ABSTRACT
The southeast Avalon Peninsula prides itself on being the most Irish corner of the island of Newfoundland, and modern-day visitors seeking a transplanted piece of the auld sod' are encouraged to wend their way south of the capital, St. John's. Tourists to the province are lured to the area with promises that they will find a thick Irish brogue' spoken in this heart of Irish culture and heritage'. This chapter explores the cartography of collective historical memory and the impact of socio-economic disruption on the cultural landscape to understand the reimagining of place as the Irish Loop. Cultural tourism with an Irish twist was given a significant boost by the signing of the 1996 Memorandum of Understanding between the governments of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Republic of Ireland (MOU). Certainly, cultural tourism has not been a neutral force in the area especially since the 1990s, when the cod fishery collapsed.
