Identity dystopias, empire framing and theoretical hegemonies: two case studies, India and Ireland

Abstract

This article explores the connections between official contemporary identity formation and colonial pasts. Using the case studies of India and Ireland the article explores how different traditions of theorisation are powerful in these formations. India and Ireland were two colonial domains that had many linkages outside the ambit of the British. These linkages are made sense of using methodological approaches like those deployed by Dick Selleck and Geoff Sherington in key works. Yet the colonial stories of these two countries are also distinctive, offering up strong trajectories that inform different contemporary controversies from uncomfortable yet stereotyped perspectives.

Keywords:

• empire history
• India
• Ireland
• colonial

Notes on contributors

Tim Allender is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney. Recently he has been a Visiting Professor at OISE, University of Toronto, has been appointed to a History Fellowship, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and he has held a Visiting Professorship at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla, India. His research interests are colonial education, empire history and teaching history (didactics) at secondary school and university levels.

Tom O'Donoghue is a professor of Education in the Graduate School of Education, The University of Western Australia. He is an elected Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and of the Royal Historical Society. His research interests are in the history of faith-based education and in educational leadership in challenging contexts.