This chapter focuses on the first legal case to pursue recognition of a same-sex marriage. The case was launched by Irish citizens Katherine Zappone and Ann Louise Gilligan, who were married in British Columbia after the legislation was implemented there. This section details how this case moved from a request to the Revenue Commissioners to be assessed as a married couple to a High Court case.

An overview of the formation of one of the main campaign groups seeking marriage for same-sex couples: Marriage Equality. The strategy of this group was to improve LGBT visibility and justify why same-sex couples could only achieve equality through access to civil marriage. Its second strategy was political engagement. This was an intrinsic aspect to ensure that those in positions of political power would implement the changes required to introduce marriage equality.

There are many different ways of accessing information about material culture through observation, examination and other forms of investigation. This chapter works through the main methods of analysis for working with objects. Here, the opportunities and constraints of examining objects in person are also discussed. The chapter is arranged in sections, the first dealing with methods of investigating objects physically, the second section considers contextual research and the last section discusses ways to further extend the research process on the basis of the first two modes of analysis.

An overview of the first stages of seeking the introduction of a Civil Partnership Bill for same-sex couples in 2007. During the parliamentary debates on civil partnerships the issue of whether the Irish Constitution would need to be changed arose. This chapter describes how and why the focus on the Constitution would become the central issue in the legal and political debate surrounding the introduction of civil partnerships and later the extension of civil marriage to same-sex couples in Ireland.

According to Mandeville's Travels, a spring in the very centre of the Garden of Paradise gives rise to four great rivers from which all the fresh water in the world ultimately comes. This chapter contextualises Mandevillian geography within the still- authoritative, though increasingly problematic, geography of scripture. Even the most intrepid of readers would thus be discouraged from setting out to find the source of any of the four rivers of Paradise, since they would be no more likely to succeed in the attempt than the author himself was. Before turning to the Bible to examine the origin of the belief in an Earthly Paradise, the chapter makes another remark about the English text of Mandeville's Travels. The Book of Genesis, with its image of the Earthly Paradise and the four rivers, is clearly a major source of inspiration for the same i.e. in the Book of Sir John Mandeville.

The chapter starts by introducing the book’s two key themes: that philanthropy has been criticised as much as it has been praised, and that the meaning attached to the word has been in constant flux. It was only in the later twentieth century that a monetised definition took precedence over others. After outlining the methodology with its focus on usage of the words ‘philanthropy’ and ‘philanthropist’, the chapter outlines the ways they have changed over time, linking these changes to wider forces, chiefly the Enlightenment, Romanticism, evangelicalism and capitalism, and arguing that philanthropy can be understood only through its relationship with poverty and the Poor Laws, slavery and anti-slavery, political radicalism, mutualism, national identity, voluntary societies and volunteering, citizenship and the welfare state. Short chapter descriptions form a conclusion.

This final chapter looks at a short, but densely argued article by Theodor W. Adorno that was first published in 1965 as a handbook entry titled ‘Society’. Adorno agrees with Durkheim that society is a bit like a thing – ‘thing-like’ – but emphasises that it is also very different from actual things as it cannot be experienced immediately: society is essentially ‘mediation’, namely a specific form of relationships between people, between people and things, and between people treating each other as things. Not only ‘society’, though, but also individuals are mediated – structured, ruled, determined – by institutions and cannot exist otherwise. Institutions, in turn, cannot exist without that which they mediate – us. We made this world, and therefore we can re-make it, too. The problem is that we made it in such a way that it has become quasi-independent, namely thing-like, and this in particular makes it so difficult for us to change it. A tricky situation…

The afterword draws together the key messages of the book, reiterating the strategies for researchers to undertake effective work in this field. It also conveys the significance of this field and how historical material culture studies are capable of shaping the wider field of history in exciting ways in years to come

The introduction of civil partnerships in Ireland is discussed. This chapter further examines one of the major concerns for marriage equality campaigners who highlighted that civil partnerships did not offer equivalent rights to civil marriage, especially in relation to the children of such partnerships.