Deer forests, game shooting and landed estates in the South West of Ireland, 1840 - 1970

This thesis is concentrated on the historical aspects of the elitist field sports of deer stalking and game shooting, as practiced by four Irish landed ascendancy families in the south west of Ireland. Four great estates were selected for study. Two of these were, by Irish standards, very large: the Kenmare estate of over 136,000 acres in the ownership of the Roman Catholic Earls of Kenmare, and the Herbert estate of over 44,000 acres in the ownership of the Protestant Herbert family. The other two were, in relative terms, small: the Grehan estate of c.7,500 acres in the ownership of the Roman Catholic Grehan family, and the Godfrey estate of c.5,000 acres, in the ownership of the Protestant Barons Godfrey. This mixture of contrasting estate size, owner's religions, nobleman, minor aristocrat and untitled gentry should, it is argued, yield a diversity of the field sports and lifestyles of their owners, and go some way to assess the contributions, good or bad, they have bequeathed to modern Ireland. Equally, it should help in assessing what importance, if any, applied to hunting. In this context, hunting is here used in its broadest meaning, and includes deer stalking and game shooting, as well as hunting with dogs and hounds on foot and horseback. Where a specific type of hunting is involved, it is so described; for example, fox hunting, stag hunting, hare hunting. Similarly, the term game is sometimes used in sporting literature to encompass all species of quarry killed, and can include deer, ground game (hares and rabbits), waterfowl, and various species of game birds. Where it refers to specific species, these are so described; for example grouse, pheasants, woodcork, wild duck, etc. Since two of these estates - the Kenmare and Herbert - each created a deer forest, unique in mid-19th century Ireland, they form the core study estates; the two smaller estates serve as comparative studies. And, equally unique, as these two larger estates held the only remnant population of native Irish red deer, the survival of that herd itself forms a concomitant core area of analysis. The numerary descriptions applied to these animals in popular literature are critically reassessed against prime source historical evidence, as are the so-called deer forest 'clearances'. The core period, 1840 to 1970, is selected as the seminal period, spanning 130 years, from the creation of the deer forests to when a fundamental change in policy and administration was introduced by the state. Comparison is made with similar estates elsewhere, in Britain and especially in Scotland. Their influence on the Irish methods and style of hunting is historically examined.

Education in the halls : students' perspectives on cultural expression and resistance

This research is a qualitative study of cultural reproduction and resistance from students' perspectives. Thirteen teenagers (eight in attendance in regular high schools and five drop-outs) were recruited to take part and were involved to varying degrees through interviews, journal writing, and group interactive sessions. A purposive sampling design was used initially to recruit individuals known to the researcher through contacts in an alternate education setting. Other participants were recruited throughout the research phase. The theoretical aspects are premised on the work of Paul Willis, Michel Foucault, and Pierre Bourdieu. The reflexive praxeology of Bourdieu reflects the position taken as one way of understanding how students construct and respond to the situations of cultural dominance they experience in schools. The same reflexivity is offered for suggestions as to how teachers can respond to their own position in the education system.

The Buln-Buln and Brolga

Originally published in 1944, this biography of Joseph Furphy was written by Miles Franklin. She tells of his multi-faceted life, from 1843 to 1912, including his days as a bullock-driver, and in Victoria building Furphy carts with his brother; of his friends and philosophy and his hopes for humanity and Australia.

Vigilant pleasure as autoethnography : the life of the tea mind as critical history

I examine tea as cultural practice by exploring how it is implicated in the formation of individual subjectivities and national identity. While using the experience of learning and consuming tea lore as a foreigner as my explicit point of entry, I analyse how tea transmission practices are represented in Japanese films. My readings of these films are supported by a survey of the historical applications of tea as part of a project of national invention. Against tea's self-representation as purely cultural, I draw attention to this ideological silencing of its economic and political effects by claiming that institutionalised tea pedagogy has been a major player in a nationally distinctive discourse of transience. My thesis argues that autoethnography can be used to bring into view the ideological foundations of various social practices organised around tea sites and texts. Once ideology is visible autoethnography may mediate the effects of dominant discourses by making a modest form of private resistance possible. As a performance of critical and effective history, I explore the limits of consciously resisting institutionalised power by reflecting on how discourses of tea and social theory intersect in my autoethnographic account of tea experiences. I begin by locating my subjectivity in tea. After outlining how tea is useful to me in psychological, domestic and professional contexts, I survey autoethnographic writing and critical forms of textual analysis. Given that traditions of textual analysis set limits to what can be comprehended, I note that considerations of the role of subjectivity are sometimes absent from several modes of textual analysis. I contend that more delicate forms of textual analysis are possible when multiple forms of subjectivity are explicitly addressed. Subjectivity is emphasised as I move between performances of being a cultural insider of tea subculture and an ethnic and linguistic outsider of daily life in Japan when I examine the connections linking tea anecdotes, film narratives, individual tales and national myths. From the position of tea culture insider and consumer of social theory I examine the relationship between national culture and individual subjectivity. I identify internal contradictions in tea transmission practices and consider how tea pedagogy and its cult of personality are addressed in tea films. The thesis concludes by considering the utility of identities in a global economy and comment on recent theories addressing the ethical self and social practices. It is on this basis that I claim the readings advanced in the earlier chapters map the pleasures and limits of employing autoethnography as a form of private resistance against the dominant discourses of tea, nation, and leisure.

National and cultural identity in diaspora

The thesis examines the 'preservation' of Lithuanian national and cultural identity among migrant groups in Australia, comparing postwar migrants with people who have arrived since 1970. It argues that cultural identity is a flexible, evolving concept, negotiated in relation to the social, economic and political circumstances of the migrant.

The dialectic of Bangsa and Minzu and nation-building in Malaysia 1900-1990

Examines the evolution of the terms "bangsa" and "minzu", the reforms and adjustments made to define Malay and Chinese ethnic boundaries and the forms that resistance took in response to real and perceived threats to each community's rights vis-a-vis the other. Linked is the related issue of how these dialectical differences have hindered the process of nation-building in Peninsular Malaysia especially from 1957 until 1990.

Teaching Thai language and culture abroad

Drawing on some principles of action research a systematic curriculum was developed for the Buddhapadipa temple school in London. Data was collected using interview-conversations, reflective episodes, classroom observations. The research was supported by four smaller studies investigating specific aspects of curriculum, language, culture and national identity.

OST : A transaction based online social trust model for social network and file sharing security

The continuous growth of the users pool of Social Networking web sites such as Facebook and MySpace, and their incessant augmentation of services and capabilities will in the future, meet and compare in contrast with today's Content distribution Networks (CDN) and Peer-to-Peer File sharing applications such as Kazaa and BitTorrent, but how can these two main streams applications, that already encounter their own security problems cope with the combined issues, trust for Social Networks, content and index poisoning in CDN? We will address the problems of Social Trust and File Sharing with an overlay level of trust model based on social activity and transactions, this can be an answer to enable users to increase the reliability of their online social life and also enhance the content distribution and create a better file sharing example. The aim of this research is to lower the risk of malicious activity on a given Social Network by applying a correlated trust model, to guarantee the validity of someone's identity, privacy and trustfulness in sharing content.

An investigative and interpretive study, with paintings, drawings and prints, of "All Saints' Day" and "All Souls" Day" in Mexico

"In Mexico, the first two days of November are set aside each year for the commemoration of the dead. This fete, called All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day, is observed throughout the world; however, in Mexico, it is celebrated in a manner peculiar to that country and to the various localities within that country . This holiday is sanctioned by both government and church; and is celebrated by practically all Mexicans, whether they be Catholic, pagan, relilious or irreligious. These are the two days when that contrast which is the essence of Mexico becomes obvious: the "triste~alegria" (sad-happiness). During these days , art objects are abundant and arresting ; and religious ceremonies, rites and fiestas blossom forth! Urban and folk arts, in every field, find full expression at this time. The religious, social, political, and artistic manifestations of the holiday are not only stimulating in themselves, but are exciting as subjects for painting, drawings, prints, and any other form of artistic expression!"

Letter from James Otis, Jr. to James Otis, Sr., and portrait print of James Otis Jr., 1743 June 17

Letter from Otis in Boston to his father, James Otis Sr. on June 17, 1743. In the short, half-page letter, Otis asks his father for money to pay for expenses relating to Commencement including the printing of theses, shoes, buckles, and any entertainment. He mentions that he will share entertainment expenses with his classmate Lothrop Russell.

Dr. Margaret Bell and female students at Lantern Night

On verso: 2nd from rt. Dr. Margaret Bell

Jane Camp and Barbara Lorch on bicycles

Daybook, image #45

Ski club and bus

On verso: 1940s-1950s. Argus Camera Photo (Daybook, image #71)