Spaces and exchanges

NOTION

SPACE AND EXCHANGES

Introduction

I'm going to talk about the notion of "spaces and exchanges". This notion deals with the geographical and symbolic areas that all societies occupied and the interaction between men and the different societies. Our world was built on the exploration of new spaces.The cultural, economic, sociological differences has characterized our modern world.

The different spaces of the world are nowadays more and more connected to each other. These exchanges can appear in many forms : people, trade and sharing of information.

In class, we focused on Ireland’s economy which had ups and down throughout history.

How has Ireland economy impacted on migration ?

Firstly, we will look at the crisis which affected Ireland and his consequences. Then, we'll show the impact of the Celtic tiger. We will finish with the death of the Celtic tiger.

2) Development

Crisis and emigration

Before the boom, life was very hard, it was a period of recession, there used to be no hope in finding a job. When Ireland was hit by the great famine in the 19th century, over one million people emigrated, mostly to the USA, Britain and Australia. Waves of emigration continued until the 1990s as people left to escape poverty and unemployment. People were hopeless and depressed because however hard they tried, they couldn't find a job. Whoever you asked, people always told you that Ireland's future was bleak. 60000 people a year emigrated from Ireland

« Emigrant Journey » painted by Bernard Canavan : On the first panel we can see people who are praying, maybe to be protected by God, they must want better living conditions. Indeed, they look poor and miserable. On the second panel, we notice people fleeing the country, they must be escaping from their poor countryside because of war and bad living conditions They go very lighty, that proves that they have nothing left. The colors are cold to highlight fear of emigrants. They’re going to England. The painter’s goal was to show how hard and traumatic it was for emigrants

So, Irish people have decided to emigrate because they realized they hadn’t chance of taking a life for themselves in Ireland. They had no choice but to leave Ireland in hope for a brighter future.

B) The Celtic Tiger

In the late 1990s, The Celtic tiger was born in Ireland. He is also named the boom. He was generated thanks to foreign investment.

In class, we saw the video « LIFE IN THE FAST LANE ». This is a report about Ireland during the boom. This video explains us that the improvement of Ireland’s economic situation was the result of a combination of factor such as tax incentives for businesses, a young educated workforce, and foreign investments. All these factors were made possible thanks to the government’s efforts in education and in tax policies which eventually persuaded foreign investors to flock to Ireland. But, Ireland’s government made massives mistakes. It spent all

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