Keynote Speaker: Professor Alison Hearn, University of Western Ontario, "We're All 'Influencers' Now: Reputation, Creditability and Selfhood in the Post-Neoliberal Era"

Digital reputation-building has become associated with the rise of the “influencer” whose ability to leverage their own perceived “credibility” and “authenticity” for the benefit of other brands is a notable element of early twenty-first century marketing techniques and their diffusion into everyday life.

This event seeks to consider these developments in the context of Irish nation branding and perceptions of a shifting sphere of Irishness by showcasing a range of academic perspectives on new circulatory channels for Irishness in the global economy.  Specifically, it tracks the emergence of a celebrity-driven, post-recession enterprise culture and hones in on a crop of new Irish celebrities who exert considerable influence over the meanings of Irish nationality and ethnicity, often highlighting a perceived capacity to retain an innate Irishness alongside transnational intelligibility and commercial appeal.