Colleens, cottages and kraals:the politics of ‘native’ village exhibitions

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Irish Women Freelance Writers and the Popular Press: An Army Beyond Literary Circles

This article considers the publishing careers of a small number of Irish women who worked as freelance journalists and authors in order to explore both their experiences as professional writers and the industry in which they worked. They are an illustrative sample of freelance writers of their era and their careers shed light on this vast, overlooked aspect of media history, especially that of the increasing numbers of women who sought to earn money from their writing in this period. Beginning to understand these women writers is a step towards better understanding the publishing industry commercial press. This article argues there was an army of periodical writers drawn from far beyond literary circles, who wrote while also working as typists or teachers, and who remained disconnected from other writers even as they regularly published stories and articles over several decades

Diasporic ethnicity: Irish-American performativity of irishness in popular culture, 1945-2000.

This thesis examines the ways in which the later-generation Insh-Amencan diaspora have engaged with and performed their ethnic identity in the latter half of the twentieth century. It particularly focuses upon the ways in which this identity is negotiated and formed through an interaction with Ireland itself, rather than within an entirely American context. The thesis concentrates upon Insh-Amencan popular culture and practices, arguing that it is through these texts that the complex processes of later-generation ethnic identification and performance can best be analysed. The thesis uses a wide vanety of cultural texts for this analysis, including films, novels, news media, tounst practices, family history research and political activism. These texts are examined predominantly within the theoretical framework of discourse analysis, arguing that they should be understood as both reflecting and informing a wider cultural discourse of diasponc ethnicity and identity within the United States. To further highlight the ways in which this occurs, the thesis also discusses the ways in which different academic disciplines, such as history, Irish studies, anthropology and diaspora studies itself, have approached the subject of diasporic identity. The thesis goes on to argue that a multidisciplinary approach is essential to understanding the complex processes of identity construction involved m the formation of a diaspora such as iater-generation Insh-Amenca

“No irregularity or obstruction can resist them”: advertising of abortion pills in the Irish press, 1890–1930

This article demonstrates the extent of advertising in the Irish press in the years before and after the foundation of the Irish Free State for the “female pills” widely understood to induce abortions. These advertisements appeared very frequently in a wide range of Irish publications for several decades prior to 1922, and the article establishes the ways in which the advertisements functioned as an open secret strategically ignored by both legal and moral authorities. The style and content of the advertisements themselves, which allowed this open secret to operate in plain sight, is explored in detail, along with the context in which the advertisements were produced, circulated and likely understood by women readers. The article concludes by examining the advertisements’ gradual and then complete disappearance from the Irish press, especially in light of the Free State legislation enacted during the 1920s

Examining high school students’ scientific identity and interest in stem careers after participating in an afterschool bioscience course

Identity and self-efficacy play a role in understanding how students commit to entering science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers. Since there is such a small percentage of underrepresented students in STEM fields, a shift needs to occur in order to encourage and motivate underrepresented students to commit to STEM. The purpose of this study was to observe two male students from differing cultural backgrounds in a bioscience class, and how their scientific identity and self-efficacy determined career goals. Through non-traditional classrooms such as project-based learning (PBL) classes, students are able to gain a better understanding of science. PBL classes, such as the bioscience class these students participated in, immerse students in research, foster relationships with professionals and peers, and provide a community to students that cannot be given elsewhere. As a result, the Caucasian student, with a strong STEM background and interest in going into a STEM field, displayed little to no further formation of scientific identity. The Native American student, however, entered the class interested in a STEM field, yet was given the opportunity to experience and observe a variety of STEM fields, forming a scientific identity, therefore causing him to pursue more STEM opportunities and fields. Because of the rigorous, student-centered environment this bioscience class provides, along with the community partnerships and mentorships, helps students develop a positive STEM identity and increased STEM self-efficacy, which motivates students to pursue STEM related fields

Pyxis: A ground-based demonstrator for formation-flying optical interferometry

In the past few years, there has been a resurgence in studies towards space-based optical/infrared interferometry, particularly with the vision to use the technique to discover and characterise temperate Earth-like exoplanets around solar analogues. One of the key technological leaps needed to make such a mission feasible is demonstrating that formation flying precision at the level needed for interferometry is possible. Here, we present $\textit{Pyxis}$, a ground-based demonstrator for a future small satellite mission with the aim to demonstrate the precision metrology needed for space-based interferometry. We describe the science potential of such a ground-based instrument, and detail the various subsystems: three six-axis robots, a multi-stage metrology system, an integrated optics beam combiner and the control systems required for the necessary precision and stability. We end by looking towards the next stage of $\textit{Pyxis}$: a collection of small satellites in Earth orbit.Comment: 27 Pages, 14 Figures, submitted to JATI

Nature tourism and Irish film

This article provides a historical overview and reading of seminal Irish film from the perspective of nature tourism. Within Irish cultural studies, tourism is frequently equated with an overly romantic image of the island, which has been used to sell the country abroad. However, using notions like the tourist gaze and taking on board influential debates around space/place, one can posit a more progressive environmental vision of nature and landscape in our readings of film

"Do You Ring? Or Are You Rung For?": Mass Media, Class, and Social Aspiration in Edwardian Ireland.

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City streets and the city edition: newsboys and newspapers in early twentieth-century Ireland

This article examines the newsboy as both an important figure of early twentieth-century Irish streets and also a vital final link in the chain of media production and distribution at the time. Despite the advent of industrial communications and manufacturing processes in print culture well before the end of the nineteenth century, newspapers in particular were ultimately dependent upon boys as young as eleven years old to sell copies, especially in urban areas. Newsboys were very visible and audible figures on Irish city streets, and presumably because of this were themselves the subject of frequent newspaper stories. This article explores the way in which newsboys were both part of the newspaper industry while simultaneously being represented in the press as exemplars of the urban working classes for middleclass readers