Irish Narratives in Argentina: Diaspora, Memory, and Identity

This monograph examines Irish narratives produced in Argentina between 1900 and 1994, bringing critical attention to literary texts written from peripheral and often overlooked cultural spaces. Focusing on five key Irish and Irish-Argentine writers (William Bulfin, Kathleen Nevin, Rodolfo Walsh, María Elena Walsh, and Juan José Delaney), the book challenges dominant constructions of Argentine national literature and foregrounds the constitutive role of diaspora in shaping literary and cultural identities. Drawing on theories of nation-building, migration, identity, and collective memory, the study advances a transnational reading of Argentine literature that moves beyond methodological nationalism. It shows how Irish diasporic writing both participates in and unsettles canonical narratives of national identity, revealing literature as a site of negotiation between belonging, displacement, and cultural translation. By situating these writers within broader transatlantic literary and historical networks, this book contributes to current debates on migration, hybridity, and the circulation of cultural forms across borders. At a time when questions of migration and global identity are central to political and cultural discourse, Irish Narratives in Argentina offers a timely insight into how diasporic narratives contribute to the imagining of societies. It argues for a more inclusive approach to literary studies, recognising diaspora not as marginal but as integral to national and transnational cultures.

María Luján Medina is Assistant Professor in Intercultural Communication and Latin American Studies at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. Her research specialises in Argentine and Irish-Argentine literatures, diasporic writing, and transnational identity formation. She has published on Irish diasporic narratives in Argentina and is currently researching the transnational legacy of Irish-Argentine writer Rodolfo Walsh, as well as co-leading a project on testimonial narratives and transnational memory connecting Ireland and Latin America.

María Luján Medina is Assistant Professor in Intercultural Communication and Latin American Studies at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. Her research specialises in Argentine and Irish-Argentine literatures, diasporic writing, and transnational identity formation. She has published on Irish diasporic narratives in Argentina and is currently researching the transnational legacy of Irish-Argentine writer Rodolfo Walsh, as well as co-leading a project on testimonial narratives and transnational memory connecting Ireland and Latin America.