Transformations in Irish Culture (Critical Conditions: Field Day Essays and Monographs)

Though a largely white, Anglophone and Westernised country, Ireland historically was in the paradoxical position of being a colony in Europe. The fracturing of tradition by colonialism induced a form of 'modernity before its time' and an alternative public sphere, so that an experience of profound cultural loss was accompanied by a dynamism which placed culture at the centre of successive waves of social change.
From a variety of perspective, the essays explore the complex intersections between culture and politics, nation and state, periphery and centre, and 'high' and 'popular' culture in Irish life. Cultural representations are shown not as simply reflecting, but actively helping to constitute and transform social experience. As a consequence, national identity is not a fixed entity but must be understood in terms of specific cultural practices, the multiple narratives and symbolic forms through which we make sense of our lives. The author argues that this requires a rethinking of key concepts of tradition and modernity, race, gender, and class as they bear on an understanding of contemporary Ireland. The aim throughout is to work towards non-exclusivist and open-ended forms of identity which allow a critical engagement with both past and present, and open up new possibilities for the future.