Presenter Information

Ruby LewisFollow

Start Date

5-19-2021 1:20 PM

End Date

5-19-2021 2:35 PM

Disciplines

History

Subjects

Famines -- Ireland -- History -- 19th century, Ireland -- History -- Famine (1845-1852), Great Britain -- Foreign economic relations -- Ireland, Ireland -- Foreign economic relations -- Great Britain, Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1837-1901, Ireland -- Social conditions -- 19th century

Abstract

The Irish potato famine is well-known for the suffering and death it inflicted upon the masses of Irish peasantry between 1845 and 1848. The famine is often remembered and mourned as the tragic but unavoidable result of natural circumstances, and the blight that swept through the potato crop year after year is attributed as the sole cause of starvation. This misrepresentation of the famine’s history ignores the role of the British colonizer state in establishing conditions in Ireland that led to famine and exacerbating the suffering of the Irish through neglect. This paper explores the role of the British colonial government in Ireland in causing and amplifying the negative impacts of the Irish potato famine.

Notes

3rd place winner of the Karen E. Hoppes Young Historians Award for Outstanding Research and Writing.

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Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/35831

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May 19th, 1:20 PM May 19th, 2:35 PM

Session 1: Panel 1: Presenter 1 (Paper) -- “To Hell or Connaught:” How British Colonizers Both Caused and Benefitted from the Irish Potato Famine

The Irish potato famine is well-known for the suffering and death it inflicted upon the masses of Irish peasantry between 1845 and 1848. The famine is often remembered and mourned as the tragic but unavoidable result of natural circumstances, and the blight that swept through the potato crop year after year is attributed as the sole cause of starvation. This misrepresentation of the famine’s history ignores the role of the British colonizer state in establishing conditions in Ireland that led to famine and exacerbating the suffering of the Irish through neglect. This paper explores the role of the British colonial government in Ireland in causing and amplifying the negative impacts of the Irish potato famine.