“I don’t want to be here”: Reflecting on our “huge and willing” diaspora
Thursday, September 30th, 2010Two voices on the radio caught my attention yesterday. I am sorry I did not catch either of their names. One was a young graduate on Pat Kenny talking about how she was planning to go the UK for six months and then move on to Australia. She said that most of her graduating class was out of work. She was clearly a reluctant emigrant. “I’m not really looking forward to having to emigrate. If I had a choice I would much rather stay in Ireland,” she said.
The other was a man on the afternoon Joe Duffy call-in show. He was in his 50s, a business owner whose business had failed. He had been an 1990’s-era emigrant, and had returned to Ireland 11 years ago. Now, he’s in Qatar on the Persian Gulf, and his family has just joined him – his wife, and three children, aged 7, 12 and 15.
He spoke really movingly of his experience, and again, he made clear he was a reluctant emigrant. When his daughter arrived to live with him in Qatar, she greeted him with the words, “I don’t want to be here.”
His reply? “I totally understand. I don’t want to be here either.”
He told Duffy, “It’s very difficult emotionally, but we have no alternative.” He said that he was finding some solace among the growing Irish community abroad. He stated he had just met a recent arrival from Galway, noting that the emigration of “mature” people, in his experience, was “widespread”.
He can’t see himself returning to Ireland for work, ever – “which is very sad, after coming back” from abroad to raise his family at home. He is still hoping that his children might attend college in Ireland, and will work to allow them to keep strong links to Ireland.
This man, while clearly sad, wasn’t exactly bemoaning his fate. He was getting on with his life. He noted, “We’re appreciative of the opportunity. The wind changed; we’re left adrift and we had to do something. We’re fortunate we’re mobile.”
“We’re fortunate we’re mobile“. I think of several commentators of recent months, all comfortably ensconced insiders in Ireland, downplaying the disruption of emigration when it’s an involuntary departure. Tanaiste Mary Coughlan declaring young Irish people were entitled to emigrate to enjoy themselves, Avoca executive and Your Country Your Call judge Amanda Pratt on PrimeTime to blithely tell young people to wait out the recession by going off to work in a chipshop in the Phillipines, Senator Mary White’s cavalier appearance on Newstalk where she declared that emigration was not only good for the country, but for families.
On one point these insiders are right: emigration is good for the country. Journalist Karlin Lillington recently, and rather belatedly in the light of everything that’s happened since last year’s Global Irish Economic Forum, called for a reconsideration of emigration. “But is emigration necessarily a problem in the first place?” she asked. No, it’s not – not to voluntary emigrants, and certainly not to the insiders who aren’t going to have to go anywhere but will still reap the economic rewards of the departures of others; they’ve taken up the notion wholeheartedly. Take a look at the Smart Economy strategy, launched this week by the Taoiseach. It is positively infused with a dependency on the diaspora for Irish economic growth; at the launch, the Taoiseach declared that the “huge and willing resource” of the Irish diaspora would be an asset in its implementation.
Karlin Lillington further proclaimed, “The idea that that this small land mass can provide jobs for its entire population doesn’t make sense – and even if it did, having everybody employed here would be an extremely limited and dead-end economic vision.”
It’s like the 1980s all over again – except now not only can’t we all live on this small island, but full employment here has become a Really Bad Idea. And of course, the talk isn’t about the brain drain of the 1980s; it’s about diaspora networking, opening new markets, encouraging global business deals. And our policy makers are perhaps all too aware of the value of sending out our unemployed to serve as the foot soldiers in the global Irish economic army. If some of them wind up as economic cannon fodder in this global downturn, well, at least they’re off our welfare rolls. (And thanks to the habitual residence condition, there’s no guarantee we’ll let them back on.)
I say this, of course, as someone who is genuinely excited about the potential of our relationship with our diaspora. But we need to be sure to maintain a balanced view. I can’t imagine there’s anyone left in Irish policy circles who needs to be convinced of the economic value of our diaspora. It’s those darn reluctant emigrants who sound less than willing in their task.
International Irish Diaspora Congress: Buenos Aires 15-19 June 2011
Friday, September 10th, 2010The call for papers below came through on the Irish Diaspora Listserv. How exciting that the 90th anniversary of the Irish Race Congress in Buenos Aires will be commemorated in this way! That Congress was held in preparation for the International Congress of the Irish Race in Paris, and the Irish government sent envoys to Irish communities in South Africa, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, and the US seeking support for a Republic. [See a 1921 New York Times report on the Buenos Aires Congress.]
It was just one example of Ireland’s political globalisation in the early days of independence. As the originator of the idea of the Congress of the Irish Race, Thomas Hughes Kelly of New York, declared: ‘Ireland’s future is not limited to its geographic boundaries. She gave away to the world her strongest and most trustworthy sons. Now we compensate her with our support, which is the first offspring of that prolific seed’.
But I digress – below is the call for papers. I’ll post up more info when I find out more.
INTERNATIONAL IRISH DIASPORA CONGRESS
Buenos Aires (Argentina) — From 15th to 19th of June 2011.
Official Notification: Presentation of Papers- 1st Call
In June of 2011, the 1st International Irish Diaspora Congress will take
in the City of Buenos Aires, exactly 90 years after a meeting of a
similar nature took place in 1921. The principal objective of next
year’s Congress is to stimulate cultural exchange and share experiences
between Irish Associations and people.
Each participating Institution is asked to give a brief account of
current activities and its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats. Learning how the Irish Community has integrated into each
specific Country-Destination will be of general interest, too.
Participating individuals or Associations are invited to present
speeches and/or lectures on the topic of cultural diversity of emigrants
and their descendents.
The Department of Irish Culture from the Universidad Nacional de La
Plata (UNL) & the Universidad de Ciencias Empresariales y Sociales
(UCES) will provide the academic framework for these expositions. The
papers submitted for consideration must relate to any one of the
following topics:
– The Irish Diaspora
– Literature and the Irish Emigrant (essays, short stories, novels, poetry)
– History of Irish Emigration in each country
– Fundraising for Irish Associations (experiences, tips)
– Irish Education abroad
– Irish Dance & Music (experiences)
– Business and Work opportunities for Irish Descendents Abroad
Those who are interested in participating must submit an abstract before
February 1, 2011, written in English, of no more than 300 words, on any
of the aforementioned topics.
The proposals that are deemed adequate (given general interests and the
length of the Congress) have until May 15, 2011 to send the paper in
full to the Department’s inbox.
The Academic Committee will be comprised of people with great knowledge
on the subjects to be discussed, including professors from the UNL and
the UCES.
For more info: http://www.asociacionirlandesa.com.ar/?lang=en or
asoargirl@yahoo.com.ar
11th Literature of Irish Exile Autumn School: Omagh, 16 October 2010
Friday, September 10th, 2010Here’s a note from the Ulster-American Folk Park in Omagh on their most excellent annual summer school:
Eleventh Literature of Irish Exile Autumn School: Saturday 16 October 2010
If you don’t already have the date in your diary, we hope you may take a
look at what is on offer and consider putting it there now:
http://www.qub.ac.uk/cms/events/LIE_Oct_2010.htm
The day, Saturday 16 October, will have the usual shape of a keynote lecture
in the morning in the Library of the Centre for Migration Studies; after
lunch a guided walk in the outdoor museum of the Folk Park; and a concluding
lecture and discussion in the Library.
Dr Fred Freeman, our keynote lecturer, is based at Edinburgh University and
an expert on Robert Tannahill (1774-1810), the Scottish weaver poet, hailed
as a successor to Burns, whose bicentenary is being celebrated this year. We
look forward to hearing about Tannahill’s spirited defence of Irish
immigrant weavers in Scotland.
The focus of the walk in the outdoor museum, growing out of Paddy
Fitzgerald’s lecture this summer to the William Carleton Summer School, will
be, with the help of Folk Park guide Walter McFarlane, on the role of
hedge-schools in preparing migrants.
Sean McCartan, one of our distinguished Irish Migration Studies graduates,
received a signal honour this year in being invited to France to speak about
his researches on the Irish ancestry of President de Gaulle. We look forward
to finding out how he fits into the migration story of the McCartan family.
We do hope you may be able to join us.
Brian Lambkin
Director
Christine Johnston
Senior Library Asst
Centre for Migration Studies
Ulster American Folk Park
Tel: 028 8225 6315
Fax: 028 8224 2241
Email: christine.johnston@librariesni.org.uk
Gateway Ireland awarded €23,000 as DFA announces funding to Irish organisations
Monday, August 16th, 2010Gateway Ireland, the internet diaspora outreach project announced at last September’s Global Irish Economic Forum at Farmleigh, has been awarded €23,000 by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The award was part of a number of grants announced today to seven Irish-based organisations, totalling €728,000, to promote the welfare of Irish emigrants and greater engagement between Ireland and the global Irish community.
Gateway Ireland held an introductory seminar on May 26th in Dublin Castle, where it was announced that the website would be aimed at reaching out to the Irish diaspora as it promoted Ireland as a destination for business, tourism, culture and education. The idea of the website was proposed by John McColgan, who has been spearheading the project. McColgan has said that several multinational companies have expressed interest in funding the project.
The Department of Foreign Affair reported the rest of today’s funding allotments went to the following Irish-based organisations:
- Safe Home, which assists elderly Irish emigrants to return to live in Ireland, was granted €255,000.
- The Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas’ Maynooth office received €96,919 for its advocacy and visitation work on Irish citizens imprisoned outside of Britain and Ireland.
- The Football Association of Ireland received €42,000, which is half the cost of the FAI’s UK-based welfare officer; the welfare officer provides supports to young footballers and their parents, ensuring that the players’ welfare and education needs are addressed.
- Glór na nGael Global Gaeilge competition has received €39,000 for its global work with Irish speakers.
- The South East Galway Diaspora Project received €56,700. While the DFA says that the initiative was born out of discussions at the Global Irish Economic Forum in Farmleigh last September, it offers no further details and I can find nothing online on this project.
It had been announced in the last budget that funding to organisations working with emigrants was being cut by 14% in 2010, even as emigration rose significantly.
Photographer seeks “to immortalise what is being lost to our country”
Saturday, August 14th, 2010A photographer in Dublin is creating a set of portraits of people who are set to emigrate.
The photographer is David Monahan, and the project is called “Leaving Dublin”. The photographs are stunning: each of them depicts a nighttime scene taken in Dublin of a solitary figure or a family days away from departure. Some of those pictured are Irish-born; others are people who came during the boom years, some who thought they’d be living in Ireland permanently. These images of these strangers photographed against the Dublin backdrops of their choice are deeply compelling and moving.
Monahan says of his project:
“this is an art project with no intention other than to immortalise what is being lost to our country”.
He adds that he is “looking for people who would like to participate in making a statement about their imminent departure.”
Emigration has traditionally been under-represented in visual arts in Ireland. This is a beautiful project, and an important one.
See the “Leaving Ireland” project on David Monahan’s site.
Mapping the Irish diaspora
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010One thing that I’d be really interested in seeing is a really good global map of the Irish diaspora. As far as I know, there isn’t one – but there are some interesting maps out there giving insight into various aspects of the diaspora that could inspire geography students to greater things!
Name mapping is an interesting way to see where the Irish have gone. The “worldnames” map at PublicProfiler.org allows users to pop in names and see the frequency of their occurrence around the world. Pop in, say, Sullivan, and you’ll see that it’s popular in Ireland, but also Australia, the US, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, Argentina, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
The major drawback of the map is that is uses data for only 26 countries, and we know of course that Irish people are legion throughout the world (Liam Ferrie’s Irish Emigrant news service, for example, has recipients in over 150 countries).
What other maps exist showing Irish populations around the world?
Here’s one showing the distribution of the Irish population in the US of more than a century ago, using census data from 1872. (I found it on Wikipedia, where it’s noted that the data does not include the Scots-Irish.)
And the US Census Bureau produces great maps using ethnic data – this one shows the comparative distribution of various ethnic groups through mapping the largest ancestral population in each county. The Irish are the top reported ancestry in surprisingly few counties, mainly focused in New York and New England.
And here’s a detailed map of populations of Irish ancestry by US county. For the sake of comparison, you can check out similar maps for other ethnic groups on this wonderful Wikipedia page.
For a great example of a “micro-map” of the Irish diaspora, this map of the Boston Irish Heritage Trail is well worth a look.
Are there any more good maps of the Irish diaspora out there? I’ll post more if I find them!
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