Archaeology and Ideology in Nineteenth Century Ireland


Book Description

As McEwan argues, the past is well suited to manipulation and can be used to uphold particular ideologies, for example those dictated by the state. This discussion of the development of archaeology in Ireland in the 19th century places it within an intellectual and historical context to determine the inherent and external factors at work in directing and influencing its progress. With Foucault as the starting point, McEwan assesses a range of important ideological concepts, including romanticism, nationalism, imperialism and individualism, and asks whetehr archaeology and those individuals within it chose to embrace or resist them. Concluding that Ireland's past is both complex and contradictory, she reaffirms that Irish archaeology of the 19th century `was essentially contrived to serve the people rather than always upholding the power structure'.




Nationalism and Archaeology in Europe


Book Description

Archaeologists from many different European countries here explore the very varied relationship between nationalistic ideas and archaeological activity through the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The resurgence of nationalism was one of the most prominent features of the European political scene in the 1990s, when this book was originally published. The past provides a large supply of ideas and images to support the claims of national identity deeply rooted in remote generations. The remote past revealed by archaeology also plays a part – heroes, heroines, golden ages long disappeared, objects to admire, and sites to provoke the memory, all called on to further the cause of nationalism. Drawing on the authoritative insights of the indigenous contributors, this book examines the issues throughout modern Europe. All of the chapters share a concern to see archaeology and the study of the past as intimately related to contemporary social and political questions. The present shapes the way we think about the past but the past also provides us with evidence for thinking about the present. These issues are timeless and this comprehensive examination of a host of issues remains important for historians and those pursuing nationalistic politics.




Politics, Archaeology, and the Creation of a National Museum in Ireland


Book Description

This book is the first study of the political and social values underpinning interest in Irish archaeology and the establishment of the first public or national museum in Ireland, the Dublin Museum of Science and Art later re-established as the National Museum of Ireland. It examines the value systems and ideological beliefs inherent in the museum building process and shows that the complexity of Irish history and politics is mirrored in the range of attitudes to the Irish past. These are revealed in the care and ownership of the material remains of antiquity. The social and political role of museum collections is explored through the history of museum provision in Dublin. Elizabeth Crooke shows how a certain vision of the Irish nation has shaped and continues to shape, the core of archaeology and the work of museums in contemporary Ireland.




Charles Stewart Parnell and His Times


Book Description

Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-1891) wrote remarkably little about himself, but he has attracted the attention of many writers, politicians, and scholars, both during his lifetime and ever since. His controversial and provocative role in Irish and British affairs had him vilified as a murderer in The Times, and afterwards dramatically vindicated by the Westminster Parliament. It cast him as a romantic hero to the young James Joyce, and a self-serving opportunist to the journalists of the Nation. Parnell has been the subject of court cases, parliamentary enquiries and debates, journalism, plays, poems, literary analysis and historical studies. For the first time all these have been collected, catalogued and cross-referenced in one volume, an invaluable resource for scholars of late nineteenth century Ireland and Britain. Divided into fifteen chapters, including a biographical sketch, the volume contains information on manuscript and archival collections, printed primary sources, Parnell's writing, Parnell's speeches in the House of Commons and outside Parliament, contemporary journalism, contemporary writing, and contemporary illustrations on Irish affairs, and a substantial list of scholarly work, including biographies, books, articles, chapters, and theses. This volume offers readers a clear record of the substantial material already available on Parnell, and in doing so offers resources to future research in this area.




Evaluating Multiple Narratives


Book Description

Using archaeological case studies from around the world, this volume evaluates the implications of providing alternative interpretations of the past. These cases also examine if multivocality is relevant to local residents and non-Anglo-American archaeologists and if the close examination of alternative interpretations can contribute to a deeper understanding of subjectivity and objectivity of archaeological interpretation.







The Oxford Handbook of Public Archaeology


Book Description

The Oxford Handbook of Public Archaeology seeks to reappraise the place of archaeology in the contemporary world by providing a series of essays that critically engage with both old and current debates in the field of public archaeology. Divided into four distinct sections and drawing across disciplines in this dynamic field, the volume aims to evaluate the range of research strategies and methods used in archaeological heritage and museum studies, identify and contribute to key contemporary debates, critically explore the history of archaeological resource management, and question the fundamental principles and practices through which the archaeological past is understood and used today.




From Genesis to Prehistory


Book Description

We are now familiar with the Three Age System, the archaeological partitioning of the past into Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. This division, which amounted at the time to a major scientific revolution, was conceived in Denmark in the 1830s. Peter Rowley-Conwy investigates the reasons why the Three Age system was adopted without demur in Scandinavian archaeological circles, yet was the subject of a bitter and long-drawn-out contest in Britain and Ireland, up to the 1870s.




Archaeological Resource Management


Book Description

Archaeological Resource Management provides an international comparison of the main practices involved in managing archaeological remains, especially their identification and recording, their evaluation for 'significance,' their preservation and their presentation to the public.