[Commlist] New Book: A Post-Nationalist History of Television in Ireland

[New Book] A Post-Nationalist History of Television in Ireland, by 
Edward Brennan

Publisher Link: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783319968599

Reviews

“This is a clever and original book which narrates the history of Irish 
television through the experience of its viewers. Because it is so 
different, and so well written and insightful, it will be of wide 
interest to people outside Ireland engaged in studying cultural history 
or investigating media influence.” (James Curran, Goldsmiths, University 
of London, UK)

“Brennan’s book does what good history writing should do: it tells 
compelling stories of the past, while also helping us to understand the 
present and look ahead to the future. The critical focus on audience 
memories is especially innovative, and makes for engaging, 
thought-provoking reading. This should be an essential text, not just in 
Ireland, but – in keeping with its ‘post-nationalist’ approach—for an 
international readership.” (David Buckingham, Loughborough University, UK)

“This is an original, theoretically sophisticated and historically 
informed book… equally important and easily readable.” (Susanne 
Kinnebrock, University of Augsburg, Germany)

“A wonderful account of Irish television, one which suggests new ways of 
writing media history, by focusing on people’s ordinary experiences of 
broadcasting, and by showing that ‘national’ systems are always at the 
same time international.” (David Hesmondhalgh, University of Leeds, UK)

With superb insight and detailed historical research, Brennan takes 
seriously the complex ways in which the flows of an international media 
culture are absorbed by a national culture, and in doing so produces a 
study whose interest extends far beyond Irish cultural studies /per 
se/.” (Chris Morash, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)

This book breaks new ground, and has a sinewy, research-rich and 
original basis for its fascinating approach to media historiography. 
This not only poses a highly relevant challenge to more narrowly focused 
academic approaches, including the historical ones, but will enrich 
public understanding of the media generally.” (John Horgan, Dublin City 
University, Ireland)

Description

This book explores the question of how society has changed with the 
introduction of private screens. Taking the history of television in 
Ireland as a case study due to its position at the intersection of 
British and American media influences, this work argues that, 
internationally, the transnational nature of television has been 
obscured by a reliance on institutional historical sources. This has, in 
turn, muted the diversity of audience experiences in terms of class, 
gender and geography. By shifting the focus away from the default 
national lens and instead turning to audience memories as a key source, 
/A Post-Nationalist History of Television in Ireland/ defies the notion 
of a homogenous national television experience and embraces the diverse 
and transnational nature of watching television. Turning to people’s 
memories of past media, this study ultimately suggests that the arrival 
of the television in Ireland, and elsewhere, was part of a long-term, 
incremental change where the domestic and the intimate became 
increasingly fused with the global.

Table of contents

How Should We Write a History of Television?, pages 1-22

A Dominant Narrative in Irish Television History, pages 23-46

Personal Memory and Social Power, pages 47-66

Making Sense of Television, pages 67-98

Memories of Imported Programmes and International Broadcasts, pages 99-122

Time, Space and Television, pages 123-149

Recollection and Social Status, pages 151-185

Putting the Bishop and the Nightie to Bed, pages 187-205

Personally Remembering the Global, pages 207-227

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