Manchester University Press
15 The new Irish and the Irish nation
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the experiences of immigrants as a part of Irish society and on their relationship with the twenty-first-century Irish nation. Politicians and media refer immigrants as the new Irish. Non-Irish nationals according to the 2011 Census made up more than eleven per cent of the population of the Republic of Ireland. But immigrants constituted only about one half of one per cent of Irish citizens living in the Republic. The vast majority of Irish citizens are drawn from the same ethnic group. Irishness still seems to be heavily associated with the majority ethnic identity. The place of naturalised immigrants within this Irish nation remains somewhat ambiguous. Most immigrants lie empirically outside the Irish nation as this is institutionalised though citizenship. Localism within politics and community life has the potential to offer wider definitions of what it is to be Irish than those institutionalised within the nation-state.
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the experiences of immigrants as a part of Irish society and on their relationship with the twenty-first-century Irish nation. Politicians and media refer immigrants as the new Irish. Non-Irish nationals according to the 2011 Census made up more than eleven per cent of the population of the Republic of Ireland. But immigrants constituted only about one half of one per cent of Irish citizens living in the Republic. The vast majority of Irish citizens are drawn from the same ethnic group. Irishness still seems to be heavily associated with the majority ethnic identity. The place of naturalised immigrants within this Irish nation remains somewhat ambiguous. Most immigrants lie empirically outside the Irish nation as this is institutionalised though citizenship. Localism within politics and community life has the potential to offer wider definitions of what it is to be Irish than those institutionalised within the nation-state.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- List of figures and tables ix
- Acknowledgements x
- Notes on contributors xi
- 1 Introduction 1
- 2 Irishness and nationalisms 10
- 3 Where is Ireland in the worlds of capitalism? 22
- 4 Just another bubble economy? 34
- 5 A Catholic vision of Ireland 44
- 6 The Irish political elite 54
- 7 The Irish family – different or not? 65
- 8 Single women in story and society 76
- 9 The Irish body 88
- 10 Sexual abuse and the Catholic Church 99
- 11 The difference between Irish and American Catholicism 110
- 12 Postcolonial legacies and the Irish psyche 121
- 13 Thinking about Ireland and the Irish diaspora 133
- 14 Being Irish and male in Britain 144
- 15 The new Irish and the Irish nation 155
- 16 Conflict and reconciliation in Northern Ireland 166
- 17 Irish language, Irish nation 177
- 18 The difference of Irish music 188
- 19 The GAA and the sporting Irish 199
- 20 Feeling at home in contemporary Ireland 211
- 21 Searching for and explaining difference 222
- 22 A new vision of Irish studies 230
- 23 Irish studies between the past and the future 241
- Index 251
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- List of figures and tables ix
- Acknowledgements x
- Notes on contributors xi
- 1 Introduction 1
- 2 Irishness and nationalisms 10
- 3 Where is Ireland in the worlds of capitalism? 22
- 4 Just another bubble economy? 34
- 5 A Catholic vision of Ireland 44
- 6 The Irish political elite 54
- 7 The Irish family – different or not? 65
- 8 Single women in story and society 76
- 9 The Irish body 88
- 10 Sexual abuse and the Catholic Church 99
- 11 The difference between Irish and American Catholicism 110
- 12 Postcolonial legacies and the Irish psyche 121
- 13 Thinking about Ireland and the Irish diaspora 133
- 14 Being Irish and male in Britain 144
- 15 The new Irish and the Irish nation 155
- 16 Conflict and reconciliation in Northern Ireland 166
- 17 Irish language, Irish nation 177
- 18 The difference of Irish music 188
- 19 The GAA and the sporting Irish 199
- 20 Feeling at home in contemporary Ireland 211
- 21 Searching for and explaining difference 222
- 22 A new vision of Irish studies 230
- 23 Irish studies between the past and the future 241
- Index 251
