The Kilt's use in Irish Nationalism

[CMcG]

However, there does not seem to be any factual basis in the "Irish Invasion" story at all, you can read about the first strong investigations into the myth in the 1970's here, if you read the article you will see that there is plenty evidence to make the whole myth nonsense. Please do read the article, it's good fun. Dr Ewan Campbell's archaelogical investigations have also shown the whole thing to be an interesting story, but no more.

OK, I read that article and it is was very interesting. While there appears to be no archeological evidence of an Irish invasion of the Highlands and Islands, Campbell prefers to think of it as a shared culturo-linguistic region. To me, this means there is a legitimate, ancient connection between the Gaelic regions of the world and supports a view that the Irish kilt is just a linking of long-separated branches of one family tree. It also neatly disposes with a cryptocolonialist bias, that is rooted in modern conceptions of a nation-state as the primary unit of analysis, and actually opens up more interesting questions.

In Campbell's "Were the Scots Irish?" (2001) he concludes "Surely the question that is of interest here is not 'where did people come from?', but 'how did people establish and change their personal and group identity by manipulating oral, literary and material culture?'." Myths are powerful forces in the creation of identity and can't be ignored...

A passport do not a Scott make - sorry Richard....

Surely that's only because there is no such thing as a Scottish passport?
But generally passports are the most obvious way of showing one's citizenship?

Glen and Blackrose87, you are both right! My point is that rooting concepts of national identity in legal citizenship is fraught with problems.

So at least in my little corner of the world, kilts are being worn as a symbol of Irish Nationalism, no matter who believes it is proper or not.

I know what you mean. The Irish kilt is remarkably well-established outside Ireland, eh?

I think that there's definite evidence of the Irish diaspora taking up the kilt as a symbol. But in the original question I was more wondering about the attempt to adopt it as a symbol and national dress in Ireland, and why this basically gained no support.

During the period of the Gaelic revival, War of Independence, and early republican era, some people wore kilts. Then, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't Irish pipers in Ireland still wear kilts? I've also seen Irish dancers do the same. After civilian kilt wear declined in Ireland, it seems to have gained strength in the diaspora, who have now sustained it to the point of becoming established as a tradition.

Seems fairly well supported to me. I've seen other examples of cultural practices being preserved better in the diaspora than in the mother country e.g. Chinese lion dance is more traditional in Toronto than it is in Hong Kong or China, and there is Ukrainian music and attire in Alberta that has apparently disappeared from the Ukraine.