If The Irish Ran The World (joanne Goodman Lectures)
by Donald Harman Akenson /
1997 / English / PDF
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Montserrat, although part of England's empire, was settled
largely by the Irish and provides an opportunity to view the
interaction of Irish emigrants with English imperialism in a
situation where the Irish were not a small minority among white
settlers. Within this context Akenson explores whether Irish
imperialism on Montserrat differed from English imperialism in
other colonies. Akenson reveals that the Irish proved to be as
effective and as unfeeling colonists as the English and the
Scottish, despite the long history of oppression in Ireland. He
debunks the myth of the "nice" slave holder and the view that
indentured labour prevailed in the West Indies in the seventeenth
century. He also shows that the long-held habit of ignoring
ethnic strife within the white ruling classes in the West Indies
is misconceived. If the Irish Ran the World provides interesting
insights into whether ethnicity was central to the making of the
colonial world and the usefulness of studies of sixteenth- and
seventeenth-century English imperialism in the Americas. It will
be the basis of the Joanne Goodman Lectures at the University of
Western Ontario in 1997.
Montserrat, although part of England's empire, was settled
largely by the Irish and provides an opportunity to view the
interaction of Irish emigrants with English imperialism in a
situation where the Irish were not a small minority among white
settlers. Within this context Akenson explores whether Irish
imperialism on Montserrat differed from English imperialism in
other colonies. Akenson reveals that the Irish proved to be as
effective and as unfeeling colonists as the English and the
Scottish, despite the long history of oppression in Ireland. He
debunks the myth of the "nice" slave holder and the view that
indentured labour prevailed in the West Indies in the seventeenth
century. He also shows that the long-held habit of ignoring
ethnic strife within the white ruling classes in the West Indies
is misconceived. If the Irish Ran the World provides interesting
insights into whether ethnicity was central to the making of the
colonial world and the usefulness of studies of sixteenth- and
seventeenth-century English imperialism in the Americas. It will
be the basis of the Joanne Goodman Lectures at the University of
Western Ontario in 1997.
