Celtic Studies Commons^™

"Celts In The Valley", William Lindsey Mcdonald

Research Articles

The Tennessee Valley of North Alabama retains linguistic and cultural influences from the languages of its inhabitants. Scot Irish inhabitants of Celtic origin produced a dialect that McDonald claims as a "Celtic character" through tracing common regional expressions back to their roots in the original Gaelic.

“The Contributing Cultures Of Ancient Peoples At The Muscle Shoals”, William Lindsey Mcdonald

Writings

An article that addresses the ancient history of Muscle Shoals, Alabama with particular attention to the early cultures of influence, including indigenous tribes, such as the Cherokee and Chickasaws, and eventual European settlers of Anglo-Saxon and Celtic descent.

Personal Design, Political Design, Dark Design, Catherine Harper

Arts and Design

The western-feminist slogan ‘the personal is political’ (Hanisch, 1970) emerged in the late 1960s, connecting women’s varied experiences of, for example, reproductive autonomy, pay inequality, childcare/household labour, and domestic violence, with social and political issues. These include social justice, civil rights, abortion access, gay and women’s liberation, the dismantling of systemic racism and structural oppression.

As an Irish, feminist, auto-ethnographic artist-designer-writer-academic, my lived experience of three decades of political violence and social repression in Northern Ireland (1967-98) and the different but no less complex cultures of the UK (1996-2022) and Egypt (1922-), is informed by deliberatively, intentionally designed activism for …

The Stained & Bloody Cloths Of Ireland: A Material Culture View Of Irish Shame, Oppression, Morality And Repression., Catherine Harper Ph.D

Arts and Design

The Stained and Bloody Cloths of Ireland presents a textiles and material culture view of Irish shame, oppression, morality and repression.

Ireland – north and south – has sustained significant change in the last 100 years, since partial independence from Britain, accelerating at the end of the twentieth century with legalisation of contraception, divorce, gay marriage, the end – or at least reduction – of the ‘Troubles’ in the North, and freedom to choose abortion and reproductive autonomy.

In parallel to this, many instances of societal and ecclesiastical abuse, sexual repression, superstition and cruelty, have come to light through a …

‘An Intriguing But Ambiguous Privilege’: Adventures In Franco-Irish Relations Through The Prism Of The Diplomatic Meal, Elaine Mahon

Books/Book Chapters

This essay discusses the welcome banquet held in February 1945 in honour of the newly appointed French diplomatic envoy to Ireland, Jean Rivière, hosted by Éamon de Valera at Iveagh House, the headquarters of the Irish Department of External Affairs. The banquet took place at a moment when ‘an intriguing but ambiguous privilege’ had been granted by Charles de Gaulle’s Provisional Government to Ireland as the only country permitted to retain its diplomatic representative to France in the post-liberation period. Following the fall of the Vichy regime and the liberation of France in August 1944, de Gaulle’s government de- manded …

Championing Food Studies Within The Field Of Irish Studies: A Serendipitous Autoethnographic Journey, Mairtin Macconiomaire

Doctoral

Food permeates every aspect of life and society, from birth to death—from the new-born’s first suckle to the food traditions associated with Irish wakes and funerals. Essential for survival, it has historically proven academically elusive, hidden in plain sight. Entangled with the domestic and the feminine, it was traditionally regarded as too mundane and too quotidian for consideration. Depending on how you define it, Irish Studies has somewhere between 50 and 100 years of history as an academic discipline. Food Studies is a more recent academic phenomenon, which has been steadily growing internationally since last decade of the twentieth century. …

The Hidden History Of The Norseman And Celts, Amber Nicole Johnson

Whittier Scholars Program

When people hear the word Celts or Vikings there seems to be a common stigma or romanticization of them. This seems to stem from the early iron age and has shifted over to the 21st century with the production of movies and franchises. They are often depicted as being savage, barbaric, or warrior based (a term used to describe them) when there is a whole other side to these people. In the Spring of 2023, I took an independent study course that allowed me to examine the available archaeological and other evidence to understand the identities of the Germanic and …

Irish Studies News And Events 2023, Irish Studies

News, Magazines and Reports

Irish Studies at SHU has been growing! In our first newsletter, we are thrilled to share news about our students, faculty, events, courses, the Irish Studies minor, and research and scholarship projects happening in both in Fairfield and Dingle.

Library space houses the newly-donated Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society archives, called The Shanachie Room/Seomra an tSeanchaí, where our Irish language and Irish drama courses are meeting this semester.

A Material Culture View Of Irish Shame, Oppression, Morality And Repression., Catherine Harper Ph.D

Arts and Design

Ireland – North and South – has sustained significant change in the last 100 years, accelerating at the end of the twentieth century with legalisation of contraception, divorce, gay marriage, the end – or at least reduction – of the ‘Troubles’ in the North, and freedom to choose abortion and reproductive autonomy.

In parallel to this, many instances of societal and ecclesiastical abuse, sexual repression, superstition and cruelty, have come to light through a series of scandals including the use of unmarried mothers as unpaid labour in laundries throughout Ireland until the mid-1990s, the deaths of women in hidden childbirth …

The Multi-Period Cairn At Cnoc Raithní, Inis Oírr, Aran Islands, Co Galway, Keith Murphy

Articles

Across the Irish landscape we are fortunate to have plenty of well-preserved archaeological monuments. One such monument, embedded within the landscape, stands proudly on the island of Inis Oirr in Aran. This Bronze Age cairn, Cnoc Raithní, (Hill of the Ferns), has been identified as a multi-purpose burial mound used by both people from the Bronze Age and the early Christian period. Although the burial has never been excavated, it had an inspection after a storm in 1885 and further investigations have being conducted by the author and a Bronze Age pottery expert.. The Cnoc Raithní, Tumulus is one of …

Japanese-English Translation: Katayama Hiroko—Jesus And Simon Peter (June 1953), Christopher Southward

Comparative Literature Faculty and Student Scholarship

Translation of 「イエスとペトロ」、片山廣子著、昭和２８年６月

Source: Aozora Bunko (a digital archive of public-domain Japanese-language works)

General website: https://www.aozora.gr.jp

Current text: https://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/001346/files/50159_41222.html

Brigid Of Kildare: The Saint Who Got A Facelift, Aimee Hunt

Student Research

On the outskirts of Papal authority, early medieval Ireland created its own Christian identity separate from other European nations closer to Rome. Saint Brigid of Kildare, one of the patron saints of Ireland, played important yet problematic roles in that identity. After her death, the church began to alter her history. Being a female bishop, performing the first recorded abortion, and having both men and women within her monastery, Brigid had trodden on the male-dominated system in a way that few women had. Deemed unacceptable but having already been sainted, the Catholic church gave Brigid a holy facelift.

The Dichotomy Of Nature And Culture In Riders To The Sea, Kayla J. Baur

Publications and Research

Jonathan Millington Synge spent his time on the Aran Islands wandering through the peasantry in the countryside, using his experiences and things he witnessed to inspire his writings. He wrote the play Riders to the Sea to portray the lives of the Aran peasants by showing the way in which they coped with the natural forces surrounding their island through believing in certain cultures. Synge constructs a dichotomy between the belief in the forces of nature and culture stemming from modern Christianity not only to portray the mixture of cultures present among the Aran peasants but also to challenge the …

The Shanachie, Volume 33, Number 3, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

In this issue: Theater presents musical on career of ace softball pitcher Joan Joyce -- The railroad era and an Irish family -- Lyons family immigrated to Connecticut by way of Quebec -- Plumber with Leitrim roots linked to New Haven Fenians -- Collection of Irish railroad wife's writings preserved at UConn.

The Shanachie, Volume 33, Number 2, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

In this issue: Pandemic squelches parades, but spirit of St. Patrick lives on --Hartford: First church bought in 1829, St. Patrick's built in 1849 -- Enfield: Irish priests, nuns and laypersons -- Litchfield County: St. Patrick's, St. Bridget's, St. Columcille's -- New London County: St. Patrick's Cathedral -- Mystic: High Street became Irish Hill -- Fairfield County: St. Augustine and St. Patrick team up; The little church on the Redding Ridge since 1880 -- Hartford County: Collinsville began with a snowstorm -- Middlesex County: St. Patrick and St. Bridget of Kildare -- Farmington: St. Patrick's parish prepares for a second …

The Shanachie, Volume 33, Number 1, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

In this issue: Irish wolfhounds among New England’s earliest settlers -- Please join us for yet another year of Irish history and culture (SHU Digital Commons) -- An Irish actor, his playwright son and a Connecticut landmark -- Civil rights champion for Cape Cod Indians.

The Shanachie, Volume 32, Number 2, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

In this issue: The 1918 Influeza Pandemic; Think what it must have been like in 1918; War-weary world beset by even more deadly illness; Military camps were breeding places of influenza; Connecticut toll; Plague entered state through seaport of New London; Hopelessly in the grip; School becomes hospital; Shortage of coal, cars, phone operators. Editor's note: This issue of The Shanachie is devoted entirely to recollections of Connecticut in 1918-1919 when Americans dealt with two huge tragedies: World War I and the misnamed “Spanish” Flu Epidemic. They were able to deal with that by declaring and meaning, “we are all …

The Shanachie, Volume 32, Number 1, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

In this issue: Tolland County - Many Irish footprints then & now; Irish roots deep and plentiful in Tolland County; Scots-Irish were founders of the town of Union; Irish studies programs blossom on UConn campuses; Dodd Research Center focuses on human rights; Rockville is home of extraordinary Civil War museum; From Ireland to Connecticut to Pennsylvania by 1900.

The Shanachie, Volume 32, Number 4, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

In this issue: A tale of two Thanksgivings; Irish Christmas; Tales of Thanksgivings in Plymouth and in Bridgeport; Christmas on a farm in Ireland in the 1940s; Family of 13 immigrated at holiday time; Irish recipes from a Belfast grandmother; Irish Santa Claus spread cheer for 40 years; Memories of a Christmas spent in occupied Germany.

The Shanachie, Volume 32, Number 3, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

In this issue: Two memorable anniversaries for 2020; Thoughts about The Shanachie & the Ethnic Heritage Center; Black man was industrial leader in New Haven; Women's Hall of Fame will honor suffragist Catherine Flanagan; Chaplain from Waterbury gave his life to save Navy comrades; U.S. sailors among first victims of 1918 pandemic in Ireland; Kathleen Lynn - Rebel & physician Kathleen Lynn.

The Shanachie, Volume 31, Number 3, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

New website set up during 2019 by the Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society https://www.ctirishheritage.org/. The immediate pupose of the website is to provide online an easily accessible album of more than 100 sites of Irish footsteps across Connecticut --Irish firsts in state history --Scots-Irish colony in Windham County blossomed in the 1720s --First woman patentee was of Ulster descent --Irish-born governor John N. Dempsey flourished in the 1960s.

The Shanachie, Volume 31, Number 2, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

Connecticut and the Irish Great Hunger of 1845-1850 --Puritan humanitarian & priest aided Connecticut relief effort --Tidal wave of emigrants fled to Land of Steady Habits --Irish provided manpower for state’s industrial revolution --Irish women in demand as domestic servants --Refugees brought Catholic faith with them --Families shattered in headlong flight from starvation.

The Shanachie, Volume 31, Number 1, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

The future of the Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University in Hamden --In the 1650s a group of English Puritan colonists were invited to leave New Haven and to take over - lock, stock and barrel the city of Galway on the west coast of Ireland.

Nidus Idearum. Scilogs, Iv: Vinculum Vinculorum, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

Welcome into my scientific lab! My lab[oratory] is a virtual facility with non-controlled conditions in which I mostly perform scientific meditation and chats: a nest of ideas (nidus idearum, in Latin). I called the jottings herein scilogs (truncations of the words scientific, and gr. Λόγος – appealing rather to its original meanings "ground", "opinion", "expectation"), combining the welly of both science and informal (via internet) talks (in English, French, and Romanian). * In this fourth book of scilogs collected from my nest of ideas, one may find new and old questions and solutions, referring mostly to topics on NEUTROSOPHY – …

The Shanachie, Volume 30, Number 4, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

This 16-page issue of our newsletter commemorates the 100th anniversary of the armistice which ended World War I just 100 years ago.

Contents: Connecticut's Irish in World War I --Hartford Red Cross nurse served amid bombardments --Sgt. Stubby and Cpl. Conroy went off to war --With roots in Canada, Lafferty got into the fight early --Picketing White House in wartime: patriotic or treason? --Ansonia native among nation’s first female sailors --Medals and monument honor Fair Haven Irish lads --Daring young men in their flying machines --Knights of Columbus offered soup and solace for friend and foe alike --Sailor from Roscommon …

The Shanachie, Volume 30, Number 1, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

Irish Yale prof James W. Toumey led 10-year fight that saved Sleeping Giant --When Katie O’Neill Regan of Hamden got involved in planning a family reunion, the end result was the renting of six houses in County Kerry, and a weeklong shindig of more than 40 kinfolk from the United States, Ireland and England --Connecticut Irishtown: Hamden --Four hundred men from Hamden served in the United States military during World War I. At least 75 of them were of Irish ancestry or natives of Ireland.

The Shanachie, Volume 30, Number 3, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

Coventry sculptor David Hayes created rich legacy of artwork --Michael Carver's sacrifice in the Civil War provided a pension for his widowed mother in Norwich --Clare man Thomas Donnellan "Tom the ferryman" was a legend on the Connecticut River.

The Shanachie, Volume 30, Number 2, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

Meriden: A Connecticut Irishtown: In 1836, Paddies laid rail tracks to future industrial city --Irish population multiplied as Meriden factories prospered --Meriden’s support for Ireland’s freedom --Republican & Democrat made great team in U.S. Senate, Francis T. Maloney and John A. Danaher --Mother’s love of books inspired (Tomie) dePaola --Irish customs live on --Professor Kelly taught dancing --Anna Murphy Gibson became cemetery caretaker --Meriden was an all-star Irish baseball community --Joan Joyce led Meriden Falcons to four world titles.

The Irishtheatre As Imaginative Space: A Vehicle And Venue For The Reconstruction Of The Irish Identity, Rania M Rafik Khalil

English Language and Literature

Current cultural and political changes have prompted the theatre to play a significant role in staging the transformations of the Irish identity. Over time, it has provided an impetus for expressions of the collective new self-image of the Irish. Re-inventing the self requires a manifestation of space and the production of space whether geographical, metaphorical or a physical stage representation. ‘Space’has been utilisedin Irish drama in terms ofgeographical location, cartography, socialmedia, technology, immigration, and the theatre stage. Globalisation has also played a crucial role in terms of creating overlapping spacesand multiple belongings.This study will examinethrough Henri Lefebvre’s theory of space, …

Legends, Myths, And Facts Of Kylemore Abbey, Jennifer J. Fink

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

Nestled in the side of a mountain in the west of Ireland is the iconic Kylemore Abbey Castle. This paper explores the history of this structure by examining the legends, myths, and facts behind it and the surrounding land. The myths and legends are linked to Ireland’s old Celtic beliefs and explain much of the interesting landscape surrounding the massive structure. Majority of the paper focuses on the factual history of Kylemore which starts from the first construction of the castle all the way to how it is being used today. The Victorian castle has had many owners throughout the …