Commemorating Ireland: History, Politics, Culture

by Eberhard Bort (Editor)

This is not so much a book of commemoration as it is on or about commemoration. The title of this book is ambiguous, and intentionally so. On the one hand, there are echoes of 'Writing Ireland' or 'Imagining Ireland', or '(Re)-Inventing Ireland' - an active process shaping our perception of what Ireland is and how it has become what it is. On the other hand, there is an element of glancing back. Only what is gone, what is in the past, can be commemorated. Ireland, having undergone rapid and profound changes in the past decades, often kindles feelings of nostalgia, of an older Ireland having been lost in the 'filthy modern tide'. This is an examination - in an international, comparative context - of the role commemorations play in contemporary politics and society. This is a multi-disciplinary study by an array of distinguished Peter Collins, Mary Daly, Tony Canavan, Owen Dudley Edwards, Paul Arthur, Christopher Harvie, Malcolm Anderson, Neal Ascherson, Gerald Dawe, Christopher Murray and Aidan Howard.

293 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2003

About the author

Eberhard ‘Paddy’ Bort (1954 - 2017) was Convener and Director of Studies of the Academy of Government’s Parliamentary Internship Programme. His teaching at Edinburgh University included Scottish Society and Culture, Contemporary Irish Politics, The Politics of Borders, and British Studies. He was also Book Reviews Editor of Scottish Affairs. Before coming to Edinburgh in 1995, he worked at Tübingen University in British and Irish Studies with Professor Christopher Harvie and taught in German Studies at Trinity College, Dublin, and at the University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington, USA.

Bort was active in initiatives such as Nordic Horizons and the Scottish Rural Parliament and played an important role in shaping the European social democratic and Nordic models for an independent Scotland.

He was a key figure in the Edinburgh folk scene and ran the Wee Folk Club at The Royal Oak on Infirmary Street, Edinburgh, every Sunday night.