Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed June 26, 2007). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 284-305).

This study is based upon ethnographic research conducted in County Donegal, the most northerly county in the Republic of Ireland, between January 1997 and January 1998. It is focused upon three "development communities" in the county: development professionals, voluntary activists working for area based community groups, and elected members of Donegal County Council. The primary aim of the study is to examine the social basis for the fragmentary nature of development activity in Donegal, in view of the new European Union-sponsored local development initiatives which have been implemented in Ireland during the past decade. It is argued that the way in which each of the three groups experience, talk about, understand and reify development elements which together provide the framework for their respective development discourses- can be interpreted most profitably in light of social factors. An extended case-study approach is used throughout, in order to provide a detailed exploration of the contrasting social environments in which the development process occurs in the county. In chapter one, a theoretical framework is established which takes as its cue the ideas of a number of development anthropologists working in non-European contexts, and, in drawing from this literature, the concept of II discourses of development" is introduced as an overall paradigm in which the empirical data are interpreted. Chapter two introduces Donegal as a place, concentrating on some of the historical events which have given rise to contemporary patterns of social organisation. Chapter three outlines the history of EU-sponsored development activity in Ireland, highlighting the distinctive nature of the EU's "bottom-up" model and providing the background for the principal empirical chapters which follow. In chapters four to seven, the contrasting social environments within which each "development community" operates are examined in detail. Particular attention is paid to the role of discourse in providing criteria for inclusion/ exclusion, and in disrupting the processes of communication within the development sector of the county as a whole. The study also has a number of secondary aims. Most notably, it seeks to extend the theoretical scope of Irish anthropology and the anthropology of the European Union by exploring the changing relationship between the locale and wider structures and influences in terms of the application of the EU's model of development in Donegal. Additionally, the final chapter includes a tentative assessment of the relevance of the data for policy prescription, in light of the recent government initiative to reform the local government system and the future of local development in Ireland.

In my dissertation, I argue that Marina Carr creates liminal spaces in her plays, exploring the tensions inherent in the issues of landscape, gender, and identity. She uses these liminal spaces to expose her audiences to more complex conceptions of Ireland in the twenty-first century. For example, Carr frequently challenges perceived notions of gender identity, drawing attention to gender as performance and creating female protagonists who resist their roles as wives and mothers. Landscape is also an important element of Carr's plays; most frequently she uses the landscape of the Irish Midlands as a space that is liminal both in terms of its geography in the center of the country and in terms of the bogs, which are neither land nor water. Finally, throughout her plays she combines elements of the Irish dramatic tradition with non-Irish elements as a way of expressing Ireland's complicated post-Celtic Tiger identity. I address Carr's plays chronologically in an attempt to trace her development of her use of liminality, which begins primarily with gender in Low in the Dark and expands to include landscape and identity through the Midlands plays. Most recently, plays like Woman and Scarecrow and The Cordelia Dream are set in the liminal moments between life and death and in the unconscious world of the characters' dreams, illustrating Carr's continuing exploration of new liminal spaces.

The Orange Order is a Protestant fraternal order within Northern Ireland that has branches across the former British Empire. Since its formation in 1795, it has been described as a brotherhood, definitively male with a triumphalist parade culture maintaining Protestant `civil and religious liberties' by celebrating the victory of King William III at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. My dissertation explores the role of gender within Orangeism. Notions of `brotherhood', `sisterhood', and `family' in the lodges are explored, as are the roles of women within Orangeism. In particular, the `family' nature of Orangeism has played a major role in the inclusion of women and children in Orange demonstrations and parades. Evangelical beliefs in women's moral superiority and the necessity of her influence over her family and community provided women with a public presence via Orange processions and female lodges. Men were forced to accept their utility as political mothers who could inculcate Orange values in children and in the wider community through their influence and philanthropic work. In short, Orangeism was never simply a brotherhood; the familial metaphor enabled women to gain influence as `sisters' and to perform various politicized (and sometimes militarized) domestic roles within the public space provided by the order. Orangeism gave them a political base from which to petition, challenge governmental policies they deemed unfair, and to threaten or commit violence when peaceful methods failed.

Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses. / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-02

AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF DAVID KELLY, for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in ENGLISH, presented on APRIL 21, 2014, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: "EOLAS TO MA:" CONSTRUCTION OF POSTNATIONAL SPACE IN THE INTERSTITIAL VISIONS OF HEANEY, CARSON AND MORRISSEY MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Michael Molino In his 1997 work Postnationalist Ireland, Richard Kearney addresses the issue of the Irish community today. He notes how an Irish diaspora of seventy million "challenged the inherited definitions of state nationalism" (99). He then notices how "the Irish word for province is coiced which means fifth" (99) and, though contemporary Ireland is divided into four provinces, earlier traditions included a "`middle' or the `fifth province'" (99). It is in this medial space, whose boundaries are not geographical or political but, for Kearney, "more like a disposition" (100), that Irish postnational identity can be reimagined as the interplay between the local and global communities. After all, Kearney asserts, "Irish culture rediscovers its best self...in its encounter with other cultures...." (101). My study will argue that this postnational sense of Irish identity is a preoccupation of three waves of Northern Irish poets: Seamus Heaney, Ciaran Carson and Sinead Morrissey. It is best depicted through an analysis of each poet's use of the concepts of "center," "war," "home," and "travel." My research will focus primarily on Heaney's version of Builhe Suibhne , Sweeney Astray, and District and Circle, Carson's retranslation of The Táin and Belfast Confetti, and Morrissey's Between Here and There and analyze the strategies of each of these writers as they re-present a contemporary postnational Irish identity that is shaped by local and international forces. Despite the recognized importance of Heaney, Carson and Morrissey as insightful poetic commentators on "The Troubles," a three decade long period of violent political and social turmoil (1968-1995), these three authors' use of Japanese elements in their verse tends to be overlooked. And, despite each writer's familiarity with the others' work, they are not often discussed together. My comparative study of these authors will aim to show how their interstitial vision embedded in distinctive Early Irish translations and use of Japanese religio/aesthetic elements in their contemporary verse, create a third space, a postnational center. In order to analyze how each poet constructs a regional/global identity, this study will examine and compare such transitional cultural and linguistic processes as "liminality," "ma," and the act of poetic translation. Morrissey's verse, in particular, often succinctly and exactly frames these issues expressed by her senior colleagues, so her poetry will be frequently employed as a lens for examining Heaney's and Carson's poetry.

This thesis examines Home Rule in Ireland from 1858-1893 from a transnational perspective. In particular, it explores ties between the United States and Ireland by locating common discourses on generational rights and human rights. It draws attention to American and Irish organizations that sought to free Ireland from Britain’s oppressive grasp. The thesis pays special attention to the Irish-American experience in the United States in the wake of the Great Famine of 1845-1846. Through a look at transnational rights discourses during Home Rule, this thesis exposes the impact this experience had on transnational organizations such as the Fenian Brotherhood and the Irish National League of America during Home Rule in the late nineteenth century. Furthermore it reveals how Irish Home Rule from 1858-1893, was in various ways a transnational rights movement.

xiii, 170 p. Two print copies of this thesis are available through the UO Libraries under the call numbers: KNIGHT PN4874.I7 T4 and SCA Archiv Theses T2908 / Adviser: Roy R. Halverson

Sixteen years after the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland remains a deeply segregated society. One driver of this ongoing separation is the divergent ways in which the Troubles are remembered. Paramilitary groups in particular have been quite successful at inscribing their exclusionary conflict memories into public space. However, this work departs from the larger sub-field by arguing that narratives of violence are spatially and discursively resisted in Northern Ireland. I argue additional claimants have asserted their rights to remember in public space and have challenged the appropriation of their loved ones' bodies. Public space in Northern Ireland increasingly is becoming evocative of multiple pasts; it is splintering and diversifying. I argue that one of the chief drivers of this diversification is the reclamation and reinscription of the bodies of those 3,700 men, women, and children who violently lost their lives during the Troubles. / 10000-01-01

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.