A Gaelic South African Revival?: The Irish Republican Association of South Africa, The Republic, and Irish South African Identity

Authors

Tom McGrath, Maynooth University

Abstract

In September 1920, at a meeting in Johannesburg, the Irish National Association of South Africa rebranded itself as the Irish Republican Association of South Africa. The IRASA was unique within the history of the Irish in South Africa. While it existed only until 1923, it was the largest Irish group in South African history, made evident by the establishment of its own journal, The Republic. The association was fundamentally devoted to nurturing an “Irish Afrikander” identity and culture within South Africa, primarily through the promotion of Irish works in its journal, from excerpts of Thomas Davis’ writings to a full retelling of the Irish epic, Táin Bó Cúailnge. Through an examination of The Republic, this paper will account for the IRASA’s attempt at cementing a distinct Irish nationalist cultural identity in South Africa. It will consider the myriad ways in which the organisation sought to promote a sense of Irishness amongst its members and how it envisioned this identity fitting within the broader South African context. In charting how the association conceived and set about instilling these ideas through literature, this paper will provide insight into the Irish South African experience and posit broader questions about Irish identity in a global context.

Recommended Citation

McGrath, Tom. "A Gaelic South African Revival?: The Irish Republican Association of South Africa, The Republic, and Irish South African Identity," Critical Inquiries Into Irish Studies, vol. 5, no. 1, 2023, https://scholarship.shu.edu/ciiis/vol5/iss1/2.