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Ireland's Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University publishes Famine Folios, a unique resource for students, scholars and researchers, as well as general readers, covering many aspects of the Famine in Ireland from 1845-1852 - the worst demographic catastrophe of nineteenth-century Europe. The essays are interdisciplinary in nature, and make available new research in Famine studies by internationally established scholars in history, art history, cultural theory, philosophy, media history, political economy, literature and music.During the peak years of the great famine at least 750,000 men, women, and children died from either starvation or disease. At the same time roughly 350,000 individuals were driven out of their dwellings. Overall the population of Ireland fell from some 8.5 million people in 1845 to around 6.5 million in 1851. This ominous drain of humanity continued at a slower rate well into the twentieth century.Whereas nature could be blamed for the lethal effects of acute hunger or malnutrition, human agency caused much of this devastating loss owing to mass evictions of the poorest tenants and squatters after the agent or bailiff had served them with the dreaded Notice To Quit. This richly illustrated pamphlet seeks to contextualize the mass evictions by focussing on the ideological and economic factors as well as the role of religious and racial prejudice in prompting owners to rid their estates of what was known as a "surplus population." Determined to avoid paying for the maintenance of unprofitable tenants and squatters, landlords sought to avoid insolvency by expelling these pauperized peasants. After destroying their cabins, they consolidated all these small holdings into larger farms or cattle ranches that were rented to solvent tenants. Relying on the laws governing land tenure, letting contracts, and rent, these landlords used the mechanism of eviction to ensure that their estates would become profitable enough to pay for their own privileged way of life.Whether or not the victims of eviction received private or public assistance to emigrate overseas, the results of these clearances were much the same. Thousands of acres were converted to pasturage in parts of Munster and Connaught and small villages or clachans were abandoned. Only the skeletal remains of stone cottages remained - some of which can still be seen today.No wonder that many Irish contemporaries called the evictors "exterminators. "

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The heroics and humanitarian contributions of those who came to the aid of their fellow men and women during the Great Hunger of 1845 and 1852 has been largely ignored and forgotten until recently. Many of the neglected heroes were prepared to put their lives on the line and, in a number of instances, suffered permanent health damage in coming to the aid of the starving and diseased. They include landlords, poets, clergymen and philanthropists. This volume follows on from the collection of essays on Famine Heroes and shows that there were many who were on the front line in coming to the assistance of their fellow man during this period of large-scale emigration, starvation and death. At a time when the world continues to deal with the horrors and legacies of the COVID pandemic with many front line workers putting their lives at risk, the heroics of those who gave their time, energy and resources-and lives-during the calamity of the Great Hunger is recorded and acknowledged in this collection. This edited collection is a follow up to Heroes of Ireland's Great Hunger (2021)

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Ireland's Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University publishes Famine Folios, a unique resource for students, scholars and researchers, as well as general readers, covering many aspects of the Famine in Ireland from 1845 - 1852 - the worst demographic catastrophe of nineteenth-century Europe. The essays are interdisciplinary in nature, and make available new research in Famine studies by internationally established scholars in history, art history, cultural theory, philosophy, media history, political economy, literature and music. This publications initiative is devised to augment the Museum experience, and is part of the Museum's commitment to making its collection accessible to audiences of all ages and levels of educational interest. The booklets are produced to the highest level, beautifully illustrated with works from the Museum and related collections. It ensures that audiences have access to the latest scholarship as it pertains to both the historical and contemporary dimensions of the collection.The absence of photographs of the Irish Famine has been attributed to the shortcomings of a medium then it its infancy, but it may also be due to certain limitations in the visible itself. Susan Sontag argued that images can evoke sentimental responses but cannot address wider political questions of obligation and justice. Luke Gibbons revisits representations of the Famine, particularly those in Ireland's Great Hunger Museum to argue that images can not only give visual pleasure but demand ethical interventions on the part of spectators. This fusing of sympathy and affective response with the right of redress is conveyed by a 'judicious obscurity,' a determination not to show all, which places an obligation on the spectator to complete what is beyond representation, or what is left to the imagination.

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