Land, kinship and identity: The cultural roots of agrarian agitation in eighteenth‐ and nineteenth‐century Ireland

Abstract

This paper seeks to uncover the underlying causes of agrarian agitation in eighteenth‐ and nineteenth‐century Ireland. It argues, in contrast to existing explanations, that rural unrest was a highly complex form of popular protest, disciplined and with clear objectives. These objectives centred on the Irish peasantry's defence of traditional rights and customs with regard to the ownership, occupation and use of the land. It is further argued that these rights and customs were in turn grounded upon a system of social norms, beliefs and obligations which governed the relationship between land, kinship and identity in Irish peasant communities.

Notes

Senior Tutor in History, Department of History, The Faculties, The Australian National University, GPO Box 4, Canberra ACT 2601.1 am grateful to Philip Bull, David Johanson and Oliver MacDonagh for their comments on an earlier version of this paper.