Call for Participants: A more-than-human history of hydroelectricity in mid-century Ireland
Do you have memories or stories about the River Liffey Hydro Electric Scheme?
Would you like to share your story and contribute to an oral history archive?
This project is a social and environmental history of hydro-electric schemes built on the rivers Liffey, Erne and Lee between 1937 and 1952. The aim of the project is to understand how the lives of people, plants and animals were impacted by the schemes, and to think about the place of the schemes in the history of the economic, industrial and social development of the Irish state. The project brings together histories of three parts of the country in the North, South and East that experienced a similar event, but have so far not been looked at together.
The study is being carried out by Aoife O’Leary McNeice, a post-doctoral fellow in history at the University of Galway, and funded by the Government of Ireland via the Irish Research Council.
While there may be few people left with first-hand memories of the scheme being developed, the project would also love to hear from anyone with stories or memories of family or friend’s involvements with the schemes, and is also interested in people’s relationships more generally with the landscape and environment around the Liffey and the reservoir.
The oral history element of the project will be an important way of including local stories and voices, alongside those of government officials, politicians and the ESB who planned and developed the schemes. This is necessary so that the project will include the whole story of the schemes, connecting local landscapes to global economic trends, in order to understand how the schemes came about, and their economic, ecological and social impacts. By taking part you will be a part of living history, and have your story recorded and preserved for future generations. Transcripts of oral history interviews, and audio files of the recordings will ultimately become part of the project’s oral history archive, stored in the University of Galway’s digital library.
For more information contact Aoife: aoife.olearymcneice@universityofgalway.ie