The relation of design to historical events is generally overlooked by Irish historians of all persuasions. This new anthology of twenty-two essays aims to reposition a range of quotidian and mundane Irish objects, emanating from a specific historical moment, in the expanded field of historical signification through a highly theorized framework drawn from material culture studies. To do this, each contributor takes as a starting point the events of the armed insurrection mounted by Irish Republicans in Dublin during 24-29 April 1916, the first step on the revolutionary path to Irish independence and known as the Easter Rising, and/or their aftermath. The editors, Lisa Godson and Joanna Bruck, contend that the Rising is 'a key element of Irish consciousness-a foundation myth around which shared identities have been constructed', and assert their desire not to 'summarise or critically evaluate the events' but rather reconsider the 'material and visual culture of 1916 to include not only inert, bounded artefacts but also material practices, whether of the body or the ways places are interacted with'. The chapters all originate in papers given at a conference held in Dublin on 26-27 April 2013, entitled 'Object Matters: Making 1916', convened by the editors.
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