ABSTRACT
Ireland occupies an uneasy place within contemporary academic geography. Attempts to name and critique the hegemony of ‘Anglo-American’ geography often seem unsure of where Ireland fits. If ‘Anglo-American’ geography is defined linguistically, then Ireland – where English is the de facto first language – is certainly part of the core. At previous international critical geography conferences, for example, Mexico City, the association of disciplinary hegemony with the English language meant that Ireland was clearly classified as ‘Anglo-American’. Yet, definitions based on linguistic competence occlude the long and deeply problematic colonial and postcolonial relationship between Britain and Ireland. English is spoken in Ireland as a direct consequence of colonialism, and the experience of colonialism continues to shape everyday life in Ireland, not least through the continuing geopolitical divide on the island of Ireland, where the northeast remains an integral part of the United Kingdom. This postcolonial reality challenges the supremacy of linguistic competency as the key marker of ‘Anglo-American’ geography.
