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Irish Journal of Anthropology 1 Vol. 12 (2) 2009 Irish Journal of Volume 12 (2) 2009 Anthropology Special Feature Marx on Primitive Communism: The Irish Rundale Agrarian Commune, its Internal Dynamics and the Metabolic Rift Group at Machaire Clochar, Gweedore, Donegal, circa 1890 (Glass Collection, Ulster Folk and Transport Museum) ‘Indifference toward fashion demonstrates an absence of individualistic striving to differentiate oneself, to separate oneself from the larger group.’ Georg Simmel, Philosophische Kultur 2nd edition (Potsdam, 1923), p.26. Irish Journal of Anthropology 2 Vol. 12 (2) 2009 Volume 12 (2), 2009 ISSN: 1393-8592 Irish Journal of Anthropology The Irish Journal of Anthropology is the organ of the Anthropological Association of Ireland. As such, it aims to promote the discipline of anthropology on the island of Ireland, north and south. It seeks to provide coverage of Irish-related matters and of issues in general anthropology and to be of interest to anthropologists inside and outside academia, as well as to colleagues in a range of other disciplines, such as Archaeology, Cultural Studies, Development Studies, Ethnology and Folk Studies, Gaeilge, Irish Studies, and Sociology. Editor: Dr Séamas Ó Síocháin, Department of Anthropology, NUI Maynooth. [email protected] Associate Editor: Dr Fiona Magowan, School of History and Anthropology, The Queen’s University of Belfast. [email protected] Editorial Advisory Board: Dr Dominic Bryan, School of History and Anthropology, The Queen’s University of Belfast Dr Anthony Buckley, Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra, Co. Down Dr Maurna Crozier, Northern Ireland Community Relations Council, Belfast Dr Fiona Larkan, Department of Anthropology, NUI Maynooth Dr. John Nagle, INCORE, University of Ulster, Derry Dr Carles Salazar, University of Lleida, Spain Professor Elizabeth Tonkin, Oxford, England Book Review Editors: Dr Chandana Mathur, Department of Anthropology, NUI Maynooth. [email protected]; Professor Máiréad Nic Craith, University of Ulster, Magee Campus. [email protected] Irish Language Editor: Dr Steve Coleman, Department of Anthropology, NUI Maynooth. [email protected] Journal Administrator and News Editor: Emma Heffernan, Department of Anthropology, NUI Maynooth. [email protected] Production Editor: Francisco Arqueros, c/o Department of Anthropology, NUI Maynooth. [email protected] Finances: Sheila Fitzgerald, AAI Treasurer, 17 Rosses Quay, Rostrevor, Co. Down BT34 3GL, Northern Ireland. [email protected] The Irish Journal of Anthropology appears twice a year, in Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter. Annual Subscriptions: Members: Waged – !30/£20; Student/Retired – !15/£10 (2009) Overseas (incl. P&P): !25/£17; Institutions: !80/£70 Orders, accompanied by payment, should be sent to Irish Journal of Anthropology, c/o Department of Anthropology, NUI Maynooth, Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. Telephone: +353 1 708 3984; fax: +353 1 708 3570; e-mail: [email protected] Members of the AAI receive the journal as part of their membership subscription. Information about membership can be found on the AAI web-site: www.anthropologyireland.org Advertising Rates: Full Page: !100; Half Page: !60; Quarter Page: !40 Irish Journal of Anthropology 3 Vol. 12 (2) 2009 Table of Contents Special Feature: The Irish Rundale 5 Eamonn Slater and Eoin Flaherty Marx on Primitive Communism: The Irish Rundale Agrarian Commune, its Internal Dynamics and the Metabolic Rift 27 Responses: Ted Benton, Martin J. Downes, Criostóir Mac Cárthaigh, Chandana Mathur, Nollaig Ó Muraíle Articles 35 Laura Fagerroos The Church and the Marketplace: The Development of Communal Identity in Ahlainen 40 Susanne Briggs The Blackboard or the Boma: The Effect of Education on Maasai Women’s Gender Roles 45 Caitríona Coen Groundhog gay: An Experience of Perpetual Liminality within a Communitas 50 Judith Okely Written Out and Written In: Inishkillane Remembered 56 Fiona Murphy ‘We took the children from their mothers’: A Reflection on the Politics of Apology, Recognition, and Respect in an Australian Context Book Reviews 63 Cleary, Joe, Outrageous Fortune: Capital and Culture in Modern Ireland; Dwan, David, The Great Community: Culture and Nationalism in Ireland; Lloyd, David, Irish Times: Temporalities of Modernity (Conor McCarthy) 65 Donnan, Hastings and Fiona Magowan (eds), Transgressive Sex: Subversion and Control in Erotic Encounters (Niamh Thornton) 66 Al-Haj, Majid and Rosemarie Mielke (eds), Cultural diversity and the empowerment of minorities: perspectives from Israel and Germany (Anthony Buckley) 67 Doyle, Roddy, The Deportees and Other Stories (Loredana Salis) 67 Clancy, Michael, Brand New Ireland? Tourism, Development and National Identity in the Irish Republic (Maeve Eileen Davey) 68 Gingrich, Andre and Marcus Banks (eds), Neo-Nationalism in Europe and Beyond: Perspectives from Social Anthropology (David Murphy) News Miscellany 70 Irish Journal of Anthropology 4 Vol. 12 (2) 2009 Editor’s Notes (IJA 12/2 2009) In this number we are happy to include a special feature on the topic of rundale. First introduced to the academic community by Estyn Evans seventy years ago (Evans 1939), it later became a major research topic among historical geographers in Queen’s University Belfast (e.g. McCourt 1947; Buchanan 1973). Anthropologists may be familiar with it from the work of Robin Fox on Tory Island (1979). After a lull of some years, rundale has again emerged in a number of disciplines as a topic of debate, including on the questions of its historical origins and its dynamics (e.g. Whelan 1997, Yager 2002, O’Sullivan and Downey 2008). Our lead article by Slater and Flaherty provides a comprehensive analysis of rundale as a system or series of systems, and it draws heavily on the comparative and historical work of Marx and Engels. As well as touching on patterns of land tenure, population increase, and Ireland’s incorporation into the wider world, it deals substantially with the themes of mode of production and of the structural tensions between communality and individualism, between the natural and the social, and between use-value and exchange-value (commoditization). Particular use is made of the ecological concept of metabolic rift. Given the multi-dimensional nature of the topic, the editor sought responses from scholars representing a number of disciplines, who could respond to different aspects of the article, including the theoretical framework, the historical aspect, and the ecological, cultural and linguistic dimensions. We are also happy in this number to continue our practice of publishing the best undergraduate theses in anthropology from NUI Maynooth (Coen and Fageroos, ex aequo) and from Queen’s University Belfast (Briggs). Authors – biographical notes Ted Benton is professor of sociology at the University of Essex, UK. He has published work on realist philosophy of social science, Marxian and other classical social theory, and, more recently, on environmental social science. He is also a well-known writer and photographer on natural history subjects. Susanne Briggs is completing a single honours Anthropology degree and due to graduate in June 2010. She hopes to continue with a Masters in Anthropology, with particular focus on issues of gender and power amongst Maasai women. Caitríona Coen holds a BA International"degree from the National University of Ireland Maynooth in Spanish and Anthropology and is currently enrolled in an MA programme in the Anthropology Department. Martin Downes is an agricultural ecologist and professor emeritus at the Department of Biology, NUI Maynooth. He has a long-standing interest in palaeoecology, particularly that of Céide Fields. He chairs the Agricultural History Society of Ireland. Laura Fagerroos holds a BA in Anthroplogy and Spanish from the National University of Ireland Maynooth and is a current MA student there in Anthropology and Development. Eoin Flaherty is currently"completing a doctoral thesis on socio-ecological approaches to the study of agricultural systems, with the rundale system as case study. His" main research interests are ecological and social theory, the historical geography of nineteenth-century Ireland, and historical-visual studies. His research is funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Críostóir Mac Cárthaigh’s published work includes articles on various aspects of oral literature and folk drama in Ireland, vernacular architecture, traditional boats and fishing, and the material culture of Atlantic island communities. Chandana Mathur lectures in the Department of Anthropology at the National University of Ireland Maynooth. Informed by the perspectives of anthropological political economy, her work is based on research conducted in North America, South Asia and among the South Asian diaspora."At present, she is engaged in co-editing, with Deana Heath, a book titled Communalism and Globalisation: South Asian Perspectives. Fiona Murphy is a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Anthropology, National University of Ireland Maynooth currently working on an IRCHSS-funded project (received by Dr Mark Maguire) entitled After Asylum: An Ethnographic Analysis of Refugee Integration. Judith Okely is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, Hull University and Deputy Director, The International Gender Studies Centre (IGS), Queen Elizabeth House (QEH), Oxford University. Her publications include The Traveller-Gypsies (1983), Simone de Beauvoir: