The perfect hybrid: interaction and integration in Cath Maige Tuired

Tuomala, Ina (2018) The perfect hybrid: interaction and integration in Cath Maige Tuired. MRes thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This dissertation is an examination of contemporary Irish identity and social reactions to the process of cultural hybridisation, as they are depicted in the late Viking-Age narrative Cath Maige Tuired. The tale is a product of a transitional era which preoccupations and prejudices are reflected in the narrative representations of the Fomoiri and the Tuatha Dé Danann. This dissertation discusses the literary context of the tale before analysing the plentiful parallels between the historical context of the text’s writing and the narrative representations of power, interaction and location. The resulting discussion deduces that CMT is a narrative of hybridity in which the pivotal cultural identities are built on an ongoing comparison between the tale’s representations of the Self and the Other. At the same time the narrative illustrates a number of cultural preoccupations at the forefront of the collective intellectual consciousness.

CMT can be cast as a parable for multiple periods in history and reading the text and its depiction of Ireland in relation to the historical context of late Viking Age illuminates our understanding of cultural identity, interaction and integration in Ireland during this period. The narrative concerns itself with contemporary ideologies and preoccupations in a way, which cannot be examined through more factual sources, such as the Irish annals, alone. Finally, this dissertation makes a case for using hybridity theory in analysing premodern literatures in situations where ample parallels can be drawn between the cultural dynamics of the medieval context and the postcolonial experience, and thus, concludes with a study of the tale's hybrid characters.

• Item Type: Thesis (MRes)
• Qualification Level: Masters
• Keywords: Cath Maige Tuired, hybridity, hybridity theory, Celtic, Irish, early medieval literature, pseudo-history, identity, Viking Age, cultural integration, Irish annals.
• Subjects: D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D111 Medieval History; G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GR Folklore; P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > Celtic and Gaelic
• Supervisor's Name: Clancy, Professor Thomas and Parsons, Doctor Geraldine
• Date of Award: 2018
• Depositing User: Ina Tuomala
• Unique ID: glathesis:2018-41075
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 27 Mar 2019 09:49
• Last Modified: 30 Apr 2019 13:16
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/41075