In Exhibiting Irishness, Shahmima Akhtar offers a compelling exploration of how Irish identity was displayed across international exhibitions from the 1850s to the 1960s. Across five chapters, she examines how various groups used these exhibitions to shape and project particular narratives of Ireland that aligned with their ideological perspectives. As Akhtar notes, such an approach ‘offers a distinctive juncture in understanding the dynamics of Irishness that evolved during the formative decades of Irish nationhood’ (p. 17). It is an ambitious, unique and complex undertaking, for which the author is to be commended. However, the work is undermined in places by questionable assumptions and factual inaccuracies that should not be overlooked.
Chapter One begins by exploring the Irish display at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London and the 1852 Cork and 1853 Dublin exhibitions. Taking place in the shadow of the Famine, these exhibitions provide, as Akhtar argues, valuable insights into how the Irish imagined themselves and envisioned their country’s future. Akhtar highlights how both nationalists and unionists sought to use these events to promote their own narratives of Irish economic development. For instance, at the London Exhibition, Ireland was presented as a country that had the potential for economic development ‘if only its people and the English state would help’ (p. 31).
However, a closer and more nuanced understanding of Irish unionism and nationalism would have helped the analysis. Unionism is erroneously conflated with a sort of wannabe Englishness. It is claimed that the ‘exclusive consumption of English products became a distinctive form of nationalism for unionists’ (p. 32). This characterisation of unionism ignores the fact that many unionists, especially in the nineteenth-century, eagerly embraced their Irishness. Furthermore, Akhtar tends to misinterpret positive commentary by Irish nationalists on the British Empire as an endorsement of the Union between Ireland and Britain. Such an analysis leads Akhtar to claim that the Cork Exhibition organisers regarded ‘the Union as fundamental to Ireland’s future development and industrialisation’ (p. 33). In reality, of course, many nineteenth-century Irish nationalists were firmly anti-Union while also pro-Empire. Indeed, among them was John Francis Maguire, the primary orchestrator of the Cork Exhibition.
Among the book’s strengths are its transnational perspective, insightful discussion of women’s roles in exhibitions, and ability to uncover fascinating historical figures. This is particularly evident in Chapter Two, which examines the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, which featured two Irish villages - one organised by the Scottish aristocrat Lady Ishbel Aberdeen and the other by the English philanthropist Alice Hart. Akhtar effectively highlights the role of female philanthropy and labour in shaping nostalgic conceptions of Irish identity among Irish Americans. Yet Akhtar goes further and also maintains that Aberdeen and Hart ‘championed their Home Rule politics’ (p. 58) through their exhibitions. However, it is unclear how such a political message was conveyed.
Indeed, in Chapter Three, Akhtar argues that another fictional village that likewise incorporated traditional Irish motifs and merry performers did the opposite and ‘took a strident stance against Home Rule’ (p. 120). This was the fictional village of Ballymaclinton, displayed by the Brown brothers from Tyrone at the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition in London, primarily as a means to promote their luxury soap brand. The Browns were unionists, but explicit political statements were absent from their display. Nevertheless, Akhtar contends that their unionism was evident in their portrayal of a peaceful and prosperous Ireland, pointing to their omission of the violence and political strife that characterised early twentieth-century Ireland as a deliberate strategy to present an Ireland content within the Union. It is more likely that Ballymaclinton did not reference the paramilitarism or violence that plagued early twentieth-century Irish politics because, in 1908, such issues were not current and were several years away. Similar to the previous chapter, Akhtar’s effort to attribute political significance to the exhibition villages seems to stem not from the actual content of the displays but rather from an assumption that the displays must reflect the political objectives of their respective organisers.
Moreover, Akhtar posits that Ballymaclinton also represented an effort to assert Irish ‘whiteness’, arguing that the Browns sought to secure socio-economic privileges that were denied to the Irish based on racialised perceptions. While intriguing, this argument lacks a strong evidentiary foundation. Without further evidence and analysis, it seems tenuous to argue that the emphasis on cleanliness and anti-tuberculosis measures displayed in the village ‘showed the country performatively ridding itself of disease to prove its whiteness’ (p. 105). This is an interesting theory, but the discussion should also recognise that soap sellers may have more tangible reasons for promoting cleanliness.
Chapters Four and Five turn to how the independent Irish state and Northern Ireland used exhibitions to reflect their own distinct identities. Akhtar’s research in this section is impressive, drawing from a range of archival sources across multiple countries. Her use of imagery is particularly effective in illustrating how the Irish government sought to portray the state abroad. For instance, the modernist design of the Irish pavilion at the 1939 New York World’s Fair challenges the common perception of Éamon de Valera’s Ireland as insular and overly traditional.
Unfortunately, the work would have benefited from a further contextualised understanding of modern Irish history. It is claimed that the Irish state’s absence at the 1924 British Empire Exhibition largely stemmed from a reluctance on the Cumann na nGaedheal government’s part to engage with the Empire. It seems more likely that the financial cost was the primary impediment to Irish participation. Moreover, the assertion that Ireland’s absence ‘prevented any further association with the imperial nation, either voluntary or forced’, is open to refutation. Notably, anti-British sentiment did not prevent the more avowedly nationalist Fianna Fáil government from participating in the 1938 British Empire Exhibition in Glasgow. At this exhibition, the Irish display was especially keen on promoting Irish agricultural produce in the British market, which Akhtar regards as ‘part of de Valera’s policy of external association’ (p. 143). In reality, the desire to expand Irish export markets had little to do with the constitutional concept of external association and more with the fact that Ireland’s struggling farmers needed to sell their products abroad to survive.
Akhtar argues that the Irish government approached international exhibitions in the 1960s with a focus on asserting a ‘post-colonial’ identity that aimed to counter stereotypical representations of Ireland as rural, traditional and backward. Yet, some of the examples discussed might be read in alternative ways. For instance, Akhtar contends that the presence of the London-Irish Girl Pipers at the 1964 New York Fair, who performed marching displays, Irish dancing and singing, ‘demonstrates how women became symbols of modernity in the Fair’ (p. 178). One could more plausibly argue that they reflected a commitment to showcase Ireland’s distinctive traditions to an international audience.
Nevertheless, by pointing out the continuity in which Irish displays in the 1930s and 1960s stressed modernity, Akhtar makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of how Irish governments wanted the Irish state to be viewed from abroad. Indeed, Akhtar inadvertently, it seems, refutes the widely held but simplistic perception that de Valera’s retirement as Taoiseach in 1957 and his replacement by Seán Lemass represented a fundamental shift from conservatism to modernisation. However, Akhtar does not develop this argument, perhaps because there is an apparent assumption that de Valera still governed Ireland in the 1960s.
Ultimately, Exhibiting Irishness is an ambitious and thought-provoking study that sheds light on how international exhibitions projected Irish identity. It offers a unique perspective, although, as noted above, there are issues with the interpretation of evidence. With an approach that more firmly integrated a deep political analysis and careful contextualisation, it could have gone further to strengthen its case for the otherwise sound argument that ‘using exhibitions as a lens for reading Irish history shows us concepts and themes that solely political histories undervalue’ (p. 200).
