What We Talk About When We Talk About Race: Racial Discourses, Nationalism and Identity in Nineteenth Century Ireland

<p>The 19th century witnessed the rise of race and racism as a dominant framework of worldwide identity politics. These politics shaped the various social hierarchies and nationalist contexts across Europe and the world. Racial constructs adopted cultural, economic, and political components and did not rely exclusively on biological determinism. This had the effect of reinforcing or hardening boundaries between groups. This dissertation examines how racial identity was negotiated within an Irish context. It does this by considering social, scientific and nationalist discourses that engaged race as a device of inclusion and exclusion. By examining how racialized language permeated the Irish scientific and public literature along with public thought this study argues how race was a contested yet important way of defining “Irishness.” It further argues that racial identity was not merely an import from other European ideas but was actively interpreted to meet local conditions and agendas. This active interpretation reshaped 19th century ideas of class, ethnicity and politics and would have an impact on the development of a free Irish nation in the 20th century.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

History, PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

School of Arts and Humanities

Year dc:date.available

2025

Author dc:creator

• Werlinger, Timothy

Contributors dc:contributor

• Daniel Livesay
• Lori Ann Ferrell

• Ireland
• Nineteenth century
• Race
• Nationalism
• European History
• History

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/1072

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:cgu_etd-2094