This thesis examines the paradigms of masculinities during and after Northern Ireland’s conflict to understand how societal transition from intrastate conflict impacts males’ identities and mental health. Focusing on fieldwork conducted predominately in Derry/Londonderry and applying masculinity theories, this thesis explores the experiences of males aged 29 to 40 who grew up during the 1990s’ peace process. Social and mental health professionals and community and youth workers have expressed concern for the mental health and well-being of this population of men, as well as young men born after the peace process. With this concern in mind, this thesis argues that the continuous presence of contested images of masculinity that existed prior to the conflict and that emerged during the conflict, along with the cultural practice of silence, has resulted in an ambiguous understanding of masculinity in the post-conflict era, and has had a negative impact on males’ mental health.

Irish local authorities and their insurer have experienced increasing liability losses during the past ten years. To combat this situation their insurer requested the local authorities to implement a risk management programme. Risk management is aimed at reducing the cost of risk by identifying, evaluating and handling risk by both physical and financial means. As a management function risk management should form part of the formulation of the strategy of the organisation, strategy being a means of setting direction in the long term. Once formulated a strategy must be implemented. This dissertation reviews the methods used by the insurer and the local authorities to implement a risk management programme and establishes the barriers that were faced during the course of implementation and the attempts made to overcome them. It considers the integration of risk management into strategy and recommends a tentative means of overcoming the problems of implementation. / Economics / M. Com. (Business Economics)

This study investigates the theology of wealth, with reference to the parables of Jesus, in dialogue with recent Irish economic history. Poverty is commonly seen as a societal problem, but in the teaching of Jesus, especially in his parables, the status of the wealthy is called into question. This thesis explores what it means to be followers of Jesus in societies where historically high levels of wealth and comfort are widespread. It begins by considering that societal context, naming neoliberalism as the complex of economic, political, and cultural factors that combine to generate wealth. The parables of Jesus are introduced as a collection of narratives which puncture the philosophical assumptions at work in neoliberalism. Reading them after the twentieth century Swiss theologian Karl Barth, the parables are found to be apocalyptic interruptions which reorientate the reader towards the reign of God. With these two strands – neoliberalism and the parables – in play, the thesis reconsiders Ireland's recent economic history. It is argued that the ethical significance of the “Celtic Tiger” boom and the subsequent 2008 crash is best accessed not via the language of economics but through narratives. The re-telling of the events of the crash and its aftermath through parables exposes how markets are embedded in thick cultural, historical, and political settings and how simple and settled statistical accounts can miss much of ethical significance. The decisive chapter takes up the constructive task. Building on this re-described account of a wealthy society, it proposes that the appropriate response for Christians to the problem of wealth is to turn to worship as a reparative therapy that forms congregations in practices and ways-of-seeing that run counter to the normative perceptions of neoliberalism. This is achieved by means of a robust engagement with the work of the contemporary moral theologian, William Cavanaugh. A final chapter underlines the original contribution of the project, sketches some future areas of research, and proposes that lament is the initial stance that results from this study.

In 1847, 215,000 Irish fled their famine-stricken and diseased homeland, and of this number, some 90,000 headed for the shores of Canada. It was both the largest and most diseased and destitute emigration that Canada had ever received, and it caught the colony almost totally by surprise. Many Canadians had been able to follow the course of the potato blight and famine in Ireland, but very few appeared to have considered their impact on the emigration to Canada. They had the assurances of those best informed about the condition of Ireland, the Imperial Government, that, no extraordinary measures would be needed; why should their word be doubted? In the first weeks of the Immigration season, Canadians discovered that the Imperial authorities were wrong; the colony found itself forced to deal with an abnormal immigration with only the meagrest preparations, Canadian emigration officials spent the rest of the season attempting to recover from the shock of those first weeks; all they could do was attempt to. relieve the sufferings of the immigrants to the best of their ability. Stop-gap relief measures were authorized by the Canadian Government for as long as distress and disease were prevalent; private charitable institutions stepped in to provide shelter and care for the helpless among the immigrants. In the end, the colony succeeded, despite its financial difficulties, both in enabling the Irish to regain their health and in making them producing members of the community, something which few Canadians, at the height of the crisis, felt would be possible. This successful 'absorption' of the immigrants, however, had been accomplished only with difficulty and at great cost. This thesis examines the Canadian response, and particularly that of the various levels of government, to the immigration crisis which it faced in 1847 and the strains which this crisis placed upon the relations of the Imperial and Colonial governments. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

This thesis is an examination of how the Second World War has been commemorated in Northern Ireland. It seeks to explore how popular and official understandings of the war were constructed around two key moments. Primarily, it looks at the Victory celebrations to mark the end of the war in the West in May 1945. Secondly, it examines the importance of the publication of the official war history Northern Ireland in the Second World War in November 1956. By looking closely at how the Northern Irish government planned for the victory celebrations and how this ritual unfolded, we can reveal much about Northern Irish society at the end of the war. This thesis shows that the state-led, official commemoration served only to alienate the Catholic community. Exploring how the Northern Irish press recorded this event highlights the underlying tensions existing between both communities at the time. This thesis argues that the Northern Irish government used the victory celebrations to project a positive image of itself to the British government. Equally, in 1940 the Northern Irish government rather pre-emptively commissioned the writing of its own official war history, separate from the United Kingdom Official War History Series. This decision, taken by the Northern Irish government, was intended to ensure that Northern Ireland’s role in the war would never be forgotten. After 1945, the unionist government, preoccupied with securing its constitutional positioning within the United Kingdom, intended to make this official history a permanent memorial to Northern Ireland’s contribution to the war. Written, therefore, to exaggerate Northern Ireland’s part in the war, this official war history can be seen as a reflection of unionist insecurity. It is through these commemorative processes that ideas of national identity and belonging are explored.

Located in the Harbour of Cork, this work encourages the Harbour to turn back upon itself and re-establish the collective memory of transport by water. It was inspired by the Harbour Authority’s decision to introduce a passenger ferry network, servicing the City and the towns along the harbour. The meeting of the people and their harbour is to be finely nuanced through new installations, which facilitate the landing of these new vessels. Without these comprehensible points, which together create boundaries and act as threshold, the harbour is immense and continually shifting. These interventions intend to create a middle space between the landscape edge and the vast harbour: a type of ‘airlock’ which prepares the pedestrian for passage, using tools of sequencing and reframing to direct views. The project is investigated through mapping with an architecture that addresses the shifting scale along the harbour and a conversation begins between the macro and microcosm.

The focus of this thesis project is to explore the notion of a predominantly subtractive process in relation to the adaption/reuse of an existing building.  The building in question is the Central Bank of Ireland’s office headquarters in the heart of Dublin city and the reuse program is that of a new City Library. While working through this project I have become interested in a theory and practise of architecture that concentrates less on the making of a building that is formally finished and proper but on a process that reveals the act of making or “unmaking” in the case of this project.   Although always architecturally controversial in the city due to its scale and expression, the Central Bank headquarters has in recent times become emblematic of the struggle between democratic and corporate interests, becoming one of the most potent symbols of Ireland’s economic collapse. With the Banks recent decision to leave the premises a quite charged question of how to reuse the site has arisen. Current  discussion in the city is centred around either demolition or public reuse but in contrast to this polarised attitude I have attempted  to develop an alternate strategy, which I have called “Un-building”. The particular approach is adopted as a poetic response to the social and political problems this building represents but also to the particular nature of its construction.

Diploma thesis Phenomena of Parading in Northern Ireland Conflict applies a concept of reconciliation to the case of parades and parading in Northern Ireland. It uses the theoretical framework of conflict resolution, post-conflict reconstruction and a concept of reconciliation as a main theoretical anchor. The aim is to illustrate on the case of unionist/loyal parades whether the process of reconciliation is taking place. Method used is process tracing. The transformation of behavior is analyzed on four different factors of parading: the overall number of parades, parades statistics and changes the Orange Order implemented; parade routes and their development - a specific case of Orange Drumcree parade is examined; the use of symbols in Northern Ireland context and during parades; societal significance of parades. The thesis reaches the conclusion that based on the example of parades; process of reconciliation is most likely not taking place in Northern Ireland. Some of the data are inconclusive, therefore a firm statement cannot be made, however the existing data shows prevailing tendency towards absence of reconciliation.

This thesis examines traditional Irish dance as a locus of cultural memory, inscribed on the body. The native people of Ireland experienced invasion and oppression for nearly a millennium, beginning with Viking invasions at the end of the 8th century and ending in the 1940s, when the British finally departed Ireland, now an independent country. During the years of English rule, the British imposed harsh laws and sought to eradicate all vestiges of Irish culture in an attempt to diminish Irish identity. Through the ages, the definition of what it means to be Irish has changed widely, frequently resulting in revolt against invaders and internal armed conflicts. Physical alterations of the Irish body also occurred, though in a more representational context than a literal one. Traditional Irish dance grappled with how to present the Irish body, endeavoring to use it in way that overcame the cultural traumas of invasion and suppression. When Ireland began reclaiming its identity in the twentieth century, it soon became clear that dance had been profoundly affected by the traumatic oppression. Interestingly, the emerging dance form that became codified as distinctively Irish dance both reflects the history of suppression and seems to repeat the oppression, as if the living body were caught up in traumatic repetition. Traumatic experiences have shaped the collective and individual Irish bodies, and dance performance highlights a culture that is continually repeating its oppressive past in an attempt to find a cure from that traumatic heritage. By examining the solo dance tradition, Irish dance becomes a fertile field for studying the qualities of an embodied dance form that, in this case, performs a cultural history marked by oppression and traumatic repetition. As developed under the Gaelic League and the Irish Dancing Commission, traditional Irish dance reflected a rather proscribed art form, meant to specifically embody certain qualities of "Irishness." Looking back to pre-invasion Ireland, they intended to display the distinct, pure Irish identity of the past; instead, they continued the pattern of control and suppression. However, Ireland and Irish dance have grown beyond those early structures of traumatic repetition. In 1994, Riverdance grabbed worldwide attention as it presented Irish dance in a new context, with movements that broke from proscribed forms and expressed a non-traumatic Irish identity. Riverdance and the ensuing global craze for Ireland demonstrate a cultural artifact that has successfully stepped from the past into the dynamic present. While still acknowledging and preserving its original roots, the traumas of the past have been healed through embodied representation.

<p>"On Decolonizing the Mind" is generated at the juncture ofpostcolonial studies, Asian/ American studies, and globalization and transnational studies. Exploring literary imagination as an essential part of the social imaginary—one that not only reflects social realities but also fosters decolonizing imagination—I examine literary texts dealing with postcolonial issues in India, Ireland, and Korea in order to demonstrate how literary texts that revisit and rewrite colonial histories contribute to the on-going project of decolonizing the mind: representing and imagining otherwise. I argue that literary representations of colonial histories serve as an alternative historiography against the established discourses of colonial histories.</p> <p>I offer critical readings ofliterary texts such as Imaginary Maps, Comfort Woman, A Gesture Life, Translations, and Dictee. Mahasweta Devi's Imaginary Maps represents the postcolonial condition of indigenous peoples (particularly women) in India. Devi's text highlights her activism on behalf of indigenous peoples in India and leads us to think about the possibilities and limits of literary representation and imagination in engaging with oppressive social realities and creating viable solutions. The ordeals of "comfort women" during the Pacific War, which have begun to receive global recognition since the early 1990s, is an unresolved postcolonial issue in Korea and in many parts of East and South East Asian regions. Among the growing literature on this controversy, the literary representation of comfort women by North American writers demonstrates that the legacy of comfort women is a transnational issue that demands global justice. Focusing on Nora Okja Keller's Comfort Woman and Chang-rae Lee's A Gesture Life, I analyze how literary representations of comfort women can be an effective medium through which to witness their cultural trauma. My study of Brian Friel's Translations and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha's Dictee tackles the colonial encounter in Irish and Korean histories, focusing on the colonial policies ofimposing colonizers' languages on the colonized. Friel and Cha show different ways in which to find voices of difference, resistance, and subversion in a language not their own.</p> <p>My comparative study aims to make sense of the complicated ways in which national issues (indigenous peoples in India, the comfort women issue in Korea (and East and South East Asia), the postcolonial turmoil in Northern Ireland, and the postcolonial context of the United States) are closely related to global issues (colonialism, imperialism, global capitalism, and globalization). I claim that postcolonialism in the Western academy has focused too much on European colonization, especially British colonialism; we need to take into account the fact that Japan was a powerful colonial power and then to compare the effects of that colonization—and postcolonization—on places like Korea with British colonialism in India, as well as closer to home in Ireland. I hope that my study contributes to the elaboration of a transnational literacy that can offer a responsible form of cultural explanation through which to explore the interrelations between the national and the postcolonial (or the global).</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)