Ireland's Imposter Aristocrats

The Irish Passport

Society & Culture

4.8 • 652 Ratings

🗓️ 11 November 2023

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Tim published a book! How does nobility work as a power strategy, why does it bear so many curious similarities to the construct of race, and what does all of this have to do with Ireland? We delve into Tim's book, "Nobility and the Making of Race in Eighteenth-Century Britain", published by Bloomsbury Academic this autumn, and uncover the intricate power dynamics of Irish nobility in the eighteenth century. We find out how during this age of colonial expansion European naturalists began to classify global populations according to ancient traditions of blood hierarchy, reimagining white Europeans as the natural aristocracy of mankind. We also explore how the very idea of "natural nobility" in Ireland at this time brought up profound anxieties, revealing a dangerous power vacuum at the heart of colonial rule. Listeners can buy "Nobility and the Making of Race in Eighteenth-Century Britain" on the Bloomsbury Publishing website: www.bloomsbury.com. Patreon members benefit from early access to this episode -- thank you for keeping the show running! If you would like access to our 100+ episodes of extra content and support the continued making of show along the way, you can sign up at www.patreon.com/theirishpassport.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, welcome to Irish Passport.
0:02.3	Let's do it.
0:03.1	Welcome to the Irish Passport.
0:04.8	I'm Tim McInerney.
0:06.0	I'm Naomi O'Leary.
0:07.0	We're friends.
0:07.7	Can you both to Naomi?
0:08.5	Anwar Fat, Tim.
0:09.9	This is your passport to Irish culture, history and politics.
0:13.2	Uh-huh.
0:13.5	I'm recording.
0:14.2	One, two, two, three.
0:16.6	Okay. The very idea of an elite in 18th century Ireland was inseparable from the island's all-pervasive colonial context,
0:44.2	rendering it markedly distinct from anything that might be found on the neighbouring island of Britain.
0:50.7	By the 18th century, successive waves of colonisation had left Ireland with a complex and volatile set of allegiances.
0:58.7	The island remained within the orbit of British control, but continued to exist outside the Union.
1:05.2	Its small colonial establishment was both loyal to the crown and increasingly hungry for legislative autonomy,
1:12.8	and the bulk of its peasantry was split between a vast, deeply resentful Catholic majority
1:18.9	and a progressively radical faction of dissenting Protestants.
1:24.2	The ethnocultural patchwork created by experimental plantations in Ireland meant that to speak of a rightful Irish nobility was almost impossible.
1:35.1	One first had to define who the Irish were.
1:39.5	Tim, that was an extract from your latest book, Nobility and the Making of Race in 18th century Britain,
	...

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