From the Ground Up: Journeys Through the Leitrim Landscape

Abstract

This research uses the landscape of county Leitrim as a spatial lens through which to view alternative forms of knowledge past and present. In the physical act of journeying through the landscape, by boat and on foot, I have encountered evidence of a range of social structures linked to place including: ‘off-the-grid’ living, community education, political resistance, pre-Christian rituals and indigenous music. This research explores Leitrim’s rural landscape as a site of subjugated or outmoded knowledge, as well as a site of deep-rooted tensions: old/new; local/global; native/foreigner etc. These forms of knowledge and counter-hegemonic spaces sit in opposition to the increasingly globalised systems of knowledge operating in the West. This research addresses questions such as: Who determines the value or usefulness of knowledge? How is knowledge mediated, preserved or discarded? To what extent is rural living a counter-hegemonic action?