Opposing English, Contesting Capitalism: Pearse’s and Connolly’s discourses on the “Necessity for De-Anglicising Ireland” in the Early 20th Century

This article looks at the way two major Irish political figures of the early 20th century, Pádraic H. Pearse and James Connolly, articulated language questions with political economy analyses. Through the analysis of texts as well as their social-political context of production, I show that for the...

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Main Author: Kevin Petit Cahill
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Presses Universitaires du Midi 2022-11-01
Series:Anglophonia
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/anglophonia/4949
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author Kevin Petit Cahill
author_facet Kevin Petit Cahill
author_sort Kevin Petit Cahill
collection DOAJ
description This article looks at the way two major Irish political figures of the early 20th century, Pádraic H. Pearse and James Connolly, articulated language questions with political economy analyses. Through the analysis of texts as well as their social-political context of production, I show that for the two activists the opposition to the English language was consubstantial with the revolution for a free and socialist Ireland. I wish to highlight that the movement of opposition to English in early 20th century Ireland was not only intended to serve the interests of a conservative bourgeoisie, as is sometimes suggested in the scientific literature. More broadly, this article reflects on the emancipatory potential of language revitalisation movements.
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institution Kabale University
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series Anglophonia
spelling doaj-art-a5b25d5fe51f46f086caa3df5d4fa4a62025-01-30T12:33:09ZengPresses Universitaires du MidiAnglophonia1278-33312427-04662022-11-013410.4000/anglophonia.4949Opposing English, Contesting Capitalism: Pearse’s and Connolly’s discourses on the “Necessity for De-Anglicising Ireland” in the Early 20th CenturyKevin Petit CahillThis article looks at the way two major Irish political figures of the early 20th century, Pádraic H. Pearse and James Connolly, articulated language questions with political economy analyses. Through the analysis of texts as well as their social-political context of production, I show that for the two activists the opposition to the English language was consubstantial with the revolution for a free and socialist Ireland. I wish to highlight that the movement of opposition to English in early 20th century Ireland was not only intended to serve the interests of a conservative bourgeoisie, as is sometimes suggested in the scientific literature. More broadly, this article reflects on the emancipatory potential of language revitalisation movements.https://journals.openedition.org/anglophonia/4949language revitalisationIrelandanticapitalismcolonialismnationalism
spellingShingle Kevin Petit Cahill
Opposing English, Contesting Capitalism: Pearse’s and Connolly’s discourses on the “Necessity for De-Anglicising Ireland” in the Early 20th Century
Anglophonia
language revitalisation
Ireland
anticapitalism
colonialism
nationalism
title Opposing English, Contesting Capitalism: Pearse’s and Connolly’s discourses on the “Necessity for De-Anglicising Ireland” in the Early 20th Century
title_full Opposing English, Contesting Capitalism: Pearse’s and Connolly’s discourses on the “Necessity for De-Anglicising Ireland” in the Early 20th Century
title_fullStr Opposing English, Contesting Capitalism: Pearse’s and Connolly’s discourses on the “Necessity for De-Anglicising Ireland” in the Early 20th Century
title_full_unstemmed Opposing English, Contesting Capitalism: Pearse’s and Connolly’s discourses on the “Necessity for De-Anglicising Ireland” in the Early 20th Century
title_short Opposing English, Contesting Capitalism: Pearse’s and Connolly’s discourses on the “Necessity for De-Anglicising Ireland” in the Early 20th Century
title_sort opposing english contesting capitalism pearse s and connolly s discourses on the necessity for de anglicising ireland in the early 20th century
topic language revitalisation
Ireland
anticapitalism
colonialism
nationalism
url https://journals.openedition.org/anglophonia/4949
work_keys_str_mv AT kevinpetitcahill opposingenglishcontestingcapitalismpearsesandconnollysdiscoursesonthenecessityfordeanglicisingirelandintheearly20thcentury