Essays
Move Over, St Patrick
Ireland’s Brigid is a cipher representing the country’s changing values. A saint sidelined by the Catholic Church, her star is ascendant today as more people identify with her alternative presentation as a pagan goddess. But records of the real Brigid, unlike those of many early saints, are compelling.
The Ugly Side of Nation-Building
The formation of states in the post-Ottoman Balkans owed much to individuals who had thrived in a world of rural lawlessness, warfare and violence. They brought the characteristics of frontier societies to bear on the political culture of these new countries, with lasting effects.
Orkney, the Surprising Center of Neolithic Britain
Thousands of years ago, Orkney was at the heart of Neolithic northern Europe — its landmark buildings welcoming vast numbers of people. Now the main archaeological site on the island has been reburied after 20 years of astonishing research, just as it’s revealed that the Altar Stone of Stonehenge came from nearby.
A Century of Visions for Syria
As Syria prepares to transition into a post-Assad era, questions about what principles the country will enshrine in its new constitution are already emerging. Many have been asked before, as a look back at a century of attempts to birth a modern Syrian state reveals.
Caste Is Having a Cultural and Political Moment Globally. It Has Not Always Been So
While caste has recently infiltrated American discourse and become more mainstream in Indian media, Dalit writers and activists have been flooding the Indian literary markets with memoirs, short fiction and poetry since the late 1960s.
How East Timor Blazed the Way for Hacktivism
Activists, hackers and dissident exiles helped put one of the least-connected places on Earth, East Timor, at the cutting-edge of online advocacy – all while making Ireland the target of one of the world’s first state-sponsored cyberattacks.
Walking the Camino to Santiago de Compostela
I wanted to understand what pilgrims’ journeys meant to them, and why shrines and their relics, which should be anathema in modern times, continue to draw huge numbers of people. So my partner Sue and I joined the throngs seeking answers on the Camino to Santiago de Compostela.