Books by Gerard Farrell
This book examines the native Irish experience of conquest and colonisation in Ulster in the firs... more This book examines the native Irish experience of conquest and colonisation in Ulster in the first decades of the seventeenth century. Central to its argument is that the Ulster plantation bears more comparisons to European expansion throughout the Atlantic than (as some historians have argued) the early-modern state’s consolidation of control over its peripheral territories. Farrell also demonstrates that plantation Ulster did not see any significant attempt to transform the Irish culturally or economically in these years, notwithstanding the rhetoric of a ‘civilising mission’. Challenging recent scholarship on the integrative aspects of plantation society, he argues that this emphasis obscures the antagonism which characterised relations between native and newcomer until the eve of the 1641 rising. This book is of interest not only to students of early-modern Ireland but is also a valuable contribution to the burgeoning field of Atlantic history and indeed colonial studies in general.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Articles and book chapters by Gerard Farrell
Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature, 2022
This paper examines the place of the native Irish population in the economy of plantation Ulster ... more This paper examines the place of the native Irish population in the economy of plantation Ulster between the outset of the project and the rising of 1641. Evidence concerning landholding, rents and employment, as well as the promotional literature and administrative records of the time, is marshalled to highlight a significant divergence between the professed intentions of the state and the reality of economic developments as they affected the Irish. Distinction is also made between the landless class of Gaelic society, those made landless by the plantation, and those ‘deserving Irish’ who received grants of land in the project. The discrete fate of each of these groups is traced, and a native population which remained physically present but largely unintegrated into the economy is posited.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Society and administration in Ulster's plantation towns, 2019
Surveys the presence of native Irish in the plantation towns of Ulster in the period before the r... more Surveys the presence of native Irish in the plantation towns of Ulster in the period before the rising of 1641.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Master's thesis in Archival Science completed in two years at Uppsala University, Sweden.
This t... more Master's thesis in Archival Science completed in two years at Uppsala University, Sweden.
This thesis examines the Vienna Convention on succession of States in respect of State Property, Archives and Debts, which was adopted in 1983 but subsequently failed to enter into force as too few states ratified it. Attention is given to the section of the Convention concerned specifically with the fate of archives in state succession, and the reasons why most of the major western nations, in particular those who had formerly or still possessed colonies, voted against the text. Given that this thesis analyses the failure of the Convention largely in terms of the political and historical circumstances surrounding it, particular attention is given to the context of decolonisation and Third World activism which sought to combat the neocolonial order which followed decolonisation, as well as the relative decline in power of the Third World during the debt crises of the 1980s. The context of historical efforts to resolve archival disputes and create legal frameworks in which to do so is also examined, before considering some of the most irreconcilable points of contention at the conference itself in part three. The concluding section considers some of the criticism leveled at the conference in its aftermath, in particular claims from those western nations which voted against it, while looking at both the subsequent consequences of this failure and the prospects for future agreements.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
This article seeks to delineate the class structure of indigenous society in Ulster in the period... more This article seeks to delineate the class structure of indigenous society in Ulster in the period between the beginning of large-scale colonisation at the start of the 17th century, and the 1641 rising. This has been attempted in order to see what insights can be gained from an analysis, in terms of class-struggle, of a society that has often been viewed solely in terms of ethnic or confessional conflict. Use has been made of primarily English sources, bearing in mind the requisite caution that needs to be employed when using sources that were often hostile and disparaging of Gaelic society. The 1641 depositions, for example, were taken with the expressed intention of recording Irish crimes and the sufferings of colonists; while in this sense biased in intention, they have nonetheless proved of particular value in the evidence they supply of social relations and contemporary perceptions of those relations, at the endpoint of the period under discussion. The evidence thus gleaned about class divisions among the Irish, and the way in which the plantation transformed this class structure, are used to examine several key questions about early colonial Ulster, such as to what extent the plantation represented a transformation of the economy of the province, and offered greater economic opportunities to the landless class; also examined is the hotly-disputed question of whether or not the plantation was a primary cause of the 1641 rising which, it is here argued, can be resolved by a consideration of divergent class interests among the native population.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Talks by Gerard Farrell
Talk from R.J. Hunter Postdoctoral Fellowship event on 13th September 2018.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Talk given at the The annual Tudor & Stuart Ireland Interdisciplinary Conference, NUI Galway in A... more Talk given at the The annual Tudor & Stuart Ireland Interdisciplinary Conference, NUI Galway in August, 2017. Audio from real-smart-media in association with History Hub.ie. GIven this was a talk heavily reliant on visuals, I have created a video accompanied by slides: https://vimeo.com/237877217
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Talk given at the Irish Centre for the Histories of Labour and Class annual conference in Novembe... more Talk given at the Irish Centre for the Histories of Labour and Class annual conference in November 2013.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Blogs by Gerard Farrell
https://aistriuchain.wordpress.com/2023/11/09/digitising-clo-gaelach/
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
A side project of mine-a blog entitled 'A contemporary history of the Muslim world'. I make no cl... more A side project of mine-a blog entitled 'A contemporary history of the Muslim world'. I make no claims to expertise on the subject but started this as my own little contribution to addressing the appalling ignorance of most people in the west to the historical context in which events in the Middle East unfold.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Reviews by Gerard Farrell
Irish Historical Studies, 2019
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Irish Historical Studies, 2021
https://doi.org/10.1017/ihs.2021.4
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Teaching Documents by Gerard Farrell
Course handbook for a course I designed and taught in Spring 2018
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Papers by Gerard Farrell
Farrell argues that the Ulster plantation should be ranked alongside other early-modern colonies ... more Farrell argues that the Ulster plantation should be ranked alongside other early-modern colonies within the Atlantic world. Several differing zones of colonial development in early-modern Ireland are posited, laying stress upon the isolation of Ulster from the metropole until the eve of colonisation. The consequently alien character of the province, he argues, gives it more in common with ‘New World’ colonies than any settlement occurring in Europe at the time. A specific focus on Ulster is maintained, except to consider the constitutional argument for regarding the island as a kingdom rather than a colony. Farrell demonstrates that this status was merely formal, and that the colonial nature of Ireland at this time is reflected in the reality of day-to-day life.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Irish Historical Studies, 2021
roads and other major routeways, as well as maritime siting near anchorages and landing places, a... more roads and other major routeways, as well as maritime siting near anchorages and landing places, allowed their inhabitants to participate in economic pursuits beyond their local spheres of influence, engaging in trade and transport along waterways that were much more economically viable than those overland. The social situations of tower houses are by no means limited to rural Ireland, as McAlister discusses later in this volume. Urban tower houses show that the castle type was not exclusively built by the gentry but also constructed by the mercantile classes, showing that a variety of social classes lived in them. Themulti-faceted functionalities of the tower house as both the nexus upon which settlements were focused and the facilitator of a larger network of trade and communication show just how emblematic the structure was to later medieval Ireland. Tower houses not only helped to build up the economy that supported the proliferation of the castle type throughout Ireland, but also provided the means by which the surpluses of that economy could be shared with the wider world. McAlister’s volume is not the book to purchase if you desire a close analysis of tower house architecture; rather, as the first comprehensive book to be published focusing exclusively on the tower house castle type, the author focuses instead on establishing tower houses as an essential aspect of the socio-economic structures pervading late medieval Ireland. The evidence presented is not too reliant on individual case studies or even solitary regions such as particular counties. Instead, McAlister paints with a broad brush to include evidence from tower houses all over Ireland, using the proliferation of this castle form itself as evidence for her hypothesis. The author’s decision to organise the volume as though the reader were slowly zooming out allows for an understanding of the multiple roles of tower houses incrementally, expanding from the immediate vicinity of tower houses to their position in the world at large. This book is a major contribution to Irish castle studies and scholarship at large, bridging the gap between one of the most prolific monument types in the Irish landscape and the socio-economic systems it was not only a part of, but facilitated. The volume is essential reading for anyone hoping to understand the inhabitants of tower houses, as well as those who built their lives around them. McAlister builds upon years of scholarship surrounding tower houses, coalescing previous research into a cohesive discussion of tower houses as emblematic of Irish society from 1300 to 1650. Her familiar writing style makes the information and evidence presented even more digestible, resulting in a book that is as important to the advancement of scholarship in Irish castle studies as it is accessible to readers curious about these prolific buildings. McAlister is to be commended highly for the quality of the text, as the author lays the groundwork here for substantive future endeavours into Irish castle studies, acting as a nexus for as many avenues of research as the tower house at the book’s core.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
This article seeks to delineate the class structure of indigenous society in Ulster in the period... more This article seeks to delineate the class structure of indigenous society in Ulster in the period between the beginning of large-scale colonisation at the start of the 17th century, and the 1641 rising. This has been attempted in order to see what insights can be gained from an analysis, in terms of class-struggle, of a society that has often been viewed solely in terms of ethnic or confessional conflict. Use has been made of primarily English sources, bearing in mind the requisite caution that needs to be employed when using sources that were often hostile and disparaging of Gaelic society. The 1641 depositions, for example, were taken with the expressed intention of recording Irish crimes and the sufferings of colonists; while in this sense biased in intention, they have nonetheless proved of particular value in the evidence they supply of social relations and contemporary perceptions of those relations, at the endpoint of the period under discussion. The evidence thus gleaned abo...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Uploads
Books by Gerard Farrell
Articles and book chapters by Gerard Farrell
This thesis examines the Vienna Convention on succession of States in respect of State Property, Archives and Debts, which was adopted in 1983 but subsequently failed to enter into force as too few states ratified it. Attention is given to the section of the Convention concerned specifically with the fate of archives in state succession, and the reasons why most of the major western nations, in particular those who had formerly or still possessed colonies, voted against the text. Given that this thesis analyses the failure of the Convention largely in terms of the political and historical circumstances surrounding it, particular attention is given to the context of decolonisation and Third World activism which sought to combat the neocolonial order which followed decolonisation, as well as the relative decline in power of the Third World during the debt crises of the 1980s. The context of historical efforts to resolve archival disputes and create legal frameworks in which to do so is also examined, before considering some of the most irreconcilable points of contention at the conference itself in part three. The concluding section considers some of the criticism leveled at the conference in its aftermath, in particular claims from those western nations which voted against it, while looking at both the subsequent consequences of this failure and the prospects for future agreements.
Talks by Gerard Farrell
Blogs by Gerard Farrell
Reviews by Gerard Farrell
Teaching Documents by Gerard Farrell
Papers by Gerard Farrell
This thesis examines the Vienna Convention on succession of States in respect of State Property, Archives and Debts, which was adopted in 1983 but subsequently failed to enter into force as too few states ratified it. Attention is given to the section of the Convention concerned specifically with the fate of archives in state succession, and the reasons why most of the major western nations, in particular those who had formerly or still possessed colonies, voted against the text. Given that this thesis analyses the failure of the Convention largely in terms of the political and historical circumstances surrounding it, particular attention is given to the context of decolonisation and Third World activism which sought to combat the neocolonial order which followed decolonisation, as well as the relative decline in power of the Third World during the debt crises of the 1980s. The context of historical efforts to resolve archival disputes and create legal frameworks in which to do so is also examined, before considering some of the most irreconcilable points of contention at the conference itself in part three. The concluding section considers some of the criticism leveled at the conference in its aftermath, in particular claims from those western nations which voted against it, while looking at both the subsequent consequences of this failure and the prospects for future agreements.