Sceptical view on reincarnation of Irish gombeenman

Abstract

A study of the Irish 'gombeenman' (Gibbon and Higgins, 1974) is likely to claim the interest not only of social scientists but also of historians who have encountered prototypes and variants of some of the basic themes. The present paper while using the above study as the principal focus for discussion, also embraces some of the major related contributions on the topic of Irish rural indebtedness. In the course of rejecting many of the propositions presented by both historical and contemporary critics an alternative interpretation is outlined. In relation to the particular study by Gibbon and Higgins it should be made clear in advance that, while the joint authors' broad speculative comments on political anthropology are interesting, an evaluation of their merit is left to writers more familiar with that field. However, to the extent that this theorising proceeds from a thin empirical base of less than uniform quality, a cautious reception seems in order. We begin by looking at this base in some detail.