Irish Digital Cultures by Flynn, Deirdre; McGill, Mary;

Short description:

This book explores how questions of Ireland and Irishness are represented in online environments, and what these phenomena say about contemporary Irish identities both within the country and globally. It will interest Irish Studies, Media Studies, Cultural Studies, Sociology, Race, Gender, Identity, and New Media.

Long description:

Irish Digital Cultures explores how questions of Ireland and Irishness are represented in online environments, and what these phenomena say about contemporary Irish identities both within the country and globally.

Bringing together interdisciplinary scholars and media studies professionals from across Ireland, this collection investigates how Irish life, culture and identity are impacted and evolving with the increasing reliance on digital platforms and tools. Emerging and established scholars at the cutting edge of Irish cultural research offer chapters that speak to the diversity of the digital in the Irish cultural sphere. The Culture and Identity section explores issues of representation, digital re-imaginings of ‘Irishness’, the discursive interplay of ‘old Ireland’ versus ‘new Ireland’ online, and Irishness as a self-brand and marketable commodity in the digital commons. From Irish gamers on YouTube to popular Irish podcast production, this section examines interconnections of culture and identity, exploring how these are reimagined and articulated in digital spaces.  Building on these themes, the Contexts and Spaces section introduces scholarship on Irish cultural memory and the digital archive, protest and visibility in Irish digital spaces, artistic practice and performance, and the policing of ‘Irishness’ online.

This volume will interest Irish Studies researchers and scholars, particularly those working at the intersection of Media Studies, Cultural Studies, Sociology, Race, Gender, Identity, and New Media, as well as students studying Irish culture across the humanities and social sciences.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Section 1: Culture and Identity

1. Podcasting, Emigration, Return Migration and ‘Middle Ireland’ in the Wake of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis: Jarlath Regan’s An Irishman Abroad (2013-)

2. Negotiating Black and Irish Identity in the digital space

3. Jacksepticeye: Irishness, Branding and YouTube Gaming

4. Global Ireland and Digital Diversity: Creative Entrepreneurialism and the ‘Soft Power’ Platforming of the Diversity Ambassador

5. ‘Hot Asian Boy Summer!’: Performing Asian Irish Masculinities on TikTok

6. Representations of Ireland and Irishness on Alt Tech Platforms: Forty Shades of Green, but Just One Shade of White

7. Hopeful Mobilities in Irish Creator Cultures

Section 2: Contexts and Spaces

8. Developing a “critical feminist” approach to digitally preserving reproductive health activism on the island of Ireland

9. ‘Whatever we did get, we fought tooth and nail for’: Irish Independent and DIY Music Scenes in the Pandemic

10. Digital Dramaturgies: Irish Theatre’s Pandemic Response

11. Non-human subjects, artificial intelligence, and the lyric voice in Irish poetry of the digital age: encounters with “skin-and-bone cousins”

12. Globally Spread Eco-videos and Regionalised Appeals: Digital Audiences in Ireland and Uruguay

13. “Ireland, we are at war”: Conor McGregor, Mixed Martial Arts, and Far Right Populism in Ireland

14. CODA: Homegrown: Redefining digital Irish content, cultures and audience

Index