The Worlds of Irish Anthropology

The Worlds of Irish Anthropology presents a selection of Irish anthropological essays on themes ranging from migration and memory to social class and religious conflict. Every chapter addresses contemporary disciplinary concerns.


As a collection, this book offers a portrait of Irish anthropology as a pluralistic and intellectually venturesome scholarly scene. In the past, it was portrayed as a minor tributary that would occasionally contribute to the ebb and flow of metropolitan concerns. However, Ireland has produced an important body of research on conflict and its aftermaths, and on class and change in marginal communities. In today’s world, this is sufficient reason to revisit Irish anthropology and capture the innovation on display there.

Rather than finding anthropologists focused solely on the 'local' – the post-conflict or marginal community – this volume showcases the work of several scholarly generations for whom locality is always problematic, always imbricated by that which lies beyond, and yet also the necessary scene for human drama and reflection. This volume about Irish anthropology, then, is a collection that reflects on the power and limitations of contemporary ethnography, a subject of a significance for all anthropologists.