Ireland and Masculinities in History (Genders and Sexualities in History)

This edited collection presents a selection of essays on the history of Irish masculinities. Beginning with representations of masculinity in eighteenth-century drama, economics, and satire, and concluding with work on the politics of masculinity post Good-Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, the collection advances the importance of masculinities in our understanding of Irish history and historiography. Using a variety of approaches, including literary and legal theory as well as cultural, political and local histories, this collection illuminates the differing forms, roles, and representations of Irish masculinities. Themes include the politicisation of Irishmen in both the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland; muscular manliness in the Irish Diaspora; Orangewomen and political agency; the disruptive possibility of the rural bachelor; and aspirational constructions of boyhood. Several essays explore how masculinity is constructed and performed by women, thus emphasizing the necessity of differentiating masculinity from maleness. These essays demonstrate the value of gender and masculinities for historical research and the transformative potential of these concepts in how we envision Ireland’s past, present, and future. Front Matter ....Pages i-xv Ireland and Masculinities in History: An Introduction (Rebecca Anne Barr, Sean Brady, Jane McGaughey)....Pages 1-17 Caught in a Contract: Congreve, Farquhar and Contractarian Masculinities (James Ward)....Pages 19-38 ‘Whole Swarms of Bastards’: A Modest Proposal, the Discourse of Economic Improvement and Protestant Masculinity in Ireland, 1720–1738 (Clíona Ó Gallchoir)....Pages 39-65 Bog Men: Celtic Landscapes in Mid-Eighteenth-Century Satire (Declan Kavanagh)....Pages 67-88 Primogeniture, Strict Settlement and the Rituals of Masculinity on an Irish Landed Estate, 1855–90 (Kevin McKenna)....Pages 89-108 Thomas A. Hickey: The ‘Uncrowned King’ and Irish Masculinity on Two Continents (Peter H. Buckingham)....Pages 109-131 Games for Boys: Masculinity, Boyhood and Play 1922–1939 (Mary Hatfield)....Pages 133-153 Fianna Fáil’s Agrarian Man and the Economics of National Salvation (Aidan Beatty)....Pages 155-175 Bachelor Trouble, Troubled Bachelors: The Cultural Figure of the Bachelor in Ballybunion and Mullingar (Ed Madden)....Pages 177-202 Irish Fatherhood in the Twentieth Century (Dara E. Purvis)....Pages 203-219 ‘No Idle Sightseers’: The Ulster Women’s Unionist Council and the Masculine World of Politics During the Ulster Crisis, 1912–14 (Pamela McKane)....Pages 221-252 Irish Protestant Masculinities and Orangewomen in Scotland, Canada and England, 1890–1918 (D. A. J. MacPherson)....Pages 253-272 Masculinities, Political Transition and Power: A Case Study of Northern Ireland (Fidelma Ashe)....Pages 273-292 Afterword: Irish Masculinities and Gender History (Sonya O. Rose)....Pages 293-301 Back Matter ....Pages 303-313