‘The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there’
The Go-Between
L.P. Hartley
Baineann an volume seo le meascan mor oibre — meascan a faisceadh cheana fein as foilseachain acadula, geneologists oilte agus staraithe an teaghlach. Is cuis dochais e go bfhagfadh an leabhar rian forleathan ar na milte go bhfuil suim acu i stair an teaghlaigh, go h-airithe iad siud thall i Meiricea, i gCeanada, san Astrail, agus ag a’ baile chomh maith. Fairis sin, to suil ann go gcudeodh se le muintereas Eireannach agus Iar-Albanach ag an am cheana, ce gur naisiuin neamhspleach iad na laetheanta seo. Leis an leabhar seo cuirfear in iul sa chomhtheacs forleathan cheanna, an dulra pearsanta agus soisialta, inar mair na daoine aba dhobair doibh dul ar an imirce maraon leis na daoine a fagadh ag a’ baile.
This e-book is a forerunner of a published volume due to be published later this year which will be a blend and cross-fertilisation of work from already published academics, well-grounded genealogists and family historians. The hope is that the book will have a broad appeal to thousands of family researchers in US, Canada, Australia and at home. It may also give readers a better informed sense of their own Irish or West Highland identity, albeit they may happen to have a different nationality, and will present the broad sweep of social and personal circumstances that prevailed upon those ‘forced’ to emigrate and those who ‘chose’ to stay.
Anyone interested in a copy when the book is available for purchase can send their email address to donmac@doctors.org.uk
Editor
Dr Donald MacFarlane
External Evaluators
Prof Brian Graham (NUU)*
Prof Jim Hunter (UHI)**
Dr Eric Kaufmann (University of London)
* New University of Ulster
** University of the Highlands and Islands
Line up of contributors
Compromised Identity 1798-1848
Not One of Ours Dr. Don MacFarlane PhD Belfast
The Big House Dr. Annie Tindley PhD Glasgow
Kelp and Barilla Angus MacMillan Oxford
Rise and Fall Prof. John Sheets PhD Missouri
Highland Diaspora Prof. Eric Richards PhD Adelaide
Conflicted Identity 1798-1848
Church and State Dr. William Roulston PhD Belfast
An Cogadh Frangach Seamus Breathnach Dublin
A Price on His Head Peter Gallagher Sydney
Three Hundred Lashes Merle O’Donnell Brisbane
Young Ireland Prof. Christine Kinnealy PhD New Jersey
Displaced Identity 1798-1848
The Adam Lodge Brian Boggs Canberra
A Hole in the Fence Angus MacMillan Oxford
The Highland Soldier Prof. Edward Spiers PhD Leeds
Rogues and Fools Dr. Christine Wright PhD Canberra
The Middle Ground Prof. Willeen Keough PhD Vancouver
Base and Clever Prof. Malcolm Prentis PhD Canberra
Reconstructed Identity 1798-1848
Reaching Back Victor Barnett Ohio, U.S.A
Ancestral Narratives Dr. Chad Habel PhD Adelaide
Lost Places Dr. Carol Glover PhD Melbourne
Denouement Dr. Donald MacFarlane PhD Belfast
Don MacFarlane said,
September 12, 2009 at 1:38 pm
John Smith had almost finished his training in Edinburgh University to become a medical doctor when he had to drop out after contracting pulmonary tuberculosis (consumption). His verse was written at a time he knew he had a virtual death sentence over him – although he did manage to live another seven years, only to die in Lewis at the young age of 33. His vision of ‘a shroud and two strides of green earth’ had become an only too real prospect for him.