That Deep Relationship with the Locale: Community and Place in Dún Chaoin, County Kerry
Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
Winter 2021
Abstract
Psychologies are often rooted in and revealed through place and physical setting. The West Kerry Gaeltacht looms large in the Irish literary imagination: Tomás Ó Criomhthain, Peig Sayers, Muiris Ó Súilleabháin, Seán Ó Ríordáin, Pádraig Ó Cíobháin, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Dairena Ní Chinnéide, Colm Breathnach, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, not to mention Ryan's Daughter, Far and Away, Star Wars, and on and on. This particular landscape operates at a symbolic and cultural level far, far beyond what its population or material resources demand. But for those who live and work in this microcultural and linguistic sphere, the relationship is different. It is individualized, multi-seasonal, and generational. It is a lived experience rather than a textual or visual experience, grounded in memories and emotions rather than in Google maps.
Recommended Citation
De Mórdha, D. (2021). That deep relationship with the Locale: Community and place in Dún Chaoin, County Kerry. New Hibernia Review 25(4), 55-78. doi:10.1353/nhr.2021.0049
Comments
Dáithí de Mórdha, an ethnologist and historian from County Kerry, is adjunct instructor in history and anthropology at Sacred Heart University in Dingle.