Professor Patrick O Flanagan Office Location: Phone Number: +353 21 490 2391 p.oflanagan@ucc.ie

Profile:

In brief my research interests focus upon the cultural and historical Geography of Atlantic Europe over the past five centuries. Most of the courses which I direct reflect my research concerns and recent output. Comparative research on the evolution of port cities, production and trading systems as well as settlement networks and merchant communities figure among my key research interests in historical geography. Rural change, housing and settlement studies, the transformation of marginal areas especially uplands and coastal areas have been amongst my leading activities related to modern issues. Most of my contemporary research has a strong field base in Ireland and especially throughout Atlantic Iberia with particular reference to Portugal, Atlantic Andalucia,Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and Castilla - Leon, Vascongadas, the island archipelagoes and Ireland. In the longer time framework my research also contains a strong comparitive foundation. [Further details below]

The historical and cultural geography of Atlantic Europe in the post 'discoveries' period
Comparative historical geography studies in cross cultural contexts. Critical approaches and methodologies for same
The Atlantic port city in a cross cultural context
The cultural geography of merchant communities in Atlantic port cities
The cultural landscapes and the cultural regions of Atlantic Iberia
Small scale farming societies in Atlantic Europe
The common lands of Atlantic Europe
The Geography of proto-industrialization
Pastoral nomadism, territorial organization and cultural landscape maintenance and change in Iberia, Ireland and Central Asia
Modules in Geography
Many of my research interests are reflected in my lecture modules, which are as follows:

GG1001 Introduction to Geography
GG2007 Rural Geography
GG3001 Nature of Geography
GG3029 Atlantic Europe

Outline of ongoing and recently completed work

• The evolution and consolidation of cities and city regions throughout northern Atlantic Iberia in the post "Discoveries" period is a major ongoing research project. In this work attention is rivetted on the enabling processes which facilitated the linking of the coastal port cities with manufacturing and redistributive centres in the interior and their extensive but their often growing and sometimes declining hinterlands. Work is also ongoing on the Atlantic credentials of Ireland's port cities some of which has been recently published.

• A longer term project is research which examines the Atlantic heritage of Galicia within the wider context of Atlantic Europe. Research requested and commissioned by the Department of Geography, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Galicia.

• The geographical implications of proto - industrialization has been a theme of long term interest and involvement. Specifically, I have been investigating the evolution and consolidation of Galicia's role as Europe's premier fishing region today. In an attempt to conduct this review I have attempted to modify some of the central tenets of the theory of proto - industrialization to a geographical contextualization and to adapt these ideas to a situation dealing with the transformation of a primary product. More recently I have extended this work to northern Portugal and the rest of northern Atlantic Spain.

• Having visited Atlantic Iberia for the first time in the early 196O's, I was deeply impressed by the nature of rural economic and territorial organization. It drew me quickly to the research work of Bouhier, Evans and Orlando Ribeiro. It gave me a life long interest in minifundist agriculture and the societies that it has sustained over time. In this context I have been conducting comparative research on landholding, settlement and changing rural economic structures in Ireland and northern Atlantic Iberia from the early seventeenth century to the present day.

• Ecocide: For many years I have been fascinated by the problems associated the upland margins of the Atlantic world of Europe. Some of these problems became especially acute from the mid- 198O as a consequence of the repeated outbreaks of forest and scrub fires especially in upland contexts and often in more marginal lowland parts of Atlantic Iberia. Research has identified multiple origins of incendiarism in these contexts and my published papers have demonstrated the complex origins and outcomes of deliberately initiated fires. Degradation of all kinds has been a recurrent consequence.

• Historical Geography{Xeografia Historica de Galicia}.This work is focussed upon a thematic introduction to the historical geography of one of Europe's least understood regions. The leading elements of Galicia's principal cultural landscapes are identified and interpreted within Atlantic and Iberian contexts. The book, written in Gallego, is one of the few regional historical geographies available for any Iberian region and it is the only one published which relates to a wider Galicia..

Selected Publications

"Urban Minorities and Majorities : Catholics and Protestants in Munster Towns c.1659 - 1850",in W.J.Smyth and K.Whelan(ed.),Common Ground : Essays On The Historical Geography Of Ireland,Cork,1987,pp.124-147.

"Cambios Socio-Economicos Y Territoriales En El Medio Rural De La Europa Atlantica",in R.Rodriguez-Matinez Conde y M.Villarino Perez,(ed,),Actas de la 11 Renunion de Geografia Industrial (A.G.E.),Santiago de Compostrela,1988,pp.54-65.

"Housing outside Irish towns.An analysis of household characteristics,motivations and preferences",Planail - The Journal of the Irish Planning Institute,Vol.8,1988,pp.30-39 (with D.Storey).
"Bandon in the eighteenth century.The view from a terrier and a survey",Bandon Historical Journal,Vol.5, 1989, pp.48-59.

"Housing,settlement and society in county Cork : A profile Analysis",Geoforum,Vol.2O,No.3,1989, pp.272-292.

"La geografia historica de Galicia : Una aproximacion",in Xunta de Galicia,Actas,Congreso Internacional da Cultura allega,I991,Santiago de Compostela,1993,pp.137-145.

"Three hundred years of urban life.Villages and towns in County Cork,c.1600 - 1900",in P.O'Flanagan and N.Buttimer (ed.),Cork,History and Society,Cork,1993,pp.391-468.
"Grandes caminos,sociedades,paisajes y ciudades.Un estudio comparativo",in M-P.Torres Luna,A.Perez Alberti y R.Lois Gonzales (ed.),Los Caminos De Santiago Y El Territorio,Santiago de Compostela,I993,pp.501-513.

"Surveys,maps and the sudy of rural settlement development",in D.O Corrain (ed.).Irish Antiquity,Dublin,1994,pp.320-326. "Bandon",in A Simms and J.H.Andrews,Irish County Towns,Cork,1994,pp.83-97.

"Grandes caminos,a Ruta de la Seda e o Camino de Santiago . Sociedades, paisaxes e cidades", in M-P Torres Luna,A.Perez Alberti y R.Lois Gonzalez (ed.),Os Caminos De Santiago E O Territorio,Santiago de Compostela,1994,pp.541- 552.

"The concerns of Irish local and regional studies : A geographical perspective",Newsletter,Group for the Study o fIrish Historic Settlement,No.5,1995,pp.7-8.

"Cambio regional y rural en Irlanda",Carta Economica Regional,9,No.52.pp.39-44,Instituto de Estudios Economicos y Regionales,Universidad de Guadalajara,Mexico,1996.

"La relaciones entre la vivienda y el territorio en las areas de influencia de las ciudades puerto de la Europa Atlantica",Departamento de Xeografia da Universidade de Santiago de Compostela,Dinamica Litoral-Interior,Vol 2,Asociacion de Geografos Espanoles,Universidade de Santiago de Compostela,Santiago,1997,pp.679-684.

"Incendiarism o ecocidio en la Iberia Atlantica ? La transformacion del paisaje a causa del fuego: Reflejo de los problemas socio-economicos",Poligonos(Leon),7,1997,pp.77- 96.

The transformation of rural areas in Atlantic Europe. Incendarism in Iberia and overgrazing in Ireland,pp.35-47 of J.Soumagne(ed.),Les Nouveax Espaces Ruraux de L' Europe Atlantique,Hommage au Professeur Beteille,Maison des Sciences de l=Homme et de la Societe,Universitie de Potiers, ITEEM- ICOTEM,Poitiers,2OOO

Books

Port Cities of Atlantic Iberia c. 1500–1900, 2008.
Xeografia Historica de Galicia,Vigo,1996.
Cork, History and Society, (with N.Buttimer), Cork,1993.
Bandon, Irish Historic Towns Atlas, No.3, Dublin, 1988.
Rural Ireland,1600 - 1900 : Modernization and Change, (with P.Ferguson and K.Whelan), Cork, 1987.
The Living Landscape, Kilgalligan, Erris, County Mayo, (with S.O Cathain), Dublin, 1974.