The famished soul: resonance and relevance of the Irish famine to Irish men’s accounts of hunger following immigration to England during the 1950s and 1960s

This paper uses a hermeneutically informed analysis to reveal how Irish men’s accounts of acute hunger on arrival in England during the 1950s and 1960s resonate with archival oral accounts of the Great Hunger in Ireland during the 1840s. The paper makes the case for a new continuum of memory which foregrounds the corporeal and spiritual dimensions of acute food deprivation and its significance over space, place and time. I argue that a corporeal-spiritual medium of memory represents a two-sided reality, a pivotal yet nebulous point of contact which exemplifies our understanding of how discourses of hunger recounted over the course of a century help shape reconstructions of Irish sociocultural identity. The symbolic potency of hunger and particular foods to expose a distinct moral and social order during both time periods is examined. I also show how this more burnished and fluid medium of corporeal and spiritual memory highlights the importance of intracultural diglossia in respect of Irish sociocultural identity and with it, the interface between individual, collective and folk memory.     

Local gender contract and adaptive capacity in smallholder irrigation farming: a case study from the Kenyan drylands

This article presents the local gender contract of a smallholder irrigation farming community in Sibou, Kenya. Women's role in subsistence farming in Africa has mostly been analyzed through the lens of gender division of labor. In addition to this, we used the concept of ‘local gender contract’ to analyze cultural and material preconditions shaping gender-specific tasks in agricultural production, and consequently, men's and women's different strategies for adapting to climate variability. We show that the introduction of cash crops, as a trigger for negotiating women's and men's roles in the agricultural production, results in a process of gender contract renegotiation, and that families engaged in cash cropping are in the process of shifting from a ‘local resource contract’ to a ‘household income contract.’ Based on our analysis, we argue that a transformation of the local gender contract will have a direct impact on the community's adaptive capacity climate variability. It is, therefore, important to take the negotiation of local gender contracts into account in assessments of farming communities' adaptive capacity.     

A Chain Pump Recovered from the Wreck of the Warship Northumberland (1703)

In 2008 the remains of a chain pump were recovered from the wreck of the third‐rate man‐of‐war Northumberland, which sank on the Goodwin Sands in the English Channel, during the Great Storm of November 1703. Chain pumps were vital equipment and integral to the safety of the ship. Historical evidence is mined for comparative material, and the recovery, conservation strategy, study and recording of this artefact using X‐ray and CT scanning are discussed. Information gleaned, hitherto absent from the historical and archaeological record, includes details of the pump's chain, hook and swivel, valves and roller.     

Fathers,food practices and the circuits of intimacy in families in Northern England

Informed by a ‘theories of practice’ approach and moving beyond accounts that emphasise domestic foodwork as a wholly feminised task, this article draws upon a series of ethnographic studies undertaken in Northern England to examine men’s frequently overlooked contributions to feeding the family. Deploying the idea of ‘circuits of intimacy’, it specifically highlights how shopping, cooking and eating form part of the daily emotional practices through which contemporary fathering is negotiated, contested and resisted. In doing so, it contributes to debates concerning fathering and the spaces in which it is undertaken – areas of enquiry that have, until recently, remained relatively hidden in geographical research – as well as addressing the issue of feeding and family intimacy which has been underexplored within studies of fathering.     

Intimate Relations: Kinship and the Economics of Shore Whaling in Southern New Zealand, 1820–1860

Recent scholarship has situated shore whaling as a key industry connecting southern New Zealand to the global economy and the imperial world during the mid-19th century. An economically-driven view of this period, however, tends to obscure the enduring importance of Māori forms of kinship in the establishment and success of this resource-based industry. In this article, we argue for the significance of Māori concepts such as whanaungatanga (connectedness) and whakapapa (genealogy) to understanding shore whaling in southern New Zealand. Kinship connections formed through marriage tied newcomer whalers to the region, as well as bringing Ngāi Tahu into the emerging coastal economy. The depth of these relationships went beyond the economic, creating enduring social bonds and mixed communities across generations.     

Open borders as an act of solidarity among peoples,between states or with migrants: changing applications of solidarity within the Schengen process

Abstract

The article analyses the historical understanding of the term ‘solidarity’ in the context of the Schengen process, which started in the 1980s and remains relevant until today. During this time, the Schengen Area grew from encompassing five Western European countries to 26 member-states across the whole continent. In this context, the term ‘solidarity’ was referred to frequently in official documents, in speeches or in the media – despite the fact that the term was not at all central at the time of foundation. It is important to note, however, that during the process of enlargement, the meaning of the term ‘solidarity’ changed repeatedly. First meant to denote solidarity between all the European peoples, in the Western European Union it also referred to the reconciliation of European peoples after the Second World War. In the 1990s, the official understanding of solidarity concerning Schengen shifted to describe an effective inter-state cooperation among the EU member-states. In the last years, the term solidarity was most evoked in the call for an even burden-sharing within the European Union. All these different understandings have one aspect in common: they focus on the internal dimension of European solidarity. However, during the entire Schengen process, the term ‘solidarity’ was also applied in another, an external, global dimension, to call for humanitarian support towards refugees reaching the Schengen Area from anywhere in the world. The article argues that the term ‘solidarity’ must hence be looked at as a political concept and not a neutral, analytic term. Critical regard for the current political interests as well as the concrete historical framework are crucial for any academic discussion of European solidarity. The categories of inclusion and exclusion especially must be core aspects when analysing the term ‘solidarity’ historically.     

Development of the former Radcliffe Infirmary,Oxford, 1770–1900

Summary: Archaeological excavations on the site of Oxford’s first ‘modern’ hospital, the Radcliffe Infirmary, uncovered evidence for its use after its completion in 1770 and subsequent 19th-century expansions. Providing insights into the ancillary buildings, drainage and water supply structures located to the rear of the Infirmary, among the features excavated was a stone-built soakaway serving the first laundry complex. Upon the building being rebuilt as a fever ward in 1824, the soakaway became a receptacle for unwanted pottery, glass and other finds. The composition of this assemblage provides a glimpse of the material culture of a hospital during this period.