In Search of Ireland: A Cultural Geography

Can Ireland be reinvented? In Search of Irelandargues that the idea of an Ireland divided between North and South, Protestant and Catholic, unionist and nationalist, is a negation of place that can indeed be reinvented into a diverse and socially hybrid world. The contributors maintain that Ireland's political problems are created by conflicts and confusions of identity. By examining Ireland's historical complexities, literature, politics, religion, social dimensions and representations abroad, the authors consider the relevance of nation, class, gender, race, representation and landscape to the contested nature of contemporary Irish identity, pointing to implications for the future governance of Ireland where cease-fires represent no more than the beginning of a long-term process.