Queering language revitalisation: how a queer arts collective navigates identity, migration and the Irish language

An aspect of discourse around many minority languages is that they are unsuited to the modern, urbanised world and spoken by declining conservative, rural populations. In the case of the Irish language, such a perception is amplified by historical ideologies framing native Irish as a cornerstone of national identity, linked to a powerful Catholic Church wielding significant influence over public policy. This repressive ideological framework had negative repercussions for women, LGBTQ+ people and other minorities, many of whom emigrated in droves to escape the stultifying cultural atmosphere. Although Irish language literature contains many examples of cultural and sexual transgression, since the foundation of the state a century ago, Irish speakers have been useful scapegoats for failed cultural and social policy and the perceived link between the language and conservativism persisted until recent times. The centrality of Irish to national identity has been challenged since the 1960s and the language is increasingly seen as a minority rather than a national concern. This shift has witnessed the emergence of cultural and social groups asserting the inherent capacity of Irish to give a voice to queer people. One such group is AerachAiteachGaelach (`gay, queer, Irish-speaking), a queer Irish-language arts collective established in Dublin in 2020 and comprising over 60 writers, musicians, dramatists, photographers, drag performers and sound and visual artists. Many members of AerachAiteachGaelach are `new speakers, people were not raised with Irish but who have become fluent and regular speakers of it, often in parallel with their coming-out trajectories. This paper focuses on a recent public audio installation curated by the group, based on the story of one of its members, a gay man who emigrated to London in the 1980s but has since returned to Ireland, adapted to its changed culture and became a new speaker of Irish.