Messenger used his study to discuss the pitfalls and advantages of nativism as it applied to the folk people of the island. After seven centuries of English occupation, a movement of Irish patriots promoted what they saw as the essential elements of Irish identity, including language and religion. This led to many researchers, tourists, and authors holding up Inis Beag and the surrounding areas as examples of true Irish identity. According to Messenger, the island was the subject of a great many works he described as "romanticized," focusing on cultural forms that outsiders found attractive. These included "the traditional garb of the folk, their skill in rowing the famed canoe, called curach, the manner in which they manufacture soils and grow in them a variety of crops, and their Gaelic speech." Messenger was critical of the attitude of outsiders towards the purity of these customs. He found that 11 of the 111 adult males and 9 of the 85 adult females had given up the traditional local garb for imported styles from the mainland. This behaviour was especially prevalent among the younger women, with no adherents between the ages of 18 and 29. He also found that use of the local curach had declined in recent decades, from 30 to 50 three-man crews fishing nearly all year in the early 1900s to nine crews working from the island in 1960. And despite the nativist opinion of the region's Gaelic , in his visit to the island, Messenger found that essentially all of the islanders older than eight spoke English proficiently, mixed English regularly into their speech, and even confessed to their priests in English. He attributed the rise in English to a practical view of language; many young people emigrate and would be disadvantaged by speaking only Gaelic .
Messenger used his study to discuss the pitfalls and advantages of nativism as it applied to the folk people of the island. After seven centuries of English occupation, a movement of Irish patriots promoted what they saw as the essential elements of Irish identity, including language and religion. This led to many researchers, tourists, and authors holding up Inis Beag and the surrounding areas as examples of true Irish identity. According to Messenger, the island was the subject of a great many works he described as "romanticized," focusing on cultural forms that outsiders found attractive. These included "the traditional garb of the folk, their skill in rowing the famed canoe, called curach, the manner in which they manufacture soils and grow in them a variety of crops, and their Gaelic speech." Messenger was critical of the attitude of outsiders towards the purity of these customs. He found that 11 of the 111 adult males and 9 of the 85 adult females had given up the traditional local garb for imported styles from the mainland. This behaviour was especially prevalent among the younger women, with no adherents between the ages of 18 and 29. He also found that use of the local curach had declined in recent decades, from 30 to 50 three-man crews fishing nearly all year in the early 1900s to nine crews working from the island in 1960. And despite the nativist opinion of the region's Irish language , in his visit to the island, Messenger found that essentially all of the islanders older than eight spoke English proficiently, mixed English regularly into their speech, and even confessed to their priests in English. He attributed the rise in English to a practical view of language; many young people emigrate and would be disadvantaged by speaking only Irish .
R
Gaelic
Irish language
R
Gaelic
Irish