Mícheál Ó hAodha Knihy

The recent past has witnessed the development of new and diverse notions of Irish identity, alongside changes in the way we articulate the long-established links between Ireland and the Irish, both at home and abroad. This volume focuses on the intersection between migrancy and the narratives of 'hidden' Irish peoples - those emergent voices in the Irish diaspora whose discourses have frequently been occluded, repressed or simply forgotten - and provides a platform for a range of subversive voices. By usurping notions of identity hitherto considered fixed or authentic, it is possible to engage constructively with some of the larger problems that circumvent historiographical debate, particularly in relation to the diasporic experience and its expression in current oral history scholarship. Among the themes examined here are our understanding and definition of the diasporic experience, the role of language in the formation of identity and community, and the relationship between various members of the Irish diaspora and their homeland.

Subject: This volume is an exploration of the image that is the Traveller/Gypsy, the nomad, the migrant and the outsider/„Other“ within the frame of articulation that is European cinematic and representational culture. Ongoing developments in visual culture, when combined with the global flows of cultural diaspora have created innovative opportunities for the exploration of issues relating to crosscultural and identity representation. Nowhere is this disruption of narrative more overt than in the case of „traditional“ diaspora peoples such as Travellers, Roma (Gypsies), and other migrant groups who have traditionally lived on the society's „margins“. The diverse visual and cinematic representations of such „outsider“ groups serve to reconfigure all cultural identities as fluid and heterogeneous and disrupt the conception that is the nation.