An Duchas Agus an Domhan Book

Gives an introduction to the study of Irish traditional society and of Irish folklore.

This book, entrely in Gaelic, introduces the field and the study of Irish folklore to Irish speakers. While the author's Locating Irish Folklore: Tradition, Modernity, Identity (CUP, 2000) deals with the intellectual problem of the invention of a concept of folklore and its application in an Irish context, An Dúchas Agus an Domhan describes in detail the rich traditional culture of the Gaeltacht to which folklorists applied their training and defines the field of folklore as a scholarly discourse. It is the first such book written primarily for an Irish readership and one of the very few in any language that considers both the nature of traditional society and the discourse of folklore together. It gives a thematic treatment of vernacular worlds—concentrating on 'time', 'place' and 'community'—and of their changing relationships with the widening horizons of the state, modernity, and globalization. It is based on the ninteenth, twentieth and twenty-first century evidence of folklore, anthropology, (auto)biographical literature, and history.

Cad is béaloideas ann agus cá seasann sé idir an dúchas agus an domhan? Tuigtear de ghnáth gur rud dúchasach agus gur ghné thábhachtach de chuid na sochaí traidisiúnta é an béaloideas. Ach bhí caidreamh riamh ag an sochaí thraidisiúnta leis an saol lasmuigh: ní raibh sí neamhspleách ar an stát, ar fhórsaí eacnamúla náisiúnta agus idirnáisiúnta, ar thiarnaí talún, ar an eaglais, ar an gcultúr léannta, ar idé-eolaíochtaí polaitiúla. Tugann an leabhar seo cur síos ar an gcultúr saibhir traidisiúnta ar chuir scoláirí béaloidis suim ann agus tugann sé sainmhíniú ar ghort sin an bhéaloidis mar dhioscúrsa léinn. Pléann sé go speisialta le trí théama ar leithligh: 'am', 'áit' agus 'pobal', agus tráchtann sé orthu i gcomhthéacs na sochaí traidisiúnta, leathnú an stáit, teacht chun cinn na nua-aoise agus géarú an domhandaithe. Úsáideann sé fianaise ón 19ú, 20ú agus 21ú haois, agus ón mbéaloideas, ón antraipeolaíocht, ó (dhír)bheathaisnéisí Gaeltachta agus ón stair. Is é an chéad bhunleabhar ar léann an bhéaloidis as Gaeilge é.