Irish Studies have become a flourishing field of research, owing to the rapid political and social developments of Ireland in recent decades, with Ireland successively being transformed from a country of emigration and political trouble to a booming tiger state, before succumbing to the recent worldwide economic crisis. The articles collected in this volume examine representations of Ireland and 'Irishness' in drama, film, and popular culture, which have been significant and broadly influential in shaping the national identity of a wide audience, with regard to the creation of both auto- and hetero-stereotypes and their deconstruction.The twenty contributions by notable international scholars in the field of Irish Studies cover hitherto unexplored images of Ireland and the Irish in a diverse range of cultural practices. These include contemporary Irish drama, its contribution to identity formation and its engagement with continental models, film makers' responses to articularly 'Irish' themes such as the recovery of the Gaelic inheritance, or e-migration to the United States. Aspects of popular culture addressed in this volume are sports, popular entertainment, advertising and propaganda, Irish myth, as well as different forms of cross-cultural exchange, with Ireland both as a source and target culture.
