Pragmatism Is the New Black: Recent Literary-Critical Narratives of the Northern Irish novel

This collection addresses how models from ancient Greece and Rome have permeated Irish political discourse in the century since 1916. The 1916 Easter Rising, when Irish nationalists rose up against British imperial forces, was almost instantly mythologized in Irish political memory as a turning point in the nation’s history and an event that paved the way for Irish independence. Its centenary has provided a natural point for reflection on Irish politics, and this volume highlights an unexplored element in Irish political discourse, namely its frequent reference to, reliance on, and tensions with classical Greek and Roman models. Topics covered include the reception and rejection of classical culture in Ireland; the politics of Irish language engagement with Greek and Roman models; the intersection of Irish literature with scholarship in Classics and Celtic Studies; the use of classical allusion to articulate political inequalities across hierarchies of gender, sexuality, and class; meditations on the Northern Irish conflict through classical literature; and the political implications of neoclassical material culture in Irish society. As the only country colonized by Britain with a pre-existing indigenous heritage of expertise in classical languages and literature, Ireland represents a unique case in the fields of classical reception and postcolonial studies. This book opens a window on a rich and varied dialogue between significant figures in Irish cultural history and the Greek and Roman sources that have inspired them, a dialogue that is firmly rooted in Ireland’s historical past and continues to be ever-evolving.

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And this is what we sing – what do we sing? Exploring the football fan songs of the Northern Irish ‘Green and White Army’

International Review for the Sociology of Sport ◽

10.1177/1012690220979715 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 101269022097971

Author(s):

John Bell ◽

Paul Bell

Keyword(s):

Northern Ireland ◽

Participant Observation ◽

Musical Instruments ◽

Interview Data ◽

Underlying Structure ◽

Northern Irish ◽

Football Fans ◽

European Football ◽

Current Context ◽

Football Stadium

This paper draws upon digital recordings of Northern Ireland football fans singing in the stadium during all 10 qualifying matches for the 2016 UEFA European Football Championship. Supplemented by participant observation and interview data with 21 supporters themselves, the paper challenges assertions within the literature which focus upon the predominance of sectarian singing amongst a section of Northern Ireland football supporters. Although vocal manifestations of football fandom may initially appear to be randomly driven by irrational emotions, on the contrary, there is an underlying structure and sequence to fandom in the stadium in which certain factors promote collective singing at particular times. The paper identifies four key themes in particular: the timing in a match; whether or not a goal has been scored; if there is a lull or a break in play; and the use of musical instruments to encourage the wider collective to sing. We argue that it is important to understand the process by which collective singing occurs in the football stadium rather than fixating upon the alleged racist or sectarian psychopathology of the individuals involved. Such knowledge may assist in supporting those fan organisations that seek to challenge discriminatory behaviour in the stadium, particularly in the current context of the European (UEFA) and World football governing bodies (FIFA) punishing fans collectively, regardless of whether or not the majority in the stadium are opposed to what is being sung in their name.

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Richard Bean’s The Big Fellah (2010) and Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman (2017): two plays about the Northern Troubles from outside of Northern Ireland

Ilha do Desterro A Journal of English Language Literatures in English and Cultural Studies ◽

10.5007/2175-8026.2020v73n2p115 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 73 (2) ◽

pp. 115-126 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Hiroko Mikami

Keyword(s):

Northern Ireland ◽

Northern Irish ◽

The Troubles ◽

Good Friday ◽

Good Friday Agreement

During the three decades of the Troubles of Northern Ireland (1969-1998), a remarkable amount of plays about the Troubles was written and almost of them, it seems, had been ‘monopolised’ by (Northern) Irish playwrights. Recently, however, certain changes about this monopoly have been witnessed and those who do not claim themselves as Irish descendants have begun to choose the Northern Troubles as their themes. Also, there have been growing concerns about violence worldwide since 9.11. This article deals with two plays, Richard Bean’s The Big Fellah and Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman, neither of which was written by an Irish playwright and examines whether and to what extent it is possible to say that they can transcend regional boundaries and become part of global memories in the context of the post-Good Friday Agreement and the post 9.11.

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