Focusing on Irish speakers in Catholic West Belfast, this ethnography on Irish language and identity explores the complexities of changing, and contradictory, senses of Irishness and shifting practices of 'Irish culture' in the domains of language, music, dance and sports. The authors theoretical approach to ethnicity and ethnic revivals presents an expanded explanatory framework for the social (re)production of ethnicity, theorizing the mutual interrelations between representations and cultural practices regarding their combined capacity to engender ethnic revivals. Relevant not only to readers with an interest in the intricacies of the Northern Irish situation, this book also appeals to a broader readership in anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, history and political science concerned with the mechanisms behind ethnonational conflict and the politics of culture and identity in general.
Recenzijos
While the structure of the book is sometimes heavy, it remains rich in insights and shows theoretical flair. It will be of interest to people who want to know how Irish revitalists navigate ethnicity in Northern Ireland. The methodology is thorough, placing the experiences of the participants in conversation with social structures. Certainly, the theoretical contributions will be of interest to scholars of nationalism and ethnicity. · Canadian Journal of Irish Studies
This book will be of interest to linguistic anthropologists, cultural anthropologists, as well as sociologists, political scientists, and historians of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It will also be valuable to those interested in cultural identity formation within politically charged contexts, including postcolonial contexts. It complements and extends the existing research on political identities in Northern Ireland. · American Ethnologist
This is a thoroughly well-written, thought-provoking, and fascinating work which should appeal to ethnographers and linguistic anthropologists as well as to scholars working on language revival movements, particularly those of marginalised, minority languages. Zenker does well to contribute to debates about the politics of language and identity and to notions of place, nationhood, personhood, and autochthony He writes with zeal and passion about a topic he is not only interested in and obviously fascinated by, but has experienced himself: learning Irish culture through learning the language. · Anthropological Forum: A Journal of Social Anthropology and Comparative Sociology
Zenkers prisme théorique allows him to present individualized and collectivized autochthony as new framework for understanding Irish identity in Catholic West Belfast. In making sense of it all in this way, and in his repudiation of narrow constructivism , Zenker effectively takes up the cudgels of [ Richard] Jenkins and [ Thomas Hylland] Eriksen in relocating the stuff of culture in the anthropology of ethnic identity. In short, this book is a valuable study of an important and highly politicized issue. · Journal of Linguistic Anthropology
This is a beautifully nuanced, richly detailed ethnography of Irish-speaking, and Irish-speakers, in contemporary West Belfast. ... As an exploration of the cultural stuff, rather than group boundary maintenance, it makes an important contribution to post-Barthian ethnicity studies. ... It is one of the very best ethnographies of Belfast that I have read. Superb. · Richard Jenkins, University of Sheffield
This is a well-researched and engaging text which sheds new light on the issues attending language revivalism in Ireland and its intersection with historic conflict in N. Ireland. The author explains his methodology clearly throughout in a way that allows theoretical issues to be integrated comfortably within the central narrative. · Fionntįn de Brśn, University of Ulster
Dedication
Epigraph
List of Tables, Figures, Maps
Acknowledgements
Glossary
PROLOGUE
Chapter
1. A Walk of Life: Entering Catholic West Belfast
Chapter
2. Framing the Research: Analytical Approach and Methodology
The Analytical Framework for the Study of Ethnic Identity (and the Irish
Language)
On Methodology
PART I: THE IRISH LANGUAGE IN CATHOLIC WEST BELFAST
Chapter
3. Fįilte isteach Welcome In
Chapter
4. Becoming a Gaeilgeoir
Roibeįrd, age 63
Rónįn, age 61
Mairéad, age 58
Micheįl, age 55
Dónal, age 49
Fķona, age 47
Pól, age 47
Pįdraigķn, age 40
Sinéad, age 33
Caoimhķn, age 17
Preliminary observations
Chapter
5. On Prophets, Godfathers, Rebels and Prostitutes:a Contemporary
History of the Irish language in Catholic West Belfast
Emerging structural contexts for the Irish language in the 1950s: a
prehistory
Prophets on the moral High Meadow: the Cumann luain Įrd
From a hedge(d) school to Irish language industries: godfathers of the
Irish language
Rebels with/out a political cause: the Jailtacht and beyond
Prostitutes of the Irish language?
Conclusions
Chapter
6. Our own native language: Local Representations and Practices of
the Irish language
Between purism and pragmatism: the micro-dynamics of Irish language usage
The political hijacking of the Irish language revival: the meso-dynamics of
supply and demand
Our own native language? The macro-dynamics of rights activism, ethnicism
and nationalism
Conclusions
PART II: IRISH IDENTITY IN CATHOLIC WEST BELFAST
Chapter
7. Its part of what we are Identifying Identity
Chapter
8. Becoming (Aware of) Who You Are: Irish
Roibeįrd, age 63
Rónįn, age 61
Mairéad, age 58
Micheįl, age 55
Dónal, age 49
Fķona, age 47
Pól, age 47
Pįdraigķn, age 40
Sinéad, age 33
Caoimhķn, age 17
Preliminary observations
Chapter
9. Casting Nets of Identity: a Contemporary History of Irishness in
Catholic West Belfast
A constant counter-narrative to the dominant narrative of the society:
emerging structural contexts for/eclosing Irishness in Northern Ireland
No games, just sports? Gaelic games and the playground of Catholic West
Belfast
If you feel like singing, do sing an Irish song: Irish music in Catholic
West Belfast
Knowing how to do your sevens: dancing to the tune of Irishness in Catholic
West Belfast
Conclusions
Chapter
10. Something inside so strong: Local Representations and
Practices of Irishness
What it takes to be Irish
The Irishness of Protestants and the politics of a classificatory anomaly
Autochthony as the causal logic behind ethnicity
Conclusions
EPILOGUE
Chapter
11. Trying to make sense of it all: Identity Matters in Catholic
West Belfast
POST SCRIPTUM
Bibliography
Index
Olaf Zenker is Junior Professor at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Freie Universität Berlin. He received his PhD from the Martin Luther University and the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale, Germany, and obtained his habilitation from the University of Bern, Switzerland. His publications include the co-edited volume Beyond Writing Culture: Current Intersections of Epistemologies and Representational Practices (Berghahn Books, 2010).
