This book explores how Ireland’s community media outlets reflect and shape identity at the local level. While aspects of its culture date back centuries, the nation-state of Ireland is less than one hundred years old. Because of this and other elements of the island’s history, Irish identity is a contested topic and the island is a place where culture, identity and geography are tightly intertwined. By addressing how community media serve as agents for community building, the book examines how they in turn influence the way individuals connect with their communities.

Exploring key areas relating to media, power and cultural identity, this study looks at the effects of the media in Ireland, first radio, then television, and now the newer media.

A collection covering a wide variety of media in Ireland, including broadcasting, film, popular music, radio, and popular culture. Together, these essays map out the role various media have played in the process of 're-imagining Ireland' over the last fifteen years, touching on aspects of Irish cultural identity and the (re)construction of notions of Irishness. The book addresses the more contemporary implications of both the peace process in Northern Ireland and the 'Celtic Tiger' phenomenon in the South. Contents include: Introduction: The Changing Configurations of Irish Studies (1990-2005); Boxed-in?: The Aesthetics of Film and Television --- Section One: Irish Film. National Cinema and Cultural Identity; Maureen O'Hara: The Political Power of the Feisty Colleen; A Landscape Peopled Differently: Thaddeus O'Sullivan's 'December Bride'; Cinema and the City: Re-imagining Belfast and Dublin; Challenging Colonial Traditions: British Cinema in the Celtic Fringe --- Section Two: Irish Broadcasting. 'Music Hall Dope and British Propaganda': Cultural Identity and Early Broadcasting in Ireland; The City and the Working Class on Irish Television; Broadcasting in a Divided Community: The BBC in Northern Ireland; Drama out of a Crisis: Television Drama and the Troubles; The Elect and the Abject: Representing Protestant Culture; Irish Popular Music; Hybridity and National Musics: The Case of Irish Rock Music (with Noel McLaughlin); Punk Music in Ireland: The Political Power of 'What-Might-Have-Been' --- Conclusion: Popular Culture and Social Change.Ã?Â?Ã?Â?

"This book captures contemporary debates around indigenous languages and social change communication. Contributors bring together voices from the margins to engage in dialogue about common social change issues in Latin America, Africa, and Asia"--

Offering up-to-date research and analysis of the Irish media by Ireland's leading experts in the field, this book focuses on a wide range of media including the more traditional broadcast and print media, and also engages with newer media such as the internet and DVD, and newer media genres such as reality TV.

Watson (sociology, U. College, Dublin) argues that the Irish language plays an important role in national identity in Ireland, and shows how changes in broadcasting in the country coincide with changes in national identity. He begins with radio in the 1920s, and proceeds through the founding of an Irish-language television station in 1996 to the present. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).