burrowing
Before visiting several of Ireland’s many castles in 2014, I didn’t know that the verb, “to undermine,” literally referred to mining under; that is, to breaching a castle’s defences not by climbing the walls, but by digging underneath them.
It seems obvious, of course, but it wasn’t something I’d ever thought through.
Dunguaire Castle, 2014. We took the “overnight” flight from St. John’s to Dublin (which was under 4 hours) and the drove across Ireland on the wrong side of the road on very few hours of sleep. Maybe not one of our wiser decisions, but this view, in the afternoon, was worth it.
Today I’m wondering about breaching edifices made of a different kind of stone: the stones that sustain colonial archives. I’m interested in stones made of words and ideologies and politics and power.
kid the elder, looking down from the top of Bunratty Castle (which, as you can see here, is a very tall castle). There were lots and lots and lots of stairs and breaching the walls would have been impossible.
I want to breach the defences of colonial archives. I want to undermine them. I want to burrow my way inside them and I want to destabilize them and take them apart.
And then? Then I want to build counterarchives from the ruins.
Who wants to dismantle the masters’ houses with me?
Cahir Castle, which we didn’t know how to pronounce until we got inside and watched the video. Cool place to poke around in.
© Sonja Boon, 2026.
