Narrating and performing place identity in contemporary Irish culture

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This book examines recent developments in Irish popular culture and geopolitics through three case studies, introducing a new concept of heritage as a practice of translocal place-making. It explores how contemporary Irish culture's place identities are narrated and performed in relation to other locations and times. Employing an interdisciplinary approach, the author merges critical concepts from Cultural Studies and Cultural Geography, reflecting the spatial and cultural turn. This innovative methodology reshapes traditional discourse analysis by focusing on three specific case studies: Hugo Hamilton’s travel account, Perry Ogden’s mockumentary, and Des Bishop’s reality TV series. Each case combines a hermeneutic reading of its narrative with an empirical analysis of its site-specific identity performance, such as festivals or events. In the context of recent Irish history and the collective trauma following the post-Celtic Tiger recession, the book proposes new ways to re-imagine Irish identity. It challenges the notion of a national mythology that perpetuates established narratives, addressing how to break free from inherited discourses and create new stories when the past offers a seemingly stable archive for the present. It raises critical questions about the conditions necessary for new narratives to emerge.