Nationalism in Irish History:

1
Nationalism in Irish History

• History in Irish Nationalism

2
Exosocialization

• Gellner and the economic and demographic changes
  that make culture primary
• Gellner uses the term visible-what makes
  culture visible is the need to socialize
  subjects who are no longer living in intimate
  social units (villages and towns)
• Nationalism and the city

3

• A problem that we encounter often in this
  discipline is fairly obvious nationalism is both
  a historical phenomenon and a mechanism of
  mediation for other historical phenomenon
• So, we can quite easily outline the history of
  modern Irish nationalism, and even discuss how
  certain figures treat nationalism, but

4

• We also have to consider how a belief in the
  political rightness of the nation is itself
  modifying the way history gets told
• For example much agrarian violence is seen by
  contemporary historians as nationalist or
  proto-nationalist, when it was neither it was
  strictly economical

5

• Ribbonmen (early 1800s), Oakboys (mid 1800s),
  Whiteboys (1760s), peep o day boys (1780s)
• Agrarian secret societies founded on the premise
  of protecting farmers from landlords
• Not really interested in constitutional
  independence from England

6
The Act of Union, 1800

• Piece of legislation that abolished the Irish
  Parliament and made Ireland a sister country of
  England
• Irish landlords, growing increasingly worried
  about agrarian unrest, trade some of their rights
  and economic interests for enhanced security from
  an invincible defender England and the Crown

7

• Document, which secures the primacy of the
  Protestant Church of Ireland and the political
  privilege of Unionists, is a direct response to
  two historical phenomena
• 1) The French Revolution
• 2) Insurgent Irish nationalism (especially
  Ribbonism)

8

• As Oliver MacDonagh notes, as long as the Act was
  maintained it was more or less threatened by the
  forces which had provoked its inception (Union
  and Aftermath, 14).
• The Act of Union and the forces that necessitate
  it are the starting points of modern Irish history

9
Constitutional Independence and the Nation

• Young Ireland, Thomas Davis, and the urban
  strands of Irish nationalism
• OConnell and the rural strands
• Davitt, the Land War (1879-82), and the Three
  Fs
• Fixed tenure
• Fair rent
• Free sale

10
Parnell

• Irish Parliamentarian and landlord, Parnell,
  sought to have the Act of Union repealed
• Was able to successfully join the two distinct,
  and even contradictory, impulses of Irish rural
  and urban nationalism
• On the verge of this political success, Parnell
  was accused of committing adultery with Kitty
  OShea
• Divorce was legal for Protestants in Ireland, but
  no nationalist leader would seriously contemplate
  marrying a divorced woman

11

• By custom, then, OShea had split from her
  husband and had maintained a separate life
• Lived with Parnell in London (but kept separate
  residences in Dublin)
• They had three children together, and their
  marriage was well known

12

• Still, this did not prevent the accusation of
  adultery from destroying his political career
• The Catholic church was especially vicious with
  Parnell
• Many Parnellites (like Joyce) responded by
  suggesting the Church focus on issues of
  spirituality rather than politics, but this did
  not help

13
Cultural Nationalism

• The Fall of Parnell (note the biblical and epic
  overtones) left a void in Irish politics
• This void was addressed by cultural figures
  rather than political ones for the next two
  decades
• 1892- The Gaelic League
• 1880s-90s Irish Education Act

14
JOYCE