Citation

Wilson TD. Crit. Anthropol. 2006; 26(2): 139-156.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0308275X06064992

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Tourism is a major source of income for the Irish economy: in 2002 there were 1.55 tourists per resident of the Republic. When high unemployment rates hit the country in the 1980s, a new niche in the tourist economy was opened in Dublin: jarveying, or taking tourists around the city by horse and carriage. Involving agency and entrepreneurship, the Dublin jarveys are of proletarian origins, coming from some of the poorest areas in the city. The fathers of many of the pioneers were carters during the petrol shortage of the Second World War and its aftermath, and sons thus had a knowledge of handling horses. They in turn trained sons and nephews and young wannabe jarveys in the trade. Conscious of their class origins, the jarveys are notable for their love of horses and their enjoyment of taking tourists on a routinized 'walk' around the city, while pointing out sites of historical or contemporary significance. They are entrepreneurs due to both need (labor market disadvantage) and desire, and have carved out for themselves a photogenic niche in Dublin's tourist economy.