Beginning Irish Studies provides a comprehensive introduction to the history and development of the increasingly influential academic discipline of Irish Studies and acknowledges its importance as a dynamic and constantly evolving method for analysing drama, literature, film and poetry in Ireland. It guides the reader to an understanding of the contextual underpinnings of this academic discipline - including gender, empire, eco-criticism, memory studies, and intersectionality- as well as the interpretation of these in cultural and critical theory. Beginning Irish Studies is both an introduction to the academic discipline of Irish Studies and an invitation to its readers to consider its further developments from various theoretical perspectives. It also endeavours to envisage the future Intersectional alliances that Irish Studies might make in the coming years across the international areas of literature, culture, and politics.