Diasporic identifications: exile,nostalgia and the Famine past in Irish and Irish North-American popular fiction, 1871–1891

During the nineteenth century, “exile” became a key term to describe the Irish-diasporic community in North America. More recently, scholars in the fields of diaspora studies and Irish studies have described this community as a “victim diaspora” with connotations of forced expulsion, exile, and nostalgia for the homeland. Moreover, among scholars and within the Irish-American community, the notion exists that the Great Irish Famine (1845–1851) constitutes the Irish-American “charter myth”, that it was the starting point of an Irish-American identity. This article sheds a different light on these (self-)identifications by discussing the concepts of origin myth, exile and nostalgia and also considers the concept of diasporic belonging in the context of Irish and Irish North-American works of popular “Famine fiction” written between 1871 and 1891. Consequently, the impact of these late nineteenth-century literary considerations on present-day conceptualisations of the Irish-American community as a victim diaspora are discussed.     

GEOGRAPHICAL PATTERNS IN BIOLOGICALLY AVAILABLE STRONTIUM,CARBON AND OXYGEN ISOTOPE SIGNATURES IN PREHISTORIC SW GERMANY*

In order to interpret strontium and oxygen isotope values in Neolithic human skeletons analysed previously, we begin to map the biologically available strontium, carbon and oxygen isotopic signatures of prehistoric southern Germany by analysing tooth enamel of pigs from archaeological sites distributed around the region. The mapping shows a marked upland–lowland difference in biologically available ⁸⁷ Sr/ ⁸⁶ Sr values, ranging between 0.7086 and 0.7103 in the sedimentary lowlands, and from 0.710 to as high as 0.722 in the crystalline uplands of the Odenwald, the Black Forest and the Bavarian Forest. In addition, carbon isotopes in the carbonate fraction of pig enamel were generally about 1–2 more enriched in ¹³ C in the uplands. Despite the expected depletion of ¹⁸ O with altitude, oxygen isotopes in pig enamel showed little correlation with site altitude, although for pig samples not older than the Iron Age there was some geographical correlation withδ¹⁸O patterns in modern precipitation.     

HISTORY MAKING AND ETHICS—AN INTEGRAL RELATIONSHIP?

In this review essay, I examine the arguments made by Marnie Hughes-Warrington, with Anne Martin, in Big and Little Histories: Sizing Up Ethics in Historiography. While I find much to praise in this history, I also ask critical questions about the impact of non-Western ethics on historical writing, the role of ethics in historical writing generally, the need to further investigate the everyday lifeworlds of history makers in order to fully understand their ethical dispositions, and the relationship between the ethics of history making and engaged forms of historical writing. I conclude this review essay by offering some reflections on the interrelationship between history and memory and the ethics involved in both.     

Rubidium hydroxide polyethylene glycol crown ether in the conservation of old master paintings*

The development of new, gentler methods for the conservation of Old Master paintings, with an emphasis on the removal or thinning of deteriorated varnish, is of high priority. In the course of the deterioration process, oxidative attacks lead to progressive formation of carboxylic acid groups, while many ester bondings are expected to be weakened. A stable RbOH polyethylene glycol complex was a promising tool to react with these moieties and to successfully break down the polymeric varnish layer. The remnants were easily wiped off mechanically. Control studies employing ⁸⁶RbOH and ¹⁴C polyacrylate showed the complete absence of residual cleansing components on the paint surface.