The Anthropology of Ireland

Description

--Where and what is Ireland?--What are the identities of the people of Ireland?--How has European Union membership shaped Irish people's lives and interests?--How global is local Ireland?This book argues that such questions can be answered only by understanding everyday aspects of Irish culture and identity. Such understanding is achieved by paying close attention to what people in Ireland themselves say about the radical changes in their lives in the context of wider global transformation. As notions of sex, religion, and politics are radically reworked in an Ireland being re-imagined in ways inconceivable just a generation ago, anthropologists have been at the forefront of recording the results. The first comprehensive book-length introduction to anthropological research on the island as a whole, The Anthropology of Ireland considers the changing place in a changing Ireland of religion, sex, sport, race, dance, young people, the Travellers, St Patrick's Day and much more.

Thomas M. Wilson is Professor of Anthropology, Binghamton University, State University of New York. Hastings Donnan is Professor of Social Anthropology at the Queen's University of Belfast.

'This book is a major contribution to the intellectual history of Ireland. Its great merit is that it not only describes all the major developments in method, theory and controversy, but does so in a consistently intelligible manner. Its rich details, comparative insights and persuasive interpretations make this an essential volume for students of Irish society and culture.' George Gmelch, Union College, USA 'With humor and a sense of mission, The Anthropology of Ireland provides a profile of Ireland's ethnographic past and a clear statement of a program for the present and future. The issues it addresses and the standard of ethnography it represents are at the heart of 21st century anthropology as it confronts the problems of globalization.' Joan Vincent, Columbia University, USA 'A true tour-de-force! This captivating book tells a convincing tale about transformations and traditions in Ireland. Here is the authoritative reference work on the anthropology of Ireland, which as Wilson and Donnan aptly argue, has to respect Irish concerns.' Helena Wulff, Stockholm University, Sweden 'More than an overview of the anthropology of Ireland, this sharply intelligent critique raises issues about the choices that ultimately shape this, and any other, body of anthropological literature. Donnan and Wilson have made a very valuable contribution not just to anthropology on this island, but to our understanding of how and why the discipline develops the way it does.' Lawrence Taylor, National University of Ireland, Maynooth 'The work is of value as a chronicle of change in Ireland's recent past and for placing this experience in a comparative context.' Choice Magazine (Vol 43, No 03, November 2007)