The Merfolk and Infectious Diseases

Publication Instance Details #780

Publication Overview

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

Details

Human Rights Issues	Displacement/Forced Migration Health Indigenous Rights (incl. culture & language)
Irish Context	Emigration (from Ireland) Irish Language/Culture Other Great Famine (Ireland)
Languages	English
Original Language	Irish
Original Poem	Na Murúcha agus Galair Thógálacha
Original Author	Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
Genre	Part Of Lyric Sequence
Medium	Print Collection
Notes	This sequence of poems, 'Na Murúcha a Thriomnaigh', makes use of the international folk tale of the mermaid to construct an allegorical world in which the merpeople have left the water and now live uneasily among humankind on earth. In this poem, the speaker describes the various diseases and ailments which carry off a significant portion of the population of the merfolk. They are described as a 'virgin population' having no immunity against certain diseases in the host culture such as tuberculoisis, mumps, measles, malaria, and cholera. (This is reminiscent of certain Native peoples' susceptibility to Western diseases which decimated their populations). i.e. smallpox in Native American peoples. Numerous references to folk beliefs regarding disease. The Great Famine and Irish cultural loss is often understood to be implicit in this sequence.