Reflections, Misrecognitions, Messianisms and Identifications: Towards an Epistemology of Irish Nationalism

Abstract

This essay examines the narrative source of Irish Republican ideology. By contrasting the nationalism and republicanism of the United Irishmen and the IRB of 1916, the contradictions and misrecognitions inherent in Republican ideology are explored and deconstructed. A close reading of some of the utterances of P.H. Pearse further underlines the constructed and selectionist nature of nationalist ideology