Exhibiting Irishness
Empire, Race, and Nation, c. 1850-1970
Will be published approx. on 20. January 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
240 pages
978-1-5261-9493-0 (ISBN)
Description
Exhibiting Irishness analyses how exhibitions enabled Irish individuals and groups to work out (privately and publicly) their politicised existences across two centuries. As a cultural history of Irish identity, the book considers exhibitions as a formative platform for imagining a host of Irish pasts, presents and futures. Fair organisers responded to the contexts of famine and poverty, migration and diasporic settlement, independence movements and partition, as well as post-colonial nation building. My research demonstrates how Irish businesses and labourers, the elite organisers of the fairs and successive Irish governments curated Irishness. The central malleability of Irish identity on display emerged in tandem with the unfolding of Ireland's political transformation from a colony of the British Empire, a migrant community in the United States, to a divided Ireland in the form of the Republic and Northern Ireland. -- .
Reviews / Votes
WINNER of the Michael J. Durkan Prize for Books on Language and Culture 2025 (American Conference for Irish Studies)Honourable mention for the Donald Murphy Prize for Best First Book 2024
'Exhibiting Irishness is a groundbreaking work that is essential reading for anyone interested in Irish history, visual and material culture, art, ethnic and racial studies, and gender studies. Ultimately, it reveals the fragility, ambivalence and relationality of Irishness-something constantly (re)negotiated, questioned and affirmed in line with societal, historical and political changes. The book, thus, has the potential to transform our understanding of exhibitions and their role in (re)constructing and promoting Irishness'
-Rise Journal
'Akhtar explores Ireland's participation in exhibitions and world fairs as vehicles for expressing fluid cultural, political, and economic Irish identities from 1850 to 1970 within the context of Ireland's relationship with the British Empire and the wider global economy... This book contributes to the study of Ireland, national identity and nationalism, and fairs and exhibitions.'
-Recommended by CHOICE
'An original and ambitious book that unites several important strands in Irish Studies through an engaging examination of the packaging and repackaging of Irish culture for international consumption.'
-Michael de Nie, University of West Georgia
'It exemplifies the richness of transdisciplinary enquiry for the expanded field of Irish studies, and is particularly impressive in its scope and breadth of source material.'
-Emily Mark-FitzGerald, University College Dublin -- .
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Manchester
United Kingdom
Illustrations
30 black and white illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
371 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5261-9493-0 (9781526194930)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Shahmima Akhtar is an Assistant Professor in History at the University of Birmingham -- .
Content
Introduction: Irish identities on display
1 Famine and industry: Ireland's original exhibitions
2 Diaspora and migration: Displayed Ireland abroad
3 Home rule and capitalism: Irish modernities
4 Interwar and partition: A divided Ireland
5 Debt and disagreement: Postcolonial Ireland
Conclusion: Ireland on display
Bibliography
Index -- .
1 Famine and industry: Ireland's original exhibitions
2 Diaspora and migration: Displayed Ireland abroad
3 Home rule and capitalism: Irish modernities
4 Interwar and partition: A divided Ireland
5 Debt and disagreement: Postcolonial Ireland
Conclusion: Ireland on display
Bibliography
Index -- .