Out of the Land War: Irish National Identity

Abstract

Nationalism is a messy, usually nasty enterprise, and in few places has the nationalist project been more difficult than in Ireland. The drive for Irish autonomy and independence from Great Britain, and the process of state and nation building in Ireland, has been a long, often violent conflict, bedeviled by factionalism and internecine warfare among contentious groups, leading from one frustrated cause or opportunity to another. The historical analysis of Irish nationalism has been a difficult, often nasty, project as well, filled with misunderstanding, bitter debate, and factionalism that seems to parallel that of the subject matter. In many respects, this is understandable because the nationalist project of a country and the historical scholarship of it often go hand in hand: “In many countries [including Ireland] the founders of the historical profession have been leaders of the national revival, concerned to forge on authoritative foundations the claims of their community to an independent and distinctive culture and politics…. The histories they constructed have provided the mythic legitimation of the drive for a nation state and (after independence) the domestic and international policies of these polities” (Hutchinson, 1996, 100). However, when critical examination of historical evidence fails to support, in whole or part, the nationalist narrative, rancor and contention among historians are inevitable.KeywordsCollective IdentityLarge FarmerBritish GovernmentMeaning ConstructionLand MovementThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.