Island Endurance

"Beautifully written, sensitive, and insightful, this is historical anthropology at its best. Lash demolishes naïve and harmful narratives about western Ireland, weaving together tales from the past and present to reveal Inishark and Inishbofin as dynamic spaces of human engagement for thousands of years. The past and present of the islands come to life through his lively and intimate prose, as he convincingly argues for the value of an approach to heritage and sustainability that takes seriously the entanglement of humans, animals, and landscapes of memory and ritual. Thoroughly engaging."—Audrey Horning, editor of Becoming and Belonging in Ireland, AD 1200-1600
"Arising from important archaeological and ethnographic research, Island Endurance explores how the inhabitants of two Atlantic islands, both past and present, adapted to changing circumstances by drawing upon the rich heritage of these unique landscapes. Written in an engaging and accessible style, it is a model study with far-reaching implications that deserves to be widely read by archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, and anyone with an interest in ritual, heritage, and sustainability."—Tomás Ó Carragáin, author of Churches in the Irish Landscape AD 400-1100
"The heritage of Inishark and of Inishbofin includes medieval monastic sites and abandoned 19th-century homes and fields but also the dynamic cultural practices of today's islanders, who consciously engage with this "creative heritage" to face the challenges of contemporary island life and to situate themselves in the world. Using archaeological data, written records, oral tradition and participant observation, Ryan Lash writes a lyrical, sensitive and compelling account of these island communities past and present and looks to a sustainable future. A major work of scholarship."—Diarmuid Ó Giolláin, author of Locating Irish Folklore
"In this important book, Lash takes us on a journey to understand the central role of heritage in the social experience of people on the islands of Inishark and Inishbofin from the early medieval period to the present. Extensive, multidisciplinary research is enlivened by vignettes of life at different times in the past and the author's accounts of his own experiences on the islands, particularly the tending of sheep. While heritage is traditionally understood as providing a direct continuity with an often distant past, in an innovative approach Lash focuses on heritage as a creative and flexible phenomenon; made, developed and adapted to fit with and underpin changing patterns of life and community."—Gabriel Cooney, author of Death in Irish Prehistory