Report # 3
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Report # 3
Local Irish personalities usually experience relatively high levels of satisfaction and quality of life in rural areas. On the other hand, other research has indicated there is a high incidence of suicide amongst local Irish because of cases of economic problems, marital separation, and mental illnesses. Nancy Scheper-Hughes notes that in rural settings, it was common for the population to engage in typical traditions of farming, fishing and engaging in regular drinks in local social venues such as bars. She notes that primogeniture remains a common practice amongst the Irish, with the sons expected to take part in customary practices of inheritance, whereby the father-patriarch had the preserve to select the son who would take up the family farm or home and continue with the legacy established by the family.
However, with globalization and economic growth, those who were left behind to look after the farms experienced hatred and jealousy towards those who had been provided with the opportunity to explore the cities and more so foreign lands such as the United States. The text is illustrative of the apprehensive attitude of local Irish people towards strangers given the underlying assumptions amongst outsiders over the presence of numerous challenges faced by the Irish people (Scheper-Hughes, 2008). In her interactions with Martin and his family, the author notes that she faced hostility and rejection because of the accounts she provided in her previous works. The issues she described, that included various personal accounts of parties she interacted with during her initial stay in rural Ireland.
Martin and his older sister Aine illustrate the disdain that rural people have towards outsiders and more so those who venture into the cities to pursue education and success. She discusses her experiences with “Irish madness,” given that she was an outsider and possibly an outcast in the foreign community. She explores the incidence of mental illnesses in Ireland, and why the country has one of the highest cases of mental illnesses in the world. In addition, the discussion also includes the need to understand the use of schizophrenia as a primary basis for diagnoses of mental institutions in Ireland (Scheper-Hughes, 2008). She claims that by understanding the incidence of mental illnesses in Ireland it would become possible to learn new issues and perspectives about Irish culture and society as a whole.
She claims that based on the ideas and theories of Michel Foucault, the behavior of a society is revealed through the issues and phenomena it rejects, confines, and hides from outsiders (Scheper-Hughes, 2008). The incidence of mental illnesses in Irish society could be used as a projection of the specific Irish themes and conflicts prevalent in both urban and rural communities. She questions the high number of mental illnesses cases in the remote and presumably bucolic western locations of Ireland. She also explores the factors that make the Irish susceptible to mental illnesses. It is evident that extreme behavior of eccentricity was acceptable and praised preferably if it was because of spirituality. It emerges that the anomic rural Irish culture was declining because of the effects of British colonization.
The Irish society has experienced numerous changes as the old ways are abolished such as the presence of subsistence based economic models that paved way for the introduction of capitalistic models of production of goods and services especially in the rural areas. This brought about symptoms of malaise such as decline in rural populations especially in the western villages as a result of migration and celibacy. The author also notes of other symptoms of malaise such as over-dependency on welfare systems amongst the young, displacement of farmers, fishermen and shepherds, furthermore, issues such as depression that gave rise to alcoholism and incidences of mental illnesses were contributing significantly to the high number of psychiatric cases in Ireland on a global scale.
The author notes of the presence of a trend in the rural areas whereby the first born sons and daughters were provided with better opportunities than the lastborn children who were confined to taking care of the farms after the other children had emigrated into cities and foreign countries upon achievement of adult statuses (Scheper-Hughes, 2008). The rural families seemingly had successful first-born sons, whereas the last-born sons were presumably hopeless, stigmatized, and dejected bachelors with minimal prospects for success. The aspirations amongst parents towards success, status, and achievements were primarily based on the first-born children and numerous sacrifices were made to improve the chances of success even at the expense of the last-born children.
However, with Ireland’s entry into the European Union, farming has been relegated into a pastime and unreliable economic activity, only if it is executed on a large-scale manner. It can be noted that the conduct of the rural Irish communities resonates with the behavior of populations in confined and depressed rural areas (Scheper-Hughes, 2008). The Irish farms families always sought to ensure the security of the remaining children by providing them with opportunities for engaging in commerce and other trades, which were becoming increasingly relevant and important in a changing Irish society because of globalization (Scheper-Hughes, 2008)..
She also notes of the importance of religiosity in Irish culture given that majority of these rural areas were predominantly adherents of the Catholic Church. This forms an integral part of the culture, behavior, and attitudes held by the existing members of the community, with focus on adhering to the teachings provided in the Catholic Church (Scheper-Hughes, 2008). The Irish farms remain an integral part of the rural Irish communities as they affirm the sense of heritage and adherence to precedence of traditional culture established by their ancestors.
Reference
Scheper-Hughes, N. (2008). Saints, scholars, and schizophrenics: Mental illness in rural Ireland. Princeton, NJ: Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic.