Irish people emigrated to Buenos Aires with an identity as oppressed indigenous people, only to subsequently find themselves cooperating in the dispossession of indigenous Argentines. The settlement of European farmers was central to the consolidation of political power in Argentina. Irish and other immigrants retained their language and customs, acting as a buffer zone between … Read more
British identity and citizenship were of great importance to the nucleus of British and Irish residents in the city of Buenos Aires during the nineteenth century. This variety of British subjectship was an identity that many in Ireland were domestically uncomfortable with yet appropriated for economic and social advantage in Argentina. Part of the informal … Read more
In the transition from paganism to Christianity, Hy Brasil took on another meaning. The Celtic ideal of the island of the Otherworld—a place with all good things, a land of eternal youth, an environment of dreams and fantasies—is incorporated into the concept of an earthly paradise. It was in search of this promised land that … Read more
Legend tells that somewhere off the coast of Ireland there was an island, always covered by intense fog and only seen on very rare occasions. Every seven years the fog would fade away, revealing this fabulous land. Mountains, green fields and a glowing city were briefly visible. This Celtic land was the home of fairies, … Read more
What is the origin of the word ‘brasil’? In my homeland, Brazil, it seems that everyone knows the answer. Following the definition of the German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, it comes from brasa and is associated with the reddish colour of brazilwood (pau-brasil in Portuguese), a dyewood tree commonly found along the Atlantic coast of … Read more