Brigid’S Day) From The Irish Schools’ Folklore Collection, Caitriona Niphilibin, Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire

Articles

This study explores the food traditions of Imbolg or St. Brigid’s Day (1st February), one of the quarter days of the Irish calendar year, which heralds the awakening of spring. Imbolg is comparable to Christmas eve, in that celebratory potato dishes such as colcannon or ‘poundies’ and boxty are consumed. Throughout the Schools’ Collection (6,000 copybooks filled with folklore collected by over 50,000 children), a rich food history where customs, superstitions, divinations and a mixing of the pagan and Christian traditions is evident. Four main themes: ‘Dishes’, ‘Brigid’s Crosses’, ‘Biddy Boys and Brídeogs’ and ‘Brigid, miracles and religion’ were identified, …

From Overt Threat To Invisible Presence: Discursive Shifts In Representations Of Gender In Menstrual Product Advertising, Valerie Gannon, Olivia Freeman, Rachel Campbell

Articles

The menstrual product brand ‘Always’ and its #LikeAGirl campaign has made headlines for being at the forefront of a menstrual liberation, championing female empowerment and gender equality. This paper utilises a visual discourse analysis approach (Rose, 2016) to explore the discursive shifts in ‘Always’ advertisements over the past four decades. Specifically, the question as to how the construction of menstruation has changed over time in the advertising discourse of the ‘Always’ brand is addressed. Three dominant discourses of menstruation are identified: overt threat, uncontrollable and invisible. These discourses function as strong claims to truth as they reach the everyday life …

The Impact Of Coronavirus On Religious Tourism: Is This The End Of Pilgrimage?, Maximiliano E. Korstanje

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The present paper, attends to the theme of COVID-19 and its negative effects on the tourism and pilgrimage industries. To be honest, although conclusive findings on this topic are premature in view of the velocity of facts, no less true seems to be that COVID-19 reaffirms a tendency originally stipulated just after 9/11 and declaration of the War On Terror by Bush’s administration. COVID-19 not only has shocked the world cancelling international flights, closing borders and airspaces, making irreparable damages to tourism and hospitality but it has operated on a much deeper level, developing a culture of fear, where ‘other’ …

Required Reading: The Role Of The Literary Scholar In Mapping Difference And Prompting Interest In Distant Destinations, Sue Norton

Articles

Taking account of research into the relationship between the reading of narrative fiction and niche tourism, this article speculates on the role of the university lecturer of literature in shaping the touristic desires of students. It is especially interested in the influence of European based lecturers of American fiction as they stimulate the geographic imaginations of their learners. Since cultural capital accrues through the reading of serious works of literature, the influence of lecturers is likely to have some bearing on the eventual travel destinations of university graduates prompted to seek out the material locations that they have read about …

Composing Irishness: Remembrances Of The Irish Past Through The Prism Of The Present In Music By Donnacha Dennehy (B. 1970) And Jennifer Walshe (B. 1974), Timothy Diovanni

Masters

Although modern remembrances in the fields of literature, theatre, poetry, and the visual arts have received considerable scholarly attention in Ireland since the publication of History and Memory in Modern Ireland in 2001, similar activities in an Irish art music context remain unexplored. This thesis addresses this lacuna in examining how the contemporary Irish composers Donnacha Dennehy (b. 1970) and Jennifer Walshe (b. 1974) have remembered, reimagined, and reinvented the past to communicate their positions on Irish history and modern Irish society, as well as to respond to recent historical and curatorial practices. Through a series of five works written …

Audience Influence On The Composition, Revision And Interpolation Of Traditional Irish Ballad Narrative, Seán Ó Cadhla

Doctoral

The following thesis critically examines the essential thematic malleability of traditional Irish song narrative, with particular focus on the penetrative influence of the audience on both composer and performer alike. Such narrative fluidity is specifically examined within the context of works narrating attested historical events, output which could be reasonably assumed to adhere to factual and chronological consistency. The research concludes that the audience continuously exerts a powerful cultural influence on the performance space, and further demonstrates the considerable extremes that both composers and singers will routinely embrace in order to satisfy the constantly shifting demands of their audiences, even …

Music Magazines And Gendered Space: The Representation Of Artists On The Covers Of Hot Press And Rolling Stone, Yvonne Kiely

Irish Communication Review

Over the past two decades the commercial music magazine industry has lapsed into a deepening cycle of continuous decline. The demise of the widely popular UK pop music magazine, Smash Hits, in 2006 and the announcement of the final print issue of NME in 2018 has been accompanied by music magazines worldwide reporting year-on-year declines in sales and readership. Meanwhile research has found that portrayals of gender on music magazine covers are largely unrepresentative and unreflective of social heterogeneity – yet the gendered media histories of the industry’s enduring and iconic music magazines remain largely under researched. In order …

Along The Tevere: A Gastro-Historic Portrait Of The Region, Anke Klitzing

Articles

In June 2009, a group of masters students from the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy spent nine days visiting the lands of the Tevere river, travelling from its springs on Monte Fumaiolo in Emilia-Romagna to Rome by way of Umbria and the Lake Trasimeno. This article is a gastro-historic portrait of the lands of the Tevere, linking contemporary social, cultural and economic activities around food and tourism to the rich and long history of the region and highlighting persistent patterns, continuity and change.

‘‘Please Can We Talk About Politics Or Something Controversial, Instead Of My Stomach?’: A Communication Study Of Food Discourse And Identity Construction., Rhonda J. Stewart

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

The study of food, an integral component of culture, provides insights into our beliefs, customs, and daily life. When our lives revolve around the importance of food, how do we make sense of an interruption in that system? People with food allergies discover ways to make sense of their food allergies and learn how to communicate their stigmatized allergies to others. The reactions of non-allergic people to those with dietary restrictions have implications for allergy sufferers as well. Interviews revealed the taint perceived by food allergy sufferers and the sensemaking process they implemented to confront the taint through three distinct …

Festive Gastronomy Against Rural Disruption: Food Festivals As A Gastronomic Strategy Against Social-Cultural Marginalization In Northern Italy, Michele F. Fontefrancesco

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

No abstract provided.

Speculative Futures For Mindful Meat Consumption And Production, Alexandra Kenefick

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

The stuff of food constantly shifts register between matter and meaning; animal and meat; calories and flavours, stretching and folding the time/spaces of here and now, ‘us’ and ‘them’, producing and consuming in complex and contested ways (Probyn, 1999 in Stassart and Whatmore, 2003, p.450). Meat consumption has entangled our human histories and lived experiences with those of other animals and humans unlike any other food. This co-evolution of experiences finds itself in deeply embedded sociocultural materials such as feasting and fasting rituals, religious dogma, gendered role divisions, ethics discourse, animal domestication, slaughter procedures, and government policies the world over …

How Shall We Eat Tomorrow?: The Practices Of Aspirational Food Projects, Caitlin Morgan

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

No abstract provided.

Ripples From The Columbian Exchange?, Igor Cusack

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

There is little doubt that the Columbian exchange was one of the greatest disruptions of food production and consumption across the world. The exchange resulted, amongst many other things, in the extensive growing of sugar-cane in the Americas. This encouraged the slave trade, with millions of Africans transported across the Atlantic, while the consumption of the resulting sugar led to the deaths of millions of people. Vast numbers of native Americans died as a result of diseases introduced by the domestic animalowning Europeans. Wheat from the Old World colonised the North American prairies displacing most of the roaming herds of …

For The Housewife? From ‘The Singing Cook’ To ‘Common-Sense Cookery’: The First (Distrupted) Twenty Years Of Television Cooking Programmes In Britain (1936-1955), Kevin Geddes

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

Television cooking programmes are ubiquitous on the established institutions’ television channels, dedicated food channels and online. They have become a popular focus for research in recent years, this research often exploring their impact on audiences, societies and cultures. Much of this research examines programmes produced and broadcast during and following the 1990s. These programmes are often readily available to view as they have been stored and archived by the broadcasting institutions themselves, or recorded at home by audiences and subsequently shared on platforms such as YouTube.

Foodism In Ireland 2019: Feeding Foodie Philosophy Or Showing A Shift In Contemporary Food Culture?, Sinéad Reil

Dissertations

“Everybody eats and drinks; yet only few appreciate the taste of food”

Confucius (551- 479BC).

This research study examines contemporary food culture in Ireland through the phenomenon of foodism and the habits and traits expressed through the subculture of foodies. Elements and actors of the Irish foodscape are also considered. Other topics it discusses are Irish food history, Ireland’s gastronomical global position and the modern Irish chef.

The thesis defined foodism as: “A keen or exaggerated interest in food, especially in the minute details of preparation, presentation, and consumption of food” (‘Foodism’, 2018a). In order to answer the five sub-research …

Anglican Experiences Of Mary: An English Perspective, Ruth Dowson (Rev.)

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

This paper will explore the different traditions within the Church of England and their relationship with and attitudes towards the Blessed Virgin Mary. An autoethnographic element will narrate the author’s personal journey from charismatic evangelical sceptic, through ordination formation at an Anglo-Catholic monastery in West Yorkshire, to recent lived experiences at a small Italian village church festival.

The range of influences that shape the Church of England’s different traditions are perhaps unique compared to other denominations across the wider Christian faith, as the Anglican Church provides a home where happy-clappy, arm-waving charismatics and conservative bible-carrying evangelicals live alongside incense-brandishing Anglo-Catholics …

Book Review: Shahriar, A. And Bruen, T. (2019). Struggles For Empowerment, Higher Education Stories From East And West. London: Ucl Institute Of Education Press.

Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies

No abstract provided.

Expectations Of Artificial Intelligence And The Performativity Of Ethics: Implications For Communication Governance, Aphra Kerr, Marguerite Barry, John D. Kelleher

Articles

This article draws on the sociology of expectations to examine the construction of expectations of ‘ethical AI’ and considers the implications of these expectations for communication governance. We first analyse a range of public documents to identify the key actors, mechanisms and issues which structure societal expectations around artificial intelligence (AI) and an emerging discourse on ethics. We then explore expectations of AI and ethics through a survey of members of the public. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings for the role of AI in communication gover- nance. We find that, despite societal expectations that we can design …

No Longer A ‘Collateral Consequence’: Imprisonment And The Reframing Of Citizenship, Cormac Behan

Articles

This article examines the impact of imprisonment on citizenship. It identifies how civil, political and social rights are circumscribed with a sentence of imprisonment, and scrutinizes to what extent citizenship is limited for prisoners. Drawing on recent developments in England and Wales, it contends that citizenship has been eroded, not as a ‘collateral consequence’ of imprisonment, but rather as a determined penal policy. The boundaries of punishment have become blurred, moving from criminal justice institutions, and extending towards what is termed civil and political penality. Finally, it argues that, because citizenship in prison is inevitably framed around the differences between …

Childminders’ Close Relationship Model Of Praxis: An Ecocultural Study In Ireland, Miriam O'Regan, Ann Marie Halpenny, Nóirín Hayes

Articles

The present study seeks to address the dearth of research focussed on childminding (family day care or family childcare) in Ireland, despite its significant role in national childcare provision. One overarching aim was to explore childminders’ cultural models of praxis and pedagogy in the Irish context. The research was conducted within the theoretical framework of Ecocultural Theory (ECT) (Weisner, 2002. “Ecocultural Understanding of Children’s Developmental Pathways.” Human Development 1759: 275–281), referencing concepts in Attachment Theory, in the context of historical and current policy in Ireland, Europe and the US over the last 30 years. A mixed method approach was adopted …

“The Very Essence Of French Cinema”(?): Jacques Feyder’S Return To France, 1944–1948, Barry Nevin

Articles

No abstract provided.

(Re)Visions Of The Outre-Mer: Looking At The Male Gaze In Jacques Feyder’S Le Grand Jeu (1934), Barry Nevin

Articles

Cinéma colonial is regarded by certain scholars as a highly conventionalised and commercialised film practice that grants spectators a sense of control over the potentially threatening colonial Other, and Belgian director Jacques Feyder has been subject to particularly harsh criticism in this regard. This article argues that Feyder’s Le Grand Jeu (1934), which depicts a young legionnaire’s relationship with a cabaret singer who bears an uncanny resemblance to a previous lover who jilted him in Paris, challenges dominant tendencies in portrayals of gender and colonialism in French cinema of the 1930s. Drawing on the relationship between Laura Mulvey’s theorisation of …

Democratizing Policy Debates: Experts, Media & Public Involvement In The Discourses Of Economy, Brendan K. O'Rourke, John Hogan, Joseph K. Fitzgerald

Other

No abstract provided.

Latin American Cinema, Mirna Vohnsen

Articles

Although studies of Argentine, Mexican and Cuban cinema continue to dominate the Latin American film scholarship, in the past two years, there has been increasing interest in examining the minor cinemas of the region. The expanding local film industries, the new technical trends and the increase in cinematic productions across all Latin America have captured the attention of academics and critics who have devoted their research to explore the lesser-known films of, for example, Uruguay, Colombia and Central America

Assessing The Food Safety Culture Of A Dairy Processing Facility In Ireland, Emer Marie Hughes

Theses

ood safety culture has become a prominent topic, with food safety management systems (FSMS), food safety regulations, training and auditing being challenged due to the reoccurrence of foodborne outbreaks. Due to its link with food safety performance, food organisations must have the ability to accurately measure their food safety culture to ensure it is an integral part of the company’s culture. The food safety culture of a dairy processing facility in Ireland was measured quantitatively using a questionnaire which was an adaptation of a food safety climate self-assessment tool. The questionnaire assessed the human dimension of food safety culture such …

Professional Childminding In Ireland: Ecocultural Perspectives, Miriam O’Regan

Doctoral

The present study seeks to address the dearth of research focussed on childminding in Ireland, despite its significant role in national childcare provision. The overarching aims of this research are to interrogate the concept of professionalism and to explore the cultural models and praxis of childminders. The research has been conducted in an ecological theoretical framework: Ecocultural Theory (ECT) (Weisner 1993, 2002) predominantly, also referencing Bronfenbrenner’s Bio-Ecological Model (2006) and Attachment Theory. The history of childminding and current policy in Ireland, Europe and the USA are reviewed, including an overview of international research into childminding in the last 30 years. …

Direct Plasma Deposition Of Collagen On 96-Well Polystyrene Plates For Cell Culture, Denis O'Suillivan, Liam O'Neill, Paula Bourke

Articles

A cold atmospheric plasma unit was used to deposit a biologic, in this case collagen, onto a surface. A collagen coating was applied to 96-well polystyrene plates at a range of powers to determine the effects of the plasma power on the coating structure and viability. Plasma characterization was carried out using voltage, current, and power measurements. Coating characterization was completed using gravimetric measurement, cell growth, water contact angle, as well as spectroscopic analysis and compared to commercial collagen-coated plates. Cell culture studies were also undertaken. The plasma coating matched the performance of the commercial plate but dramatically reduced production …

Using Blended Learning To Enhance The Experience Of Students In Built Environment Related Degree Programs, Philip Russell, Ruairi Hayden

Support services (Former ITT) - Articles

Blended learning was introduced into the Construction Management programme in the School of Surveying and Construction Management at the Technological University Dublin in 2016. The module has traditionally been delivered by face-to-face teaching but online delivery has been facilitated using the Virtual Learning Environment (Blackboard) which has enabled a more blended approach to academic instruction. This innovative change to module provision has also provided an opportunity to enhance the student learning experience within the School through a more flexible teaching and learning environment. In this paper, the design, development and implementation of blended learning into a Construction Technology module is …

My Palate Hung With Starlight: A Gastrocritical Reading Of Seamus Heaney’S Poetry, Anke Klitzing

Articles

Nobel-prize winning poet Seamus Heaney is celebrated for his rich verses recalling his home in the Northern Irish countryside of County Derry. Yet while the imaginative links to nature in his poetry have already been critically explored, little attention has been paid so far to his rendering of local food and foodways. From ploughing, digging potatoes and butter-churning to picking blackberries, Heaney sketches not only the everyday activities of mid-20th century rural Ireland, but also the social dynamics of community and identity and the socio-cultural symbiosis embedded in those practices. Larger questions of love, life and death also infiltrate the …

Have You Asked For It?: An Exploratory Study About Maltese Adolescents’ Use Of Ask. Fm, Lorleen Farrugia, Mary Ann Lauri, Joseph Borg, Brian O'Neill

Articles

This article focuses on adolescents’ use of anonymous social networking sites (SNSs). Their perceptions and attitudes toward one such platform, Ask.fm, are discussed using the framework of uses and gratifications theory to explore motivations for using it. Four focus groups and four interviews were carried out with 22 Maltese adolescents (10 female and 12 male) aged 11 to 16 years. Thematic analysis of data collected was undertaken to identify and develop themes relevant to Ask.fm use. Findings indicate that the platform is a space where adolescents interact with others as part of their identity exploration. The role of anonymity was …