Migrancy, Memory and Repossession: Women on the Historical Margins

Product Description The writing of women's history has witnessed a huge increase in recent decades. In the past, the focus of some of this work was the representation of the heroine or the grand dame . Recent theoretical writing, particularly as relating to historical anthropology, has focussed on a more rounded view of women s historical representation and experience, however. This book explores aspects of Western visual culture and the cultures of so-called marginal groups, groups which have, as yet, seen little light shed on them. By analysing the discursive and hidden histories of a range of women artists who worked on the periphery of mainstream society or whose representational subjects were deemed marginal (Travellers, Roma (Gypsies and Circus people)), it is possible to come to some new conclusions regarding the historical relationships that have existed between different cultures and peoples. Such a process can generate a better understanding of the shifting power dynamic as between diverse historical phenomena. It is through such explorations also that we can enable the historical recovery and emergence of new identities in an increasingly multicultural world. About the Author Dr. Michael Hayes works as a Lecturer (part-time) and as a Librarian at the University of Limerick. He lectures on a number of History, Politics and Social Studies courses incorporating Traveller, Roma and Migration/ Diaspora Studies. He has written/co-edited more than forty books including Irish Travellers: Representations and Realities - (2006); On the Margins of Memory: Recovering the Migrant Voice - (2007); American Outsider : Stories from the Irish Traveller Diaspora (2008). Úna Ní Aodha is a visual artist working in Galway city, Ireland. She is a graduate of the Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology and the Crawford School of Art, Cork. She currently teaches art and exhibits when she can. She has also designed book covers for various publications.