123 School Work

emigration and the irish diaspora

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  Emigration and the Irish Diaspora
  
  
       It is essential to recognize that Irishness is not restricted to geographic borders. In order to understand Irish history, studies cannot be confined to native Ireland by itself. Much of Ireland's history and experiences are blended into many parts of the world, outside of the homeland. In a world that is increasingly becoming more and more interdependent on each other, it is necessary to look at how the Irish Diaspora has affected its homeland and other parts of the world. More specifically, Irish emigration to countries such as Canada, England, Australia and especially the United States during the Post Famine era has had a dramatic effect on both the country Irish emigrants left behind and on the countries Irish emigrants settled in. Irish emigration was and is due to many internal and external factors; it is therefore too simplistic to label Irish emigration as solely either exile or opportunity. Instead, it is imperative that we view Irish emigration as a combination of push and pull factors, and instead concentrate on the consequences of the expansion of the Irish Diaspora throughout the world.     
  Historically, Irish Diasporas have been described using the adjective 'victim' (Cohen 1997, 31). In order to understand why this is the case, it is necessary to observe what was going on in Ireland when Irish emigration started to make crucial impacts on Ireland and the countries that emigrated to. Irish emigration seems to be unique in the context of Europe, for it goes on longer than any other European country, starting in the 17th century and continuing until the early 1990s (Lee 1989, 374)...