Theory on the Edge: Irish Studies and the Politics of Sexual Difference

Theory on the Edge brings together leading researchers working at the interface between Irish Studies and theories of gender and sexuality, in an effort to trace the development of feminist thinking and activism in Ireland over the past forty years. From queer theory to postfeminism, LGBT rights to abortion, immigration to emigration, postcolonialism to psychoanalysis, chapters trace the social, political, legal, religious, and educational developments in Ireland and its diasporas. The authors celebrate, more specifically, the academic, literary, and political efforts of the public intellectual, theorist, and activist Ailbhe Smyth, while pushing work on gender and sexuality in challenging new directions. Contributors include Ivana Bacik, Paula Burns, Olga Cox Cameron, Lisa Fingleton, Noreen Giffney, Debbie Ging, Breda Gray, Eithne Luibheid, Sandra McEvoy, Gerardine Meaney, Anne Mulhall, Aideen Quilty, Medb Ruane, Margrit Shildrick, Edith Shillue, Ailbhe Smyth, Moynagh Sullivan, Fintan Walsh, and Margaret Ward.