Irish culture and British Colonialism

This is a little off topic, but I wanted to share a little Irish/ English history with the class. After starting Eureka Street I decided to do a little research on the long and rocky history of Irish and English relations. Thanks to professor Kane in the English department I found an interesting book by Theodore Allen called The Invention of the White Race.

Allen's novel focuses on the English presence in Ireland starting at the first attempts of takeover in the 11th century. He writes that between the 11th and 17th centuries the English failed to overtake the Irish because the two cultures kept molding together. Marriages between Englishman and Irish women spawned a whole new population. Allen suggests that these mixed generations prevented the complete assimilation of the Irish into British culture. Also, religious beliefs changed and spread as a result of the mixture of English and Irish customs. After the 17th century the "Irish case" under British Colonialism evolved into a need for the separation of the two populations (at this point the mixed generations are no longer considered). This is a result of British frustration stemming from the continuos string of failed attempts to control the Irish. The English began to vocalize the idea that there is a physiological differential between the two populations. This suggestion of basic physiological differences lead to the formation of two "races" -English and Irish. This came from several hundred years of searching for justifiable and legitimate reasons for the takeover of Ireland. The British wanted the Irish to live in "English" homes with fences and gardens in order to be civilized. Similarly, the nomadic people in Ireland were seen as the extreme "other" and must be civilized. Existing in a fixed space is fundamental in British settlement policies. The idea of the dark and scary forest is a common theme in tons of early Colonial literature. In order to bring these people into the light and away from the darkness of nature, they must submit to civilization the British (or "white man's") way.