The Emigration of the Irish People during the Great Irish Famine (1845-1851) - Oral Presentation

Extract

[...] The Emigration of the Irish People during the Great Irish Famine (1845-1851) - Oral Presentation The ongoing climate change could lead to a huge drought and a global famine that would cost millions of lives and cause an unprecedented episode of migration. In this context, it is interesting to study one of the most devastating episodes of famine in global history, the Great Famine in Ireland, and its consequences. The Great Famine marks a milestone in the global history, a fortiori in the history of Ireland. [...]

[...] The first one gives an overview of Irish emigration during the Great Famine, providing figures and stats. The second chapter is dedicated to evaluating the impact of the Great Famine on Irish migration in Ireland. The main conclusion of that part is that Irish migration is a long-term phenomenon largely heightened by the Great Famine. Finally, the last part shows that the Great Famine led to consequences that are still current. Therefore, that part tackles issues such the Irish diaspora in English-speaking countries, the representation of Irish migrants and also the impact of the crisis on the current Irish society. [...]

[...] Most of the research on the Great Famine was led during the last two centuries, making recent research very limited. It is also noticeable that, sometimes, part of the research made is somehow biased. For instance, research made at the end of the Great famine serves nationalistic interest, as it places full responsibility on the British government. It is on that ground that nationalist parties advocated for the independence of Ireland. That highlights the difficulty to find objective sources and how I had to analyze each source very carefully. [...]

[...] I found that controversy highly interesting as it was strongly linked to the hypothesis of my study: how much did the Famine change the dynamics of emigration from Ireland? To answer that question, I used different resources. However, I mainly relied on the following articles: Yann Bévant's La Grande Famine en Irlande. 1845-1850. Histoire et représentation d'un désastre humanitaire, published in 2014. It helped me have an overview of the crisis. Moreover, part of the reading was dedicated to the emigration of Irish people to Northern America, which helped understanding the dynamics of such a migration. [...]