Ar Ghaineamh

Publication Instance Details #137

Publication Overview

Translation	Is Multilingual	Explicit Irish Context?	Ekphrasis	Has Paratext?	Reference to News, Media or Technology
No	No	Yes	No	No	No

Details

Human Rights Issues	Indigenous Rights (incl. culture & language) HR & Colonisation/Colonial Legacies Genocide
War / Genocide Referenced	Genocide: Genocide of indigenous people in USA (pre 20th century)
Irish Context	Irish Language/Culture Colonization and Colonial Legacy (Ireland)
Languages	Irish
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Collection
Notes	The speaker of the poem describes the treatment and living conditions of the Native Americans - their segregation from the rest of society in ghettos - their reservations - their loss of culture and traditional ways of life, their dispossession of their lands, and their reliance on casinos to make money. At the end of poem the speaker makes a comparison between the situation of the Native Americans and that of the people of the Gaeltacht - is there an implication of malign intentions on the part of Gaeltarra Éireann, the state body to protect the Irish language and Gaeltacht communities (until 2003)? The speaker implies that as the Native American casinos created issues for them, so too did the buildings of Gaeltarra Éireann for the people of the Gaeltacht - both of them were impermanent, 'build upon sand'.