How the Irish Became White Supremacists

This volume provides a critical analysis of Irish literature and the timely appraisal of contemporary developments in which ideas about Irishness have been constructed, exploited, and racialised. Exploring race, exceptionalism, and white supremacy, this book aims to start a conversation about the ways in which the idea of what it means to be ’Irish’ has been constructed, reified, and commodified and the role that Irish Studies, and academia in general, plays in this. Dismantling the notion of Irishness, this text examines contemporary developments in Ireland relating to asylum seekers and ’non-nationals’ in contemporary literary works, exploring a phenomenon that structures and creates power disparities. This volume will be an essential resource for academics interested in understanding current developments in Irish society.

Sean O’ Dubhghaill is a Professor of International Relations at the Brussels School of Governance. He published An Anthropology of the Irish in Belgium: Belonging, Identity and Community in 2020.