ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates in particular on the politics of Famine memory by focusing on the role of monuments in the cultural landscapes of Ireland and the Irish disapora. It gives specific attention to monuments in Cork, Mayo, Dublin and Boston. The chapter explores the fate of one monument of empire which provides an insight into the highly symbolic and contested nature of Famine memory in Ireland. According to Johnson, monuments are an important source for unravelling the geographies of political and cultural identity especially as they relate to conceptions of national identity. The construction of public memorials to the Famine reveals a great deal not only about the aesthetics of memory but also significantly its politics. The Boston memorial was designed by Robert Shure, and comprises two life-size sculptures, one depicting the desperate plight of a family leaving Ireland, the other of a family arriving in Boston determined to succeed in their new surroundings.
