Introduction

Abstract

RISE 6.2 offers new perspectives on the Irish border. Bringing together contributions from different disciplines and cultural fields – history, political science, film studies, constitutional law and the theatre – it seeks to provide a multifaceted and complex discussion of a phenomenon that is all too often simplified in the political discourse before and after the 2016 Brexit referendum. Following the agenda suggested by the short film-essay Hard Border (2018), directed by Juliet Riddell and performed by Stephen Rea, this themed issue of RISE approaches the Irish border by differentiating between internal and external – Irish and Northern Irish, British and continental – perspectives and by exploring historical dimensions as well as contemporary engagements with a border whose increasing (discursive and material) invisibility following the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement of 1998 has been crucial to the ongoing peace process.

Keywords

• the irish border
• juliet riddell
• hard border (2018)
• stephen rea
• multi-disciplinary approach
• inside and outside perspectives
• border discourses
• materiality
• invisibility