Archaeology of the Irish Diaspora and Modern Ireland

 

Archaeology of the Irish Diaspora and Modern Ireland: Transnational Approaches to Identity, Heritage, and Memory

Archaeological Field School: May 30th – July 11th 2015

This summer, the University of Maryland is offering a six-week field school in historical archaeology in the Skibbereen area of County Cork, Ireland. The field school, directed by Dr. Stephen Brighton and Andrew Webster, is part of a long-term sustainable historical archaeological research program delving into the dynamics of Ireland’s material world between 1750 and 1922. Currently little is known archaeologically about this dynamic period and current historical treatments do little to understand the social aspects and everyday lives of the common people. By placing this piece of Ireland’s history within a larger transnational framework, this project serves to move the study of the Irish Diaspora forward, as well as the discourse in the larger scope of diaspora studies.

The 2015 field program is taking place in the center of Skibbereen at a site known as “The Rock” and focuses on Famine-period housing. Work on the project is being completed with the collaboration of the Skibbereen Heritage Centre and the Friends of the Rock community group. The aim of the field school is to actively uncover evidence demonstrating how the experiences of various Irish classes shaped and were shaped by their material world. Students recover and interpret objects commonly used, cherished, and discarded by men, women, and children throughout their daily experiences. Over the course of the six-week program, students develop the theoretical and practical experience to contribute to the temporal, spatial, and material understanding of various traumatic social, economic, and political events, such as the Penal laws, Act of Union, the Great Starvation, forced dispersal, social and political uprisings, and civil war. 

Visit the Archaeology of the Irish Diaspora and Modern Ireland Project blog for more information and the facebook page to find more pictures of the fieldwork. 

Published on Tue, 06/30/2015 - 09:52