Ph.D. English (NUI Galway, 2011). Thesis: "Surfacing Again: Ethnic Identity in Irish-Canadian Literature".
Master of Commerce and Arts [Dipl.-Kulturwirt] (U Passau, 2006). Thesis (English): "Writing home or writing back? Identity Negotiations in Contemporary Irish-Canadian Literature".
Explorations in Irish Literature is a collection of seventeen essays about various periods, genre... more Explorations in Irish Literature is a collection of seventeen essays about various periods, genres and writers in Irish literary history. The essays were originally published between 1973 and 2004 but have been revised considerably and/or translated from the German. They are ...
Explorations in Irish Literature is a collection of seventeen essays about various periods, genre... more Explorations in Irish Literature is a collection of seventeen essays about various periods, genres and writers in Irish literary history. The essays were originally published between 1973 and 2004 but have been revised considerably and/or translated from the German. They are ...
This article explores the representation and function of dance as a multivocal practice in two Ir... more This article explores the representation and function of dance as a multivocal practice in two Irish-Canadian novels, Dennis T. Patrick Sears’s The Lark in the Clear Air (1974), and Jane Urquhart’s Away (1993). Specifically, it examines, through a close reading of each text, how dance and violence are intertwined in a struggle for representation. The article traces the evolution of the dance genres depicted in these novels, including the can-can, stomp dancing, and Irish dancing, as well as the discourse of morality that has evolved in relation to the dancing body through cultural history. Through the use of performance and affect theory, it investigates the larger implications of bodies and movements for intercultural dialogue and integration. It argues that an analysis of dance in narratives reveals important social and moral stakes in identity politics that a focus on verbal communication alone cannot adequately capture.
Mark Anthony Jarman and Thomas O’Grady reassess their belonging to Canada and Ireland through tra... more Mark Anthony Jarman and Thomas O’Grady reassess their belonging to Canada and Ireland through travel narrative and poetry, attempting to reconcile personal experience with alternative histories, literary narratives and family memories. Their urge to define themselves as Canadian and their simultaneous desire for origins makes them continuously collapse temporal and spatial categories. Using post-colonial criticism and life writing theory, this paper explores some of the dominant themes and problems associated with reverse border crossings of diasporic writers. It analyses the writers’ strategies for compensating the lack of chronology and examines their creative use of Irish culture and literature, particularly the image of the graveyard and the writings of James Joyce, to define their position in the intricate web of Irish-Canadian connections. It also highlights the ways in which these writers have deviated from traditional Irish-Canadian writing and found a way to subvert the idea of a unified and ethnicity-free ‘Anglo-Celtic’ core in Canada.
The Confederating period of the 1850s and 60s and the adoption of official Multiculturalism in th... more The Confederating period of the 1850s and 60s and the adoption of official Multiculturalism in the 1970s are two of the arguably most incisive ideological moments in Canadian history. The literature that was produced during the Confederating period and the early years of Multiculturalism therefore constitutes a valuable medium to discern what is at stake in reinforcing ‘national’ and ‘ethnic’ identities as normative categories. This paper focuses on Canadian literature that was written during these times by Catholic Irish immigrants and their descendants because the conflicting role of the Irish as both colonisers and colonised adds political dynamics, the explorations of which help illustrate the objectives and shortcomings of national and multicultural ideologies. The essay analyses ideas about nation building, ethnic identity, racial supremacy and cultural diversity in the poetry of Thomas D’Arcy McGee and Rosanna Leprohon as well as novels by Harry J. Boyle and Dennis T. Patrick Sears.
Travelling Concepts: Negotiating Diversity in Canada and Europe, 2010
My paper explores the terminology used for Canada’s ethnic majority in the discourse of multicult... more My paper explores the terminology used for Canada’s ethnic majority in the discourse of multiculturalism. Even though multiculturalism ideologically requires everyone to produce an ethnic identity, the term “ethnic” is generally employed to refer only to those who are subordinate in power and privilege. In the nineteenth century, people of British and Irish ancestry rid themselves of their European ethnic heritage in order to transform Canada into a nation and provide it with power. As Canada’s majority they have consequently been grouped together as “Anglo-Celtic” and are rarely studied as distinct ethnicities on their own terms. I argue that the dissolution of the category “Anglo-Celtic” and the re-inscription of ethnicity on supposedly “ethnicity-free” Canadians can provide a richer understanding of “mainstream” cultures, help break down asymmetrical power relations, and foster equality.
The focus on European history and culture is very important in this case. The “Celtic” nations have come to be seen as both colonizers and colonized, and in that sense the term “Anglo-Celtic” is problematic because it acknowledges neither the inferior position of the “Celts” in Europe nor the differences between such distinct cultures as the Irish, Scottish or Welsh ones. The term is further obscured by the fact that the concept of “the Celts” is essentially a construct that carries a wide range of connotations and lacks precise meaning.
This paper traces the use of the term “Anglo-Celtic” in Europe and Canada (also with reference to Australia and the United States) in a variety of disciplines. I point to its shortcomings and plead for a careful analysis of the terminology employed, and the categorisation used within race and ethnicity discourse. Moreover, I discuss some specific examples from Canadian literature to situate the term in a relevant context. These include poetry from the second half of the nineteenth century to demonstrate how the concept of a unifying “Anglo-Celtic” identity could emerge and post-colonial texts such as Margaret Laurence’s The Diviners (1974) that point to the flaws and ironies of it.
Explorations in Irish Literature is a collection of seventeen essays about various periods, genre... more Explorations in Irish Literature is a collection of seventeen essays about various periods, genres and writers in Irish literary history. The essays were originally published between 1973 and 2004 but have been revised considerably and/or translated from the German. They are ...
Explorations in Irish Literature is a collection of seventeen essays about various periods, genre... more Explorations in Irish Literature is a collection of seventeen essays about various periods, genres and writers in Irish literary history. The essays were originally published between 1973 and 2004 but have been revised considerably and/or translated from the German. They are ...
This article explores the representation and function of dance as a multivocal practice in two Ir... more This article explores the representation and function of dance as a multivocal practice in two Irish-Canadian novels, Dennis T. Patrick Sears’s The Lark in the Clear Air (1974), and Jane Urquhart’s Away (1993). Specifically, it examines, through a close reading of each text, how dance and violence are intertwined in a struggle for representation. The article traces the evolution of the dance genres depicted in these novels, including the can-can, stomp dancing, and Irish dancing, as well as the discourse of morality that has evolved in relation to the dancing body through cultural history. Through the use of performance and affect theory, it investigates the larger implications of bodies and movements for intercultural dialogue and integration. It argues that an analysis of dance in narratives reveals important social and moral stakes in identity politics that a focus on verbal communication alone cannot adequately capture.
Mark Anthony Jarman and Thomas O’Grady reassess their belonging to Canada and Ireland through tra... more Mark Anthony Jarman and Thomas O’Grady reassess their belonging to Canada and Ireland through travel narrative and poetry, attempting to reconcile personal experience with alternative histories, literary narratives and family memories. Their urge to define themselves as Canadian and their simultaneous desire for origins makes them continuously collapse temporal and spatial categories. Using post-colonial criticism and life writing theory, this paper explores some of the dominant themes and problems associated with reverse border crossings of diasporic writers. It analyses the writers’ strategies for compensating the lack of chronology and examines their creative use of Irish culture and literature, particularly the image of the graveyard and the writings of James Joyce, to define their position in the intricate web of Irish-Canadian connections. It also highlights the ways in which these writers have deviated from traditional Irish-Canadian writing and found a way to subvert the idea of a unified and ethnicity-free ‘Anglo-Celtic’ core in Canada.
The Confederating period of the 1850s and 60s and the adoption of official Multiculturalism in th... more The Confederating period of the 1850s and 60s and the adoption of official Multiculturalism in the 1970s are two of the arguably most incisive ideological moments in Canadian history. The literature that was produced during the Confederating period and the early years of Multiculturalism therefore constitutes a valuable medium to discern what is at stake in reinforcing ‘national’ and ‘ethnic’ identities as normative categories. This paper focuses on Canadian literature that was written during these times by Catholic Irish immigrants and their descendants because the conflicting role of the Irish as both colonisers and colonised adds political dynamics, the explorations of which help illustrate the objectives and shortcomings of national and multicultural ideologies. The essay analyses ideas about nation building, ethnic identity, racial supremacy and cultural diversity in the poetry of Thomas D’Arcy McGee and Rosanna Leprohon as well as novels by Harry J. Boyle and Dennis T. Patrick Sears.
Travelling Concepts: Negotiating Diversity in Canada and Europe, 2010
My paper explores the terminology used for Canada’s ethnic majority in the discourse of multicult... more My paper explores the terminology used for Canada’s ethnic majority in the discourse of multiculturalism. Even though multiculturalism ideologically requires everyone to produce an ethnic identity, the term “ethnic” is generally employed to refer only to those who are subordinate in power and privilege. In the nineteenth century, people of British and Irish ancestry rid themselves of their European ethnic heritage in order to transform Canada into a nation and provide it with power. As Canada’s majority they have consequently been grouped together as “Anglo-Celtic” and are rarely studied as distinct ethnicities on their own terms. I argue that the dissolution of the category “Anglo-Celtic” and the re-inscription of ethnicity on supposedly “ethnicity-free” Canadians can provide a richer understanding of “mainstream” cultures, help break down asymmetrical power relations, and foster equality.
The focus on European history and culture is very important in this case. The “Celtic” nations have come to be seen as both colonizers and colonized, and in that sense the term “Anglo-Celtic” is problematic because it acknowledges neither the inferior position of the “Celts” in Europe nor the differences between such distinct cultures as the Irish, Scottish or Welsh ones. The term is further obscured by the fact that the concept of “the Celts” is essentially a construct that carries a wide range of connotations and lacks precise meaning.
This paper traces the use of the term “Anglo-Celtic” in Europe and Canada (also with reference to Australia and the United States) in a variety of disciplines. I point to its shortcomings and plead for a careful analysis of the terminology employed, and the categorisation used within race and ethnicity discourse. Moreover, I discuss some specific examples from Canadian literature to situate the term in a relevant context. These include poetry from the second half of the nineteenth century to demonstrate how the concept of a unifying “Anglo-Celtic” identity could emerge and post-colonial texts such as Margaret Laurence’s The Diviners (1974) that point to the flaws and ironies of it.
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The focus on European history and culture is very important in this case. The “Celtic” nations have come to be seen as both colonizers and colonized, and in that sense the term “Anglo-Celtic” is problematic because it acknowledges neither the inferior position of the “Celts” in Europe nor the differences between such distinct cultures as the Irish, Scottish or Welsh ones. The term is further obscured by the fact that the concept of “the Celts” is essentially a construct that carries a wide range of connotations and lacks precise meaning.
This paper traces the use of the term “Anglo-Celtic” in Europe and Canada (also with reference to Australia and the United States) in a variety of disciplines. I point to its shortcomings and plead for a careful analysis of the terminology employed, and the categorisation used within race and ethnicity discourse. Moreover, I discuss some specific examples from Canadian literature to situate the term in a relevant context. These include poetry from the second half of the nineteenth century to demonstrate how the concept of a unifying “Anglo-Celtic” identity could emerge and post-colonial texts such as Margaret Laurence’s The Diviners (1974) that point to the flaws and ironies of it.
The focus on European history and culture is very important in this case. The “Celtic” nations have come to be seen as both colonizers and colonized, and in that sense the term “Anglo-Celtic” is problematic because it acknowledges neither the inferior position of the “Celts” in Europe nor the differences between such distinct cultures as the Irish, Scottish or Welsh ones. The term is further obscured by the fact that the concept of “the Celts” is essentially a construct that carries a wide range of connotations and lacks precise meaning.
This paper traces the use of the term “Anglo-Celtic” in Europe and Canada (also with reference to Australia and the United States) in a variety of disciplines. I point to its shortcomings and plead for a careful analysis of the terminology employed, and the categorisation used within race and ethnicity discourse. Moreover, I discuss some specific examples from Canadian literature to situate the term in a relevant context. These include poetry from the second half of the nineteenth century to demonstrate how the concept of a unifying “Anglo-Celtic” identity could emerge and post-colonial texts such as Margaret Laurence’s The Diviners (1974) that point to the flaws and ironies of it.