My βthis is not 2003β T-shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by the shirt.
10.03.2026 12:26 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0@marcscully.bsky.social
Lecturer in Psychology at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. Does social psychology & qualitative methods, interested in identity in diaspora. Lives in Cork. Spends more time on the N20 than is good for me.
My βthis is not 2003β T-shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by the shirt.
10.03.2026 12:26 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0(Now, if you actually go to my First Year Social Psychology lectures, we talk about how attitudes arenβt stable cognitions and are often constructed through rhetorical stances, but lookit, the point still stands.)
10.03.2026 12:02 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Like, not to get too First Yr Social Psychology on this, but itβs a classic example of the attitude-behaviour gap. Why are positive attitudes towards energy conservation not translating into action? Perceived behavioural control & actual behavioural control: which derive from structural factors.
10.03.2026 12:00 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Thanks, that's helpful. It is, admittedly, past time that I began looking at other providers.
10.03.2026 09:41 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0In unrelated news, I have been waiting 6 months for one of our major energy providers to get back to me with a quote for solar panel installation.
10.03.2026 09:24 β π 4 π 2 π¬ 2 π 0
International Women's Day
Our online oral history exhibition includes lots of fascinating clips of interviews with Irish women across generations who emigrated to Britain, or are second and third generation Irish here.
Take a look! https://bit.ly/HeritageExhibition
Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved β¦ the Scotland rugby team.
07.03.2026 14:51 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0*Jangly Belle & Sebastian-esque soundtrack kicks in as we flash back to the Granary Theatre in the early 00s*
06.03.2026 12:53 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0I know you're doing a bit, but this is now reminding me of a girl with a double-barrelled name who used to be in UCC Dramat back in the day who would have been precisely the type to borrow a copy of Salvador Dali's insane autobiography and never give it back.
06.03.2026 11:55 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Notions: the Lives of Irish Working-Class Academics, edited by Iona Burnell Reilly, Stephen Baker and yours truly, will be published in May: www.hive.co.uk/Product/Iona...
05.03.2026 18:56 β π 9 π 2 π¬ 0 π 0
I did wonder, and had a brief internal debate as to whether I wanted to distract myself from an afternoon's work in order to argue the point.
That's a good analogy.
No problem!
When I'm teaching place identity, I use the concept of 'banal countyism' based on Billig's 'banal nationalism' - everyday reminders that, in Ireland, we live in counties, in a nation, in a world of nation-states. So, for instance, car license plates etc. Maybe similar applies in the US?
I wrote a thread about another subnational identity, that of the county, in England vs Ireland just this morning!
Does it help to think of the state as a nested identity? So whether there's an outgroup state or not, to have a 'home state' is an aspect of American identity?
bsky.app/profile/marc...
Know Your Sport made good sturdy umbrellas acceptable for a generation of men who could see the utility of staying dry in order to be able to make notes on their match programmes while attending hurling matches in the driving rain.
We must reintroduce it.
Sure. And as always, unsympathetic examples and extreme case formulations resound in such rhetorical arguments!
05.03.2026 13:52 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0At the very least, citizens of a country that has sporadic waves of not-particularly-voluntary youth emigration every few decades might want to think a little about suggesting this is an area where the state can abdicate its responsibilities.
05.03.2026 13:43 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0I regret to inform you that universalism means that you do wind up having to make the left-wing case for evacuating ungrateful tax exiles from war zones.
05.03.2026 13:25 β π 10 π 0 π¬ 2 π 0I get that βDubai tax exiles/influencersβ are not the most sympathetic group but the broader principle of βthe stateβs responsibility towards you ends when you no longer contribute through taxationβ that I see people asserting now is not a good one! Youβd probably avoid it in other contexts!
05.03.2026 13:24 β π 9 π 2 π¬ 3 π 0
One obvious difference is the GAA.
An interesting counterfactual here would be if the GAA, having organised locally on a parish level, decided that the next administrative level up should be dioceses, not counties. So last yearβs All-Ireland might have been Cloyne vs Cashel, not Cork vs Tipp.
Whereas people who identify strongly as Cornish or Geordies often do so as a means of positioning themselves apart from Englishness. (A lot of Cornish people would argue that it isn't really a *county* identity at all.)
People's Republic of Cork memes aside, that's not really a thing in Ireland.
So, for instance, as I've argued here, for people of Irish descent in the diaspora, claiming a specific county identity becomes a means of authenticating and proclaiming their Irishness, and distinguishing themselves from people of vaguer Irish heritage: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
05.03.2026 10:48 β π 4 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0
An interesting difference between county identity in Ireland and England, is that in England county identity is arguably strongest where it acts a point of distinctiveness from a generic English identity.
Whereas in Ireland (and particularly in the diaspora), county identity *accentuates* Irishness
I realise the book chapter is behind a paywall, but I'm happy to share a copy with anyone who might want one.
05.03.2026 10:17 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0#StPiransDay bump for this alongside a photo I took of the annual procession across the Perran Sands dunes in 2015.
05.03.2026 10:16 β π 4 π 1 π¬ 1 π 0A cartoon skunk holds up a bazooka style device and says βWell, donβt worry about that now, have a go on my newest invention, the WISH CANNON insteadβ.
Should we be worried that our 7-year-old strongly identifies with the evil genius character?
Probably, tbh.
Cheers!
The market (me) demands a ready to wear Skunky costume with Doomsday Deviceβ’οΈ accessories for next year!
A cartoon skunk and monkey. Skunky: Donβt blame me, I let monkey design this one. Monkey: I won a contest!
Just so @jamiesmart.bsky.social knows what heβs wrought, itβs 7.15am on #WorldBookDay and we are valiantly attempting to transform our 7 year old into Skunky from the Bunny vs Monkey books.
05.03.2026 07:16 β π 10 π 0 π¬ 2 π 1
Yeah, I played Natasha Bedingfield to close out a lecture the other day (I had my reasons): while there wasnβt quite the rapturous reception there was for No Scrubs, there were appreciative murmurs.
May as well take advantage of this peculiarity in the musical taste of the youth while itβs there!
More intergenerational βNo Scrubsβ interactions.
bsky.app/profile/figg...
Ah, excellent!
It strikes me that instead of a book launch, ye should hold a wake.