Events that produce meaning, in particular when they have not been ‘resolved’, never stop ‘surviving’; in the case of the African diaspora, the past of slavery still makes sense today, as if the slaveships were still crossing the Atlantic each day, over and over again. Collective memory, through the collective and individual identifications it sets up, produces identity. The question of common origin and history becomes acutely important in situations of displacement. The construction of the diaspora and the emergence of a sense of collective belonging are increasingly based on the transmission of memory. Within the last two decades, two positions have appeared as central within the conceptualisation of diaspora: the first emphasises the relationship of the diaspora to the homeland (the centred model), while the second emphasises the transverse relationships that exist within the diaspora outside of the homeland (the multi-centred model). The past of slavery is one of the most prominent themes in reggae music.

The messianic character of the Rastafari movement, and especially its apocalyptic representation of the future, deeply influences the daily life as well as worldview of the rastas. In reggae music, the eschatology is everywhere: it defines both practices and representations that belong to the present, contaminating them, as it were, by charging them with meaning. The future provides the present with an intensity that the past lacks: the effervescence of collective redemption, the fulfillment of a long-awaited justice, the final coming of the myth into human time. In the Book of Revelation, Babylon becomes the archetype of Evil. For the rastas, history offers a long list of Western wrongdoings, whose apogee was slavery and colonialism. Mental slavery is exerted through the whole social structure, from the education system to religious institutions to the media to the government, which are all viewed as actively participating in a vast enterprise of exploitation. The description of Babylon is made by using images of war and symbols from the Bible.

This chapter focuses on the significance of the categories of gender and generation, and their intersection with ethnicity in the context of the official London St Patrick's Day Festival. It reviews some of the literature about the representations and meanings attached to St Patrick's Day, especially as they may be relevant to Britain. The chapter examines the establishment of the Festival in London, thus covering the 'steering' of a major St Patrick's Day parade, planning liaison between local authorities and community organisations and representatives as well as the parade itself. It discusses the thoughts and reflections of the community members of the Mayor's St Patrick's Day Advisory Forum in London. The chapter considers some of the common goals and the tensions that were manifest in the Festival organisation through the lens of gender, generation and ethnicity.

This book offers a case study in social memory that also opens onto the articulation between sacred and profane time. Through the case of reggae music, it looks at the construction, transmission and use of collective memory, and therefore at the symbolic space occupied by the idea of a historical discontinuity, within a specific context that includes a difficult past, characterised by forced uprooting and the experience of slavery. Reggae music claims a role of transmission and articulates the question of collective identity in relation to the construction of the African diaspora. The terms history and memory have here a specific meaning, situated within the Durkheimian framework, in particular in the work of Maurice Halbwachs, who distinguishes between collective memory and what he calls historical memory or history. Religion, just like music, ‘makes sense’ for individuals as well as for groups. The book discusses how the Rastafari movement builds a religious future and articulates the three temporal tenses – past, present and future – within an apocalyptic conception of history.

Through a rereading of the Bible and the identification to the Twelve Tribes of Israel, Rastafari sets up a religious construction of the origin, accompanied by a transmission of the past of slavery. The Rastafari movement rebuilds a lineage on the basis of identification to a past history, which operates from the present to the past. Messianism and millenarianism are among the most fertile expressions of religious belief, expressed through the articulation of the fundamental categories of expectation and hope; and they take on a particular density and intensity in situations of colonisation, slavery or oppression, where they mix religious beliefs, social revolt, identity affirmation or even national liberation. The Rastafari movement has a pronounced messianistic and millenarian character: Haile Selassie is the messiah who announces the end of the world as described in the Book of Revelation.

This chapter examines the profile and history of Irish women working as nurses and doctors in Britain during World War Two by analysing information taken from the travel permit applications of those who wished to return to Ireland. It seeks to contribute to the literature on Irish women in the medical profession by outlining the demographic profile of women found across the British medical field. In the case of women in the nursing profession, migration may have occurred to embark on the chance to become a qualified professional rather than after training in Ireland. As Louise Ryan has cogently argued, theories developed to explain migration flows in the twentieth century often take men as their model for analysis, thereby excluding the specific experiences of women. Medical migration from Ireland has a long history, although patterns of migration can be seen as distinct from general trends in post-Famine migration from Ireland.

This chapter uses the sociological concept of boundaries to explore the processes through which migrants may be included in or excluded from national, ethnic and religious collectivities. It argues that religion can be both a 'bright' and a 'blurry' boundary. The chapter suggests that a boundaries perspective helps us to capture the complexity of multifaceted identities. Drawing on the work of Zolberg and Long and Alba, the chapter examines the role of religion in defining boundaries of identity and belonging and explores how religious identities intersect with ethnicity and gender. The chapter draws on oral histories interviews undertaken with Irish women migrants in Britain. The chapter also suggests that while Catholicism represents a form of continuity with the homeland, it can also be experienced as a site of difference within the context of migration.

This chapter considers how the Irish female migrants, who entered religious communities, functioned as immigrants with distinct identities. It examines the extent to which their Irishness influenced the development of Catholic culture in Scotland and Canada. Whilst both nations attracted significant numbers of Irish during the nineteenth century, each had a fundamentally different relationship with the British state and its empire and it was these relationships that shaped the responses to the Irish migrants. Mass emigration from Ireland during the nineteenth century introduced a new dimension to Britain's imperial identity and facilitated the establishment and formation of new Catholic communities that would help to cement Britain's authority as a governing power. The chapter considers the process of nation-building and identity construction, and presents local examples to illuminate broader trends.

Reggae charts mix different styles (roots reggae, dancehall reggae, etc.) as well as contents (love songs, slackness, religious or sociopolitical songs, etc), and are therefore representative of reggae music as a whole. This chapter analyses reggae charts in Jamaica from 1968 to 2000 to trace the general evolution of reggae music and to determine the extent of the presence of the Rastafari movement within reggae music. For this diachronic analysis, the chapter uses Jamaican annual singles charts, which have existed since the beginning of the 1960s and are based on weekly charts. The available data were ranked music charts until 1996 (23 or 26 best sales of the year, depending on the year), and charted hits after 1996 (for example, all the singles that made it to the charts at least once during the year). The chapter uses two different variables, song content and artists, to examine simultaneously the presence of a sociopolitical and/or religious message in the charts, and the presence of artists linked to Rastafari, even when they sing love songs.

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of Irish women and the diaspora. Women have featured, albeit intermittently, in writings about Irish emigration long before historians began to focus their scholarly efforts in that direction. The study of Irish women and the diaspora offers a lens on Irish society, and on countries where they settled, and considerable scope for comparative analysis of the impact of different cultures and societies on women's lives. Andy Bielenberg has alluded to 'the potential significance of the Irish Diaspora as customers for Irish linen in the USA in particular, but also throughout the British Empire'. John Francis Maguire set out to examine how the Irish emigrants were faring in America, given the conflicting reports that were reaching Ireland; whether Irish-Catholic emigrants were abandoning religious practice, and how the Irish in America regarded the British government.