Nets of Memory (Líonta na Cuimhne): Islander Mediations of Remembrance and Belonging

Summary

Migration is, above all else, a dissociative event that fundamentally challenges an individuals sense of home and identity. To a 19th century Irish islander living in America, a fishing net was not just an economic tool, or object, or asset; rather it provided a point of entry into the emotional landscape of memory, belonging, and place. Emigrates from rural settings traveled to America to establish better lives for themselves, their relatives, and their future offspring, often in new and very challenging urban settings.  Combining oral history, folklore and documentary records, the film Nets of Memory (Líonta na Cuimhne)explores how 19th to 21th century Islanders from County Galway, Ireland, continued to make fishing nets when they moved to America.  Nets of Memory helps us understand how islanders create frameworks of memory and dealt with moving to America.  

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018   •
• Localized Rural Histories and Connected Worlds: Interdisciplinary Narratives of Transformation, Emigration and Interaction

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Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 1044