Family histories of the Irish Revolution
Ciara Boylan, Sarah-Anne Buckley and Pat Dolan, editors
Foreword by President Michael D. Higgins
This volume presents a unique and engaging selection of stories from current and retired staff at NUI Galway of familial participation during the revolutionary period. It captures the ways in which family history and memory is transmitted and the influence and legacy of these histories. The stories include familial accounts of well-known figures like Peadar O’Donnell, Tom Kettle and Hanna and Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, alongside accounts of men and women unknown/forgotten by the larger historical narrative. The contributions include accounts of nationalists and unionists; men, women and young people; British army soldiers and Irish Volunteers; members of Cumann na mBan and the ICA. Through very real human experiences and personal stories, it demonstrates the complex ways in which people engaged with the events of the period and the diversity of contemporary experience. The contributions discuss how family history and memory was imparted and aim to explore the legacy of this on succeeding generations. As such, the volume reflects the impact of the revolutionary period on the present generation from a lifecourse perspective.
Some of these family stories and memories have been buried for generations, such as those of family members who served in the British army during the First World War or of RUC men in rural Ireland, or the real and personal impact of the Civil War, thus shedding new light on the complex politics of memory in post-independence Ireland. A framing introductory chapter from the editors, a foreword by President Michael D. Higgins on ethics and memory, and a background chapter from Gearoid O’Tuathaigh weave together the key themes and context for this volume, for example gender, memory, violence, reconciliation and family history.
Dr Ciara Boylan is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Child and Family Research Centre, NUI, Galway working in the area of empathy, social values and education. She holds a doctorate in modern Irish history. Her research has focused on the history of education and childhood in Ireland, educational policy and empathy education.
Dr Sarah-Anne Buckley is lecturer in history at the National University of Ireland Galway. Her research centres on the history of childhood and youth in Ireland. Author of The Cruelty Man: Child Welfare, the NSPCC and the State in Ireland, 1889-1956 (MUP, 2013), she is the editor/co-editor of two volumes of conference proceedings, and has published twelve peer-reviewed articles and chapters. She is President of the Women’s History Association of Ireland, Chair of the Irish History Student’s Association and co-director of the Irish Centre for the Histories of Labour and Class.
Professor Pat Dolan holds the prestigious UNESCO Chair in Children, Youth and Civic Engagement. He is founder and Director of the Institute for Lifecourse and Society (ILAS) and the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre at NUI Galway. He has published extensively over many years in a wide range of books and journals and his major research interests are Civic Engagement in Children and Youth, Family Support, Youth Mentoring Models, Empathy Education and Adolescents’ Resilience and Social Networks.
