Estereotipos en cuestión: imágenes de irracionalidad en la obra de John Waters, columnista del Irish Times1

Abstract

In this essay, I discuss the role of stereotypes in the work of John Waters, a columnist for the Irish Times. Waters wears several professional hats –opinion columnist, cultural critic, radio commentator and author of three volumes that fall somewhere between popular sociology and cultural studies–. While Waters is an intelligent and informed writer, in these works he invokes certain “Irish” traits, such as drunkenness, irrationality, and a propensity to violence in a very uncritical fashion, ironically, in pursuit of a self-proclaimed objective of getting Ireland to “decolonise” its thinking. I unpack Waters’ use of these “stereotypes” in two related directions. First, I analyse what Waters is saying about the historical development, and the modern condition, of Irish society and how we might go about understanding his project in this regard. Second, I critically examine the easy dismissal of such presumed culturalnational depictions that Waters is attempting, that is found in a wide swathe of academic disciplines. I conclude by outlining a means of thinking about the related issues of identity and insult.