ways of Seeing ireland's green

ABSTRACT

Ireland has long been identified as the Green Isle. Drawing on extensive ethnographic research, this article explores the color green in Ireland in terms of visualization and marketing in relation to dress and tourist design. The focus on different ways of seeing Ireland's green reveals the color as an identity marker, highly charged politically and culturally. Starting out as a political statement of Irish identity, green became a marker to outsiders signaling Irishness. The ban on “the wearing of the green” during British colonialism reinforced the significance of green in Ireland. Green was the color of the Republican revolutionary organization, and was identified as the national color long before Ireland became an independent nation in 1922. Now green remains an indicator in outsiders' visual construction of Irishness. The extensive wearing of green on St Patrick's Day, the national day, is a continued celebration of national independence fueled by the legacy of the ban, not only in Ireland but among Irish diaspora communities across the globe. The color green is the signature color in the branding of Ireland as a tourist destination.

KEYWORDS:

• ireland
• the color green
• visualization
• national identity
• national dress
• tourist design
• nation branding