History Of Islands Research Articles

The Scattering: a Family History for a Floating World

Abstract This essay is an experiment in family history, inspired by a journey to scatter my father’s ashes on Scattery – the island in the Shannon estuary where my grandmother was born and raised. It explores how my family’s story illuminates the history of small Irish islands and of two much bigger islands, Ireland and Britain. Island stories replay in microcosm, and with great intensity, broader narratives of Irish and British history since the famine. But they also muddy these narratives with the idiosyncratic, granular experiences of a precise and bounded place. They put human flesh and bones on abstract nouns like family, community, modernity, emigration and exile. In every island story – Scattery as my father’s idyllic land of endless summer, Ireland as the home of sturdy children and happy maidens, Britain as proud island nation taking back control of its borders – lies a fantasy of homogeneity and readability. Even the smallest islands have multilayered histories; and then, as they disperse their peoples across the world as small islands do, those histories keep multiplying. Our journey back to the island may have begun as a search for origins but it ended up revealing the heterogeneity and unrecoverability of the past.

Abstract of: Paradise Fallen: Islands, Archipelagos and Xenoepistemics

Abstract of: Paradise Fallen: Islands, Archipelagos and Xenoepistemics

Searching for Paumanok: Methodology for a Study of Library of Congress Authorities and Classifications for Indigenous Long Island, New York

ABSTRACT Part 1 of “Searching for Paumanok: A Study of Library of Congress Authorities and Classifications for Indigenous Long Island, New York” evaluated Library of Congress (LC) bibliographic tools and sources for description and arrangement of Indigenous Long Island collections. Part 2 details the processes for identifying and assessing subject headings, names, and classifications with an emphasis on decolonizing methodologies. The authors discuss practical strategies for examining representations of Indigenous peoples and their homelands in LC Authorities. The study culminates with a knowledge organization schema to improve bibliographic control and understandings of Indigenous Long Island history and culture.

Phylogeography of cicadas on continental and oceanic islands in the northwestern Pacific region

AbstractAimGenetic differentiation of terrestrial organisms among islands is assumed to be affected by the geological history of the islands, such as the time elapsed since the formation of islands or straits. Cicadas are generally poor dispersers, but some cicada groups have colonised continental and oceanic islands and evolved into endemic species. Here, we focused on a cicada group in the northwestern Pacific region to reveal the association between intra‐ and interspecific genetic differentiation and the geological history of islands for cicadas on continental islands. We also clarified whether colonisation of oceanic islands was achieved by long‐distance dispersal or artificial introduction.LocationJapanese Archipelago, Ogasawara Islands, Ryukyu Archipelago.TaxonCicadas of the genus Meimuna (Hemiptera: Cicadidae).MethodsWe performed phylogenetic analysis, divergence time estimation, and ancestral area reconstruction using two mitochondrial and four nuclear gene sequences and population genetics analyses, including Bayesian skyline plotting using a mitochondrial gene sequence.ResultsMeimuna opalifera in the Japanese Archipelago, which was connected to the continent during the glacial periods, diverged from the continental populations 0.4 million years ago (Ma). In the Ryukyu Archipelago, which became disconnected from the continent earlier, two endemic species Meimuna kuroiwae and M. oshimensis diverged 2.4 Ma; these species showed differences in intraspecific genetic differentiation and range expansion. Furthermore, Meimuna iwasakii colonised the South Ryukyus from Taiwan Island later than 1.4 Ma, whereas M. boninensis, which is endemic to the oceanic Ogasawara Islands, diverged from M. kuroiwae in the Middle Ryukyus 1.04 Ma.Main conclusionsGenetic divergence among Meimuna species was larger on the continental islands that disconnected earlier, as was expected from the geological history of the islands. However, the pattern of intraspecific genetic differentiation differed between species within the same island region, possibly due to their ecological characteristics. In addition, colonisation of oceanic islands was achieved by long‐distance (possibly wind‐borne) dispersal from the continental islands. Thus, the formation of island cicada fauna was affected by islands’ geological history and species’ ecological characteristics, as well as accidental long‐distance dispersal events.

Origin and dispersion pathways of guava in the Galapagos Islands inferred through genetics and historical records.

Guava (Psidium guajava) is an aggressive invasive plant in the Galapagos Islands. Determining its provenance and genetic diversity could explain its adaptability and spread, and how this relates to past human activities. With this purpose, we analyzed 11 SSR markers in guava individuals from Isabela, Santa Cruz, San Cristobal, and Floreana islands in the Galapagos, as well as from mainland Ecuador. The mainland guava population appeared genetically differentiated from the Galapagos populations, with higher genetic diversity levels found in the former. We consistently found that the Central Highlands region of mainland Ecuador is one of the most likely origins of the Galapagos populations. Moreover, the guavas from Isabela and Floreana show a potential genetic input from southern mainland Ecuador, while the population from San Cristobal would be linked to the coastal mainland regions. Interestingly, the proposed origins for the Galapagos guava coincide with the first human settlings of the archipelago. Through approximate Bayesian computation, we propose a model where San Cristobal was the first island to be colonized by guava from the mainland, and then, it would have spread to Floreana and finally to Santa Cruz; Isabela would have been seeded from Floreana. An independent trajectory could also have contributed to the invasion of Floreana and Isabela. The pathway shown in our model agrees with the human colonization history of the different islands in the Galapagos. Our model, in conjunction with the clustering patterns of the individuals (based on genetic distances), suggests that guava introduction history in the Galapagos archipelago was driven by either a single event or a series of introduction events in rapid succession. We thus show that genetic analyses supported by historical sources can be used to track the arrival and spread of invasive species in novel habitats and the potential role of human activities in such processes.

Paleogeographic position of the central Dodecanese Islands, southeastern Greece: The push-pull of Pelagonia

Abstract The paleogeographic position of the central Dodecanese Islands at the transition between the Aegean and Anatolian plates plays a considerable role in understanding the link between both geologically unique domains. In this study, we investigate the tectonic history of the central Dodecanese Islands and the general correlation with the Aegean and western Anatolian and focus on the poorly studied islands of Kalymnos and Telendos. Three different major tectonic units were mapped on both islands from bottom to top: (1) The Kefala Unit consists of late Paleozoic, fossil-rich limestones, which have been deformed into a SE-vergent fold-and-thrust belt sealed by an up to 200-m-thick wildflysch-type olistostrome with marble and ultramafic blocks on a scale of tens of meters. (2) The Marina Basement Unit consists of a Variscan amphibolite facies basement with garnet mica schists, quartzites, and amphibolites. (3) Verrucano-type formation violet shales and Mesozoic unmetamorphosed limestones form the Marina Cover Unit. Correlation of these units with other units in the Aegean suggests that Kalymnos is paleogeographically located at the southern margin of the Pelagonian domain, and therefore it was in a structurally upper tectonic position during the Paleogene Alpine orogeny. New white mica 40Ar/39Ar ages confirm the Carboniferous deformation of the Marina Basement Unit followed by a weak Triassic thermal event. Single-grain white mica 40Ar/39Ar ages from pressure solution cleavage of the newly defined Telendos Thrust suggest that the Marina Basement Unit was thrusted toward the north on top of the Kefala Unit in the Paleocene. Located at a tectonically upper position, the units exposed in the central Dodecanese escaped subduction and the syn-orogenic, high-pressure metamorphism. However, these units were affected by post-orogenic extension, and the contact between the Marina Basement Unit and the non-metamorphic Marina Cover Unit has been reactivated by the cataclastic top-to-SSW, low-angle Kalymnos Detachment. Zircon (U-Th)/He ages from the Kefala and Marina Basement Units are ca. 30 Ma, which indicates that exhumation and cooling below the Kalymnos Detachment started in the Oligocene. Conjugate brittle high-angle normal fault systems, which resulted in the formation of four major WNW-ESE–trending graben systems on Kalymnos, localized mainly in the Marina Cover Unit and probably rooted in the mechanically linked Kalymnos Detachment. Since Oligo-Miocene deformation in the northern Dodecanese records top-to-NNE extension and the Kalymnos Detachment accommodated top-to-SSW extension, we suggest that back-arc extension in the whole Aegean realm and transition to the Anatolian plate is bivergent.

Arancini, Identity, and the Refugee Debate in Sicily

In August of 2018, the Italian national government prohibited North African passengers onboard the Diciotti from disembarking in Catania, Sicily. The ship had docked amid an ongoing debate over how Italy should respond to an increasing number of immigrants and refugees arriving to the nation’s shores. Pro-migrant Sicilians came to the dock wielding arancini--fried rice balls--which are emblematic of the island's history and culture, as a way to symbolically welcome the migrants onboard the Diciotti. Nationalist Sicilians came as well to counter-protest the pro-migrant group. This paper asks first, who are the opposing groups (pro-migrant and nationalist Sicilians) and why did they adopt arancini? Second, how does arancini become a symbol of welcome and at the same time inhospitality? Third, how does the encounter become a stage for the larger debate over the meaning of identity in Sicily? By shifting the focus towards the host population and how it contests the meanings of such important local symbols, we capture the complexities of reception and debates over how natives perceive and receive migrants.

Kanne Lobal: A conceptual framework relating education and leadership partnerships in the Marshall Islands

Kanne Lobal: A conceptual framework relating education and leadership partnerships in the Marshall Islands

The Occupation of Havana: War, Trade, and Slavery in the Atlantic World

The Occupation of Havana: War, Trade, and Slavery in the Atlantic World

Nomadic identities, archipelagic movements, and island diasporas

Nomadic identities have shaped island histories and archipelagic communities since the emergence of the Westphalian state. In the era of postcoloniality, settler colonial realities, decolonial movements, and now climate change, the processes of forced and involuntary migrations as well as states of internal disaffiliation have accentuated the discontinuities between citizenship and island subjects. This special section of Island Studies Journal offers a comprehensive look at how island mobilities and archipelagic diasporas in formation have shaped contemporary notions of nomadic belonging. Islands have historically been entities whose political struggles for citizenship have been frequently repressed. This section explores island becoming, displaced and migrant archipelagic affiliations, and emerging historical understandings of nomadic citizenship.

Gender, Health, and Society in Contemporary Latin America and the Caribbean, by Ronnie Shepard & Shir Lerman Ginzburg (eds.)

(Cloth US$90.00) Gender, Health, and Society in Contemporary Latin America and the Caribbean brings together scholars and practitioners heralding from cultural and medical anthropology, social work, sociology, social psychology, public health, and other related disciplines, in a collection that exemplifies the combined insights of intersectionality theory and engaged ethnography. Sham Estelle Brown shows how parents of children with sickle cell disease in Guadeloupe do not attend a major fundraiser on World Sickle Cell Day because people in Guadeloupe are concerned about being seen and labeled as 'the parent with the sick kid' (p. 93). [...]the gendered conceptualization of sickle cell disease underscores the ways in which power, class, race, gender, and culture (p. 99)-shaped by the island's history of colonialism and slavery- impact peoples' understandings of who gets sick and why.

Haematology, serum biochemistry and mineral profiles of Trinket cattle, an endangered feral cattle associated with the colonial history of Nicobar

Trinket cattle is a highly endangered feral cattle of Trinket Island, linked with the colonial history of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Danish people during their colonial time introduced these cattle in Trinket Island. Great Sumatra earthquake and Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 has forced these cattle to become feral in nature. Due to negligence, the cattle is at the brink of extinction and only around 150 of descendants of the cattle are reported. In the present study, the haematology, serum biochemistry and mineral profiles of Trinket cattle were evaluated. Study indicated that all the values were under the normal physiological range. These findings of this study may serve as reference values in which alterations due to metabolic, nutrient deficiency, physiological and health status can be compared for diagnostic and therapeutic purpose.

Editors' Introduction: Women's Health and Reproductive Justice in Ireland

Editors' Introduction:Women's Health and Reproductive Justice in Ireland Cara Delay (bio) and Claire Bracken (bio) We began conceiving of this special issue in the heady weeks and months following the May 2018 vote to repeal the republic's antiabortion Eighth Amendment (1983). For just a moment all things seemed possible in terms of Irish women's health-care rights and realities. Even then, however, our training in reproductive justice—a framework created by American Black women encouraging us to move beyond a rights-based or legalistic framework to instead focus on intersectional access to women's bodily autonomy and the real-world contexts of reproduction (Ross, Radical Reproductive Justice; Ross, "What Is Reproductive Justice?"; Sister Song; Silliman et al.)—cautioned us against being overly optimistic. In working and living in the United States, we knew firsthand that legality often is less important to abortion access than a person's race or ethnicity, region, immigration status, and/or socioeconomic status.1 In late 2018, despite the referendum in the republic, the actual abortion legislation that would emerge was unclear. Moreover, Ireland's healthcare system, especially for women, had long been, as Jo Murphy-Lawless's work both here and previously has exposed, particularly dismal (Murphy-Lawless, "The Silencing of Women in Childbirth"; Murphy-Lawless, Reading Birth and Death). When limited legal abortion was introduced in the republic in early 2019, and, later that year, Northern Ireland took steps to decriminalize abortion, it became evident that actually providing abortion services island-wide would be a [End Page 5] complicated endeavor, one that necessitated a careful examination of the entire health-care system (Bloomer et al.). Thus a more general context of women's health in Ireland helps to elucidate and unpack the complexities and impact of the postrepeal moment. This is just one of the reasons that this special issue's substantial charting of the repeal campaign, momentum, and moment is placed alongside work that explores women's health in Ireland more generally, both past and present. Reproductive Justice and the Politics of Women's Health The legacies of the past—the shame conjoined with female sexuality, the "architecture of containment" (Smith), and "shame-industrial complex" (Hogan, Republic of Shame) that placed the "deviant" in institutions, and the reality that the state consistently "has protected its institutions rather than women themselves" (Murphy-Lawless in this issue)—not only troubled Irish women's access to legal abortion but also affected the health care that they received more generally, North and South. As several essays in this issue suggest, the island's history of institutionalization in Magdalen laundries, asylums, and mother-and-baby homes should also be read alongside the realities of inadequate health care for women and their oppressions by and through the medical establishment. Biopower, writes Abby Bender in this issue, "seeps into the other spaces of the nation." More specifically, the essays collated here encourage us to expand the notion of Smith's "architecture of containment" to include hospitals and indeed all health-care systems on the island.2 Murphy-Lawless's essay, for example, explains how the maternity-care system's neoliberal, "consumer-choice" worldviews and policies have resulted in not only deficient care but in some cases tragic and unnecessary maternal deaths. The Irish health-care system's neglect of and negligence toward women is also a key focus of Beth Sundstrom's article in this issue on the cervical-cancer prevention crisis in Ireland. So too is Luz Mar Gonzalez-Arias's analysis of Celia de Fréine's poetry collection Blood Debt, an important work that stages a powerful reckoning of the medical establishment with respect to the hepatitis C scandal, which saw 1,600 women contract the virus through infected Anti-D [End Page 6] immunoglobulin in the 1970s and 1990s. Through the voice of a poetic speaker who was infected with hepatitis C, de Fréine's collection hauntingly explores the politics of women's embodiment, health, and trauma. This special issue of Éire-Ireland contains one of de Fréine's poems, "scéal scéil"/"hearsay," from Fiacha Fola (2004) and Blood Debts (2014), which...

A Power in the World: The Hawaiian Kingdom in Oceania by Lorenz Gonschor

Reviewed by: A Power in the World: The Hawaiian Kingdom in Oceania by Lorenz Gonschor Kealani Cook A Power in the World: The Hawaiian Kingdom in Oceania, by Lorenz Gonschor. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2019. isbn hardback: 9780824880019; isbn paper: 9780824888299, xiv+235 pages, maps, tables, photographs, glossary, notes, references, and index. Hard-back, us$68.00; paper, us$28.00. Lorenz Gonschor’s A Power in the World: The Hawaiian Kingdom in Oceania is a well-researched addition to the growing body of work reexamining how Hawaiians, and in this case the Hawaiian Kingdom, shaped and reshaped their relationships with nations and peoples beyond Hawai‘i. Merging the fields of political science and history, Gonschor argues, convincingly, that the Kingdom of Hawai‘i played a pivotal role in shaping Oceanic politics in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Chapter 1 examines the development of the Hawaiian constitutional monarchy as a model for a hybrid government recognized by the great powers of the day. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 explore Hawaiian thought and action related to diplomacy in the Pacific, specifically the promotion of the Hawaiian model by kingdom diplomat Charles St Julian and, later, by King David Kalākaua and his government. Chapters 5 and 6 investigate the far-reaching impact of the Hawaiian model in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Gonschor’s research, contained within an attractive volume and complemented by a number of helpful tables and maps, draws on a diverse set of sources, threading together Hawaiian- and Tongan-language newspapers, government archives and [End Page 273] records from across Oceania, and a variety of published and archival materials from around the world. While elements of this research have been covered before, no other scholar has brought together such a wide range of materials or crafted anything approaching such a thorough examination of the kingdom’s impact on Oceanic governance. Gonschor brings considerable nuance to our understanding of ties between different parts of Oceania. More importantly, he adds considerable weight to the argument that these connections must be assigned more significance when looking at the past, present, and future of individual Oceanic peoples and of the region as a whole. Gonschor argues convincingly that the kingdom not only proved, to Islanders and outsiders alike, that a hybrid government could work but also succeeded in using that government to shield itself against the colonial aggression being suffered across the Pacific. Furthermore, the kingdom and its representatives actively promoted this model in an effort to stave off such aggressions against its neighboring states and fellow Oceanic peoples and to make the kingdom a political power in the region and, arguably, the world. While Gonschor does a solid job of analyzing the perspectives and actions of the kingdom’s government and its representatives, his final two chapters on the kingdom’s regional impact stand out as particularly engaging. Gonschor carefully traces the direct and differing impacts of the Hawaiian model in Sāmoa, Fiji, and especially Tonga. He also explores the importance of the Hawaiian kingdom in promoting pan-Oceanic institutions and, to a certain degree, sentiments in the more recent past. As one might imagine, this includes a discussion of Epeli Hau‘ofa’s seminal 1994 essay “Our Sea of Islands” and the influence of Hawai‘i on his thinking about Oceania (see The Contemporary Pacific 6 (1): 148–161). It also includes consideration of contemporary organizations, such as the Polynesian Leaders Group, that look to the pan-Oceanic elements of Kalākaua’s reign as precedent for their own work. Gonschor’s work also touches on the need to reevaluate the role of non-ethnic Hawaiians in Hawaiian history, particularly those working for and with allegiance to the kingdom government. Once given outsized importance by historians with little faith in Islanders’ ability to shape their own history, many of these individuals fell to the historical wayside as a new generation of historians set out to re-center Islanders in Island histories. As Gonschor notes, in the process, some historians, including myself, have neglected prominent actors in the history we write. While the resolution of this issue will require a broader discussion far beyond the scope of...

Hungarian Dialectology. From the Beginnings until the Division of Hungary (1920)

Abstract Dialect islands in Hungarian dialectology have been a marginalized segment of research. Although the very first observations on different Hungarian dialects appeared in the 17th century, a systematic and detailed monographic description of Hungarian dialect islands in the Carpathian Basin has not been published yet. As we can conclude, several important historical events happened, institutions and researchers emerged. All of them had a significant impact on this research area, and based on their emergence the research history of Hungarian dialect islands can be divided into different periods. With regard to the research history of Hungarian dialect islands in Romania, a research was conducted in 2019. The results showed that the research history of these islands cannot be understood without an adequate global image of the history of the Hungarian dialectology. Thus, the present article gives a general historical overview of the research on Hungarian dialects from the beginnings up until 1920, when, following the Treaty of Trianon, the Hungarian nation was divided into five different parts.

New insights into the recent eruptive and collapse history of Montagne Pelée (Lesser Antilles Arc) from offshore marine drilling site U1401A (IODP Expedition 340)

Marine tephrochronology provides a good alternative to study the eruptive history of volcanic islands and overcome the problem of poorly preserved on-land outcropping. Here, we provide new observations on the recent volcanological evolution (<40 kyrs) of Montagne Pelée (Martinique, Lesser Antilles) based on the tephrochonological study of a marine core from Site U1401, sampled during IODP Expedition 340 and located 28 km from the coastline, west off Martinique Island. The core (15 m recovered length) was obtained on the top of the debris avalanche deposits due to the last flank collapse that occurred on Montagne Pelée volcano. Although it was not possible to drill through the debris avalanche deposits because of the heterogeneity of the deposit and the presence of large blocks, the sediments and volcanic deposits that covered the debris avalanche deposits were sampled. A detailed multiparameter study (geophysical data acquired on-board during the IODP cruise, lithological and geochemical data and temporal constrains through 18O stratigraphy and 14C dating) of the core U1401A provides a new age for the last flank collapse leading us to update the recent volcanological history of Montagne Pelée. The last flank collapse is now dated at ~36 cal. ka BP (older than previous studies). The flank collapse, even though relatively minor in volume (2 km3), had a significant consequence on the magma plumbing system of Montagne Pelée and produced abundant explosive eruptions of basaltic-andesite magmas, during the period 36–25 cal. ka BP. This new age range obtained for this flank collapse has important implications for the post collapse activity and allows us to rethink the recent volcanological history of Montagne Pelée.

離島－大崎上島－の歴史伝承における課題と克服 石踊一則の文化事業を事例に

離島－大崎上島－の歴史伝承における課題と克服 石踊一則の文化事業を事例に

Imprints of volcanic, erosional, depositional, tectonic and mass-wasting processes in the morphology of Santa Maria insular shelf (Azores)

The present-day morphology of volcanic island shelves is the result of several factors, namely the original shape and structure of the volcanic edifice, the nature and age of the materials that compose its flanks, and the erosional, volcanic, tectonic and sedimentary processes that acted to form these shelves. By combining detailed seafloor mapping with onshore studies it is possible to gain a unique insight onto the evolution of volcanic island edifices and the processes that helped to shape their shelves. Here we look at Santa Maria Island in the Azores Archipelago, which is a 6 Ma old ocean-island volcano surrounded by a 135 km2 shelf, characterized by an history of subsidence since its formation c. 6 Ma ago, followed by uplift from 3.5 Ma onwards. By analyzing the geomorphic parameters of the insular shelf (such as the shelf width and the erosive edge depth), the island's history of vertical movements, and by relating the morphology of the outcrops found on the shelf with those onshore, we contribute to a better knowledge of the evolutionary history of Santa Maria with particular focus on its earlier stages of growth. We infer that the outer part of the northern shelf is carved on units older than the oldest volcanic sequences exposed on land; the western and southern shelves are almost entirely carved in the products of the oldest shield volcano (Anjos Volcanic Complex), whilst the eastern shelf is the youngest in formation, being related to units of the Pico Alto volcanic complex. We also discuss the distribution of sediments on the shelf. High wave energy concomitant with sea level drops contributed to the erosion and transport of older sequences offshore, which were ultimately lost to the slopes of the island, resulting in a shelf that is sediment-stripped for the most part. Presently, wide shelves further contribute to wave-energy dissipation, resulting in a significantly diminished sediment production. The shelf edges around Santa Maria exhibit several erosive scars, interpreted as the head of a submarine drainage network carved on the slopes of the island. On the western, southern and eastern shelves, these mass-wasting features are mostly controlled by tectonics since the extension of faults can be followed from onshore to the shelf edge. On the northern shelf mass-wasting appears to be mostly correlated with presence of unstable sediments on the shelf edge that triggered landsliding. Overall, this work shows how detailed mapping of the shelves surrounding old volcanic islands can still provide important complementary information about the evolution of these islands, which could not be acquired solely by the study of their subaerial and deeper submarine parts.

Evaluation of the population structure and phylogeography of the Japanese Genji firefly, Luciola cruciata, at the nuclear DNA level using RAD-Seq analysis

The Genji firefly, Luciola cruciata, is widely distributed throughout the major Japanese islands (Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu) and distinguished into two ecological types on the basis of the flash interval of the mate-seeking males (4-sec slow-flash or 2-sec fast-flash intervals). The boundary of the ecological types corresponds to the Fossa Magna, a great rupture zone that separates eastern and western Japan. Although the degree of genetic differentiation of the two types has been evaluated using allozyme and mitochondrial DNA sequence data, it has not been evaluated using genome-wide data. Based on the genome-wide data obtained using single-end restriction-site-associated DNA (RAD-Seq), principal component, gene-level phylogenetic tree, admixture, and Wright’s fixation index analyses, we identified three phylogenetic groups in L. cruciata: East-Honshu, West-Honshu, and Kyushu. This grouping corresponds to the ecological types: East-Honshu to the slow-flash type and West-Honshu and Kyushu to the fast-flash type. Although introgression was exceptionally observed around adjacent or artificially transplanted areas, gene flow among the groups was almost absent in the natural populations. The phylogenetic tree under the coalescent model also evaluated differentiation among the East-Honshu, West-Honshu and Kyushu groups. Furthermore, because the distribution patterns of the three groups are consistent with the geological history of Japanese islands, a vicariant speciation scenario of L. cruciata is concluded. In addition, we identified genetic markers that can be used to distinguish the three genetic groups for genetic management of firefly transplantation in nature conservation and regeneration.

Richard Sharpe 1954–2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3318/ERIU.2020.70.9 Ériu LXX (2020) 1–4 Royal Irish Academy RICHARD SHARPE 1954–2020 Richard Sharpe was a giant of scholarship and an extraordinary ­ personality. A proud Yorkshireman, he was trained in Cambridge, first in Classics, then in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic (counting Kathleen Hughes among his teachers). His doctoral thesis, completed in 1980, formed the basis of his magisterial Medieval Irish Saints’ Lives, published in 1991. Even in the early stages of his career no-one could have been in doubt of his talent and industry (Raasay: a study in island history—the first volume of his work on Raasay—had appeared in 1977), but in the 1980s it was no easy thing to find a comfortable position in academia, especially in Britain—something he often recalled in more recent times to give comfort and hope to younger academics struggling to establish themselves. Although his early career did not follow the path he might have expected and hoped for, his ravenous curiosity and insatiable appetite for work ensured that wherever he went and whatever he undertook he would deepen his knowledge and make enduring contributions to scholarship. After nearly a decade at the Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, he became reader of Diplomatic in Oxford in 1990 and professor in 1998. It is impossible for any one scholar to do justice to Richard’s immense output and the impact of his work in all the fields in which he distinguished himself. Even a survey of his contributions to Irish Studies is a tall order, for few scholars have roamed so widely, worked so thoroughly or thought so Richard Sharpe photographed at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin in 2013, on the occasion of the launch of his book Roderick O’Flaherty’s letters to William Moylneux,Edward Lhywd,and Samuel Moylneux,1696–1709.(Photo: John Ohle) 2 MÍCHEÁL HOYNE critically. Ireland was for him a second home, and he was deeply gratified to become an honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2018. Many of Richard’s Irish papers ‘had legs’ . His first contribution to this journal (‘Hiberno-Latin laicus, Irish láech and the Devil’s men’, Ériu 30 (1979), 75–92), is a characteristic piece, displaying the author’s deep familiarity with medieval Irish sources, his control of the languages required to study them, and his determination to think clearly about the problem and follow the evidence wherever it may lead.The importance of this paper may be measured by the subsequent surge of interest in the aristocratic sub-culture of brigandage in early medieval Ireland. Similarly, an article in Peritia in 1984 (‘Some problems concerning the organisation of the Church in early medieval Ireland’, 3 (1984), 230–70) sounded the death-knell of the prevailing orthodoxy and inaugurated a radical reassessment of the character of the medieval Irish Church. Though he remained a medievalist at heart, Richard came increasingly to devote his many skills to the study of early modern Ireland. Among other things this engagement with post-medieval Irish material produced his edition (with exhaustive commentary) of Roderick O’Flaherty’s letters (2013). Richard appreciated, as too few medievalists do, the vagaries of manuscript survival and the crucial role post-medieval Irish scholars played in transmitting medieval material and framing our interpretation of it. In recent years, he published important work on manuscript sales and the formation of manuscript collections in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, and he lectured extensively on the topic in Dublin. Regrettably he did not live to complete his Irish manuscript sales, an annotated edition of manuscript sales catalogues, in which he tracked the precarious journeys of hundreds of Irish manuscripts from sale to sale before they reached the comparative safety of modern libraries. While combing through eighteenth- and nineteenth-century sales catalogues , Richard had encountered many references to printed works in Irish, along with comments on their comparative rarity, and found himself searching for a satisfactory bibliography of early Irish printing: had anyone, he wondered, actually set out what was printed in Irish, by whom, where, when, and how often, and where the surviving copies were...