To watch: This week, we will watch episodes 4 & 5, Season 1, of the Netflix show 'Rebellion'
1.Did you enjoy episodes 4&5of the Netflix show'Rebellion'? If, so why? If not, why not?
2. Did you recognize any of the historical figures we have studied in class in the show?
3. List 2 historical references from the show that we have covered in class. Please describe how these were conveyed in the show.
4. Did the show give you a better understanding of the material we have covered in class so far?
5. Were there any songs in the show that we have covered in class?
sources:
https://www.historyireland.com/old-skibbereen-fenian-anthem-famine-lament/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=722S-m6T7Hw
https://open.spotify.com/album/14p25ZN9xDdhJP5Vkn1NG1?si=YBCtNzopRWSZQ4VTuxycbQ&nd=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncZc7GwpVXU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Sje2VYw99A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzXswoAUi0U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCbuRA_D3KU
https://www.irishamerica.com/2009/04/the-history-of-the-clancy-brothers/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1NGPFomPTY
https://vimeo.com/25229012
https://www.rte.ie/culture/2019/0424/1045331-oro-se-do-bheatha-abhaile/
https://open.spotify.com/track/2Ve6Sx21ylYJluYUSLtfAc?si=ec496994667d475d&nd=1
NB: If you need more sources tell me please!
“Then to Death Walked, Softly Smiling”: Violence and Martyrdom in Modern Irish Republican Ballads “Then to Death Walked, Softly Smiling”: Violence and Martyrdom in Modern Irish Republican Ballads Author(s): Seán Ó Cadhla Source: Ethnomusicology , Vol. 61, No. 2 (Summer 2017), pp. 262-286 Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of Society for Ethnomusicology Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/ethnomusicology.61.2.0262 REFERENCES Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/ethnomusicology.61.2.0262?seq=1&cid=pdf- reference#references_tab_contents You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms University of Illinois Press and Society for Ethnomusicology are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Ethnomusicology This content downloaded from ������������128.59.222.107 on Mon, 17 Dec 2018 19:50:34 UTC������������� All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/ethnomusicology.61.2.0262 https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/ethnomusicology.61.2.0262?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/ethnomusicology.61.2.0262?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents Vol. 61, No. 2 Ethnomusicology Summer 2017 © 2017 by the Society for Ethnomusicology “Then to Death Walked, Softly Smiling”: Violence and Martyrdom in Modern Irish Republican Ballads Seán Ó Cadhla / Dublin Institute of Technology Abstract. This article critically considers the representation of death within the song tradition of modern Irish Republicanism. I explore how such represen- tations have changed in parallel with the various ideological metamorphoses that Irish Republicanism has undergone, specifically in the twentieth century. I argue that the centrality of self- sacrifice has resulted in the development of ballad narratives that deliberately obfuscate on the issue of Republican vio- lence, resulting in the deaths of all Republican militants (regardless of cause or context), ultimately portrayed as a form of heroic self-martyrdom. Achoimre. San alt seo, déantar anailís chriticiúil ar léiriú an bháis i dtraidisiún amhránaíocht Phoblachtach na hÉireann. Tugtar faoi deara na hathruithe a d’éirigh don léiriú seo mar throradh ar na claochlaithe idé- eolaíochta éagsúla a tháinig ar an bPoblachtachas le linn an fichiú haois go háirithe. Maítear ann go maolaítear foréigean Poblachtach sna bailéid atá faoi chaibidil d’aon ghnó, chun bás an mhíleataigh Phoblachtaigh a chur in iúl mar fhéiníobairt laochúil, beag beann ar chúis nó ar chomhthéacs. Since the late eighteenth century, the political ballad has proven to be one of the most enduring and popular genres within the traditional song canon in Ireland, with output documenting the national struggle displaying both longev- ity and ubiquity (McCann 1995:52–54; McGimpsey 1982:7; McLaughlin and McLoone 2012:2; Zimmerman 1967:9–10). Historically, such narratives have displayed a broad and diverse sociocultural and political scope, with works documenting the deaths of militants occupying a notably prominent position within the tradition. This article examines how specific ideological tropes evi- dent within modern Irish Republicanism have been represented and interpreted This content downloaded from ������������128.59.222.107 on Mon, 17 Dec 2018 19:50:34 UTC������������� All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Ó Cadhla: “Then to Death Walked, Softly Smiling” 263 within the broad canon of Republican death ballads.1 An overview of some of the more dominant ideological tenets of Irish Republicanism is presented in order to provide a framework within which these death narratives may be contextualized. An analysis of a diverse body of musical work is undertaken so as to evaluate the representation of these ideological tropes via the medium of the popular political ballad in Ireland. Particular attention will be paid to time frames in which the motifs of martyrdom and self- sacrifice have predominated in Irish Republicanism, such themes being particularly prevalent during the various periods of Republican hunger strikes. The research will also demonstrate that such representations of sacrificial death are not solely restricted to ballads that detail acts of self- immolation; instead, these representations enjoy a significantly broader commonality across the canon, thus reflecting the widespread elevation of the tropes of sacrificial endurance and heroic martyrdom within the modern militant Republican tradition. From Disaster to Triumph: The “Perverse Psyche of Republicanism” While established commercial, social, and cultural links between the islands of Ireland and Britain have been documented from the fourth century onward (English 2006:29), the landing of Anglo- Norman forces in 1169 is traditionally regarded within popular Republican narrative as marking the initiation of a protracted campaign for the overall conquest of the entire island (Boyle 2011:93; Jackson 1971:23, 36–40).2 The centuries of war and plantation that ensued would ultimately lead to the complete displacement of the old Gaelic clann structures and the consolidation of British rule throughout Ireland.3 Campaigns—armed and otherwise—in opposition to the British politico- military presence in Ire- land have been well documented within scholarly discourse and do not require further attention within the parameters of the current research. However, such campaigns (particularly those from the early twentieth century onward), along with the intervening periods of relatively uneasy peace, have been regularly characterized by ideological splits within the armed groupings involved, which in turn have been mirrored by fissures in their respective political wings. The per- vasiveness of such organizational fracturing is noteworthy in that in the majority of instances, it has not been on the basis of the tactics employed; instead, it has primarily stemmed from the perceived “abandonment”—imagined or genu- ine—of what have come to be regarded as core ideological principles (Currie and Taylor 2011:98–99, 102–3; Sanders 2011:1–17).4 Despite such metamorphoses, Irish Republicanism has always retained as fundamental the pursuit and estab- lishment of an independent all- island republic free from all external political and military involvement. This objective is to be pursued by all means available, This content downloaded from ������������128.59.222.107 on Mon, 17 Dec 2018 19:50:34 UTC������������� All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 264 Ethnomusicology, Summer 2017 up to and including the use of physical force. While the “armed struggle” is described by Republicans as “an option of last resort” (B. O’Brien 1995:358), it has through time come to be regarded by some as constituting a de facto com- ponent of Republican ideology.5 Thus, for its more essentialist practitioners and advocates, political violence transcends mere tactic and has become an integral ideological principle in itself (Currie and Taylor 2011:103),6 a phenomenon that has infused the ideology with what Richard English has termed “a militancy proving more a matter of intense commitment than of practical fruitfulness” (2006:122). In tandem with these objectives and tactics, Irish Republicanism also exhibits a deeply rooted, quasi- theological adherence to self- sacrifice as an elementary prerequisite of national liberation, an ideological construct most famously extolled by Patrick Pearse at the graveside of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa in 1915.7 Such essentialism gained popularity from the late nineteenth century onward (Sweeney 2004:338; Zimmerman 1967:66, 69) but became deeply cal- cified within the Republican belief structure in the aftermath of the Easter 1916 Rising, following the execution of all sixteen of the principal leaders.8 Easter Week proved a totemic event in the Irish national struggle that for Republicans had “all the sacrificial significance of High Mass” (Coogan 2005:3), thus forever cementing the role of the sacrificial martyr within the physical- force tradition. The predominance of, and rigid adherence to, such an essentialized ideo- logical construct has regularly obfuscated—and, indeed, often superseded—the politico- military activity actually engaged in by Republicans. Thus, to the most doctrinaire and dogmatically pure Republicans, military failure via ideologi- cal adherence will ubiquitously trump political gain via expedient pragmatism (Frampton 2011:28, 83–85; Ó Broin 2009:13; Sanders 2011:9). This paradoxical construct has created what Patrick Bishop and Eamon Mallie have observed to be “the perverse psyche of Republicanism . . . turn[ing] disaster into an emotional triumph” (1987:455), a trope that predominates in the musical works under review. The concept of national freedom requiring a symbolic cleansing of the nation’s soul is not restricted to the actual death itself but is also evident within the hagiographic treatment of protracted endurance and suffering within Repub- lican popular culture. Tim Pat Coogan describes this ideological binary as “a dual standard of endurance as well as infliction” (1980:14), citing a speech by Irish Republican Army (IRA) hunger striker Terence MacSwiney as typical of the double- edged dynamic that predominates in physical- force Republicanism in Ireland.9 Similarly, Richard Kearney notes that “the violence of the IRA is unusual in that it is as much a violence suffered as a violence inflicted,” argu- ing that Republican armed activity essentially comprises “a violence to end all violence. . . . [It is] ‘sacrificial,’ in that it promotes suffering and bloodshed as prerequisite to ultimate justice, freedom and peace” (1980–81:62). This content downloaded from ������������128.59.222.107 on Mon, 17 Dec 2018 19:50:34 UTC������������� All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Ó Cadhla: “Then to Death Walked, Softly Smiling” 265 Kearney further observes that Republican violence promotes an ideological belief system that “invests their campaign of ‘resistance and suffering’ with the sanctity of an ancestral rite. The sacrificial victim must undergo his passion and crucifixion before arising to liberate his community from its bondage. By com- memorating the violence of their Fenian forebears, the IRA seem to be operating on the prerational and atavistic conviction that they can fulfil the redemptive promise of their martyrdom” (1980–81:62–63). While there is manifestly a “profoundly religious, Catholic quality” (English 2004:210) to this aspect of Republican ideology, self- immolation does have a well- attested secular tradition in Ireland as far back as the Brehon Laws of the pre- Norman era, during which it had significant legal standing (Coogan 1980:15; Kelly 1988:182–83, 241).10 Despite such well- established historical origins, the ideological centrality of self- immolation within Republicanism only came to prominence in the early twentieth century. It should be noted that the term “self- immolation” can often be the subject of academic subjectivity and rein- terpretation, and the term is used advisedly within the current research. Michael Biggs describes the phenomenon of self- immolation as “an indi- vidual intentionally killing himself or herself (or at least gambling with death) on behalf of a collective cause,” noting that “although the word ‘immolation’ strictly means ‘sacrifice,’ since the 1960s it has become synonymous with fiery death. My definition of self- immolation encompasses other methods of self- inflicted death” (2005:173, 174). He further broadens the definition by asserting that “martyrdom can resemble self- immolation” (174). He does, however, stop short of describing hunger striking as such, claiming that such death can be averted by the granting of concessions: “With self- immolation, by contrast, death is not conditional on the opponent’s (in)action” (174). Within academic discourse on Irish Republicanism, the term “self- immolation” is used consistently, often in significantly differing contexts. Hun- ger striking is referenced as self- immolation by George Sweeney in two separate articles, within both their texts and their titles: “Nor were the ten men who died at the Maze prison [in 1981] the first to do so from self- immolation” (1993:10); “Human sacrifice and self- immolation were prevalent both in Celtic culture and in pagan Irish mythology” (2004:337); “Self- immolation through hunger striking is not a phenomenon peculiar to Ireland” (343). Timothy Shanahan likewise comments: “Some of those who embarked on self- immolation [in 1981] were prevented from carrying out their martyrdoms by family interven- tions” (2009:51). Seán Moran goes beyond the parameters of the Irish hunger strike tradition, conflating self- immolation with the British execution of sixteen Republicans in the aftermath of the 1916 Rising: “[Patrick] Pearse recognized that this theology led to self- immolation, exchanging a wretched existence for everlasting life and eternal victory” (1991:20). D. George Boyce deploys similar usage, referencing “the personal and psychological reasons why, in the end, This content downloaded from ������������128.59.222.107 on Mon, 17 Dec 2018 19:50:34 UTC������������� All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 266 Ethnomusicology, Summer 2017 self- immolation was [Patrick Pearse’s] only choice. Death compensated for fail- ure in life” (1996:168). Thus, the sacrificial deaths narrated in the ballads under review, while not falling into the strict definition of self- immolation tradition- ally deployed, do have a profoundly self- immolative context within the Irish national struggle. That this ideological shift toward the lionizing of martyrdom was also reflected in the attendant ballad tradition has been noted by George Zimmerman (1967:69–72), who remarked that the “doctrine of ‘blood sacrifice’ and of messianic martyrdom does not belong to the nineteenth century street ballads. . . . It became really popular after Easter Week [1916]” (71–72).11 Despite the longevity of the Republican song tradition previously refer- enced, the position of such ballads within Irish folk music has undergone some considerable change in recent decades in terms of performance, style, and popu- larity. Until the 1970s, such works enjoyed a broad