Professor of History

Department Chair

Jason Knirck is a modern Irish historian who also teaches British and western European history. His research concerns the Irish revolution and the foundation of the Irish Free State, focusing particularly on the political rhetoric of the period. His current work focuses on the definition and implementation of democracy in the Irish Free State, particularly the role of constitutional opposition. Before arriving at CWU in 2004, he taught for three years as an assistant professor at Humboldt State University.

Degrees

• BA History/Math, Gonzaga University (1992)
• MA History, Washington State University (1996)
• PhD History, Washington State University (2000)

Publications

Books

• Co-Editor, A Formative Decade: Irish Politics and Political Culture in the 1920s. Irish Academic Press (Summer 2015).
• Afterimage of the Revolution: Cumann na nGaedheal and Irish Politics, 1922-32. University of Wisconsin Press, 2014.
• Imagining Ireland's Independence: The Debates Over the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. Rowman and Littlefield, 2006.
• Women of the Dáil: Gender, Republicanism and the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Irish Academic Press, 2006.

Article and Anthology Chapters

• "Confederates, Boers, or Silesians?: Analogies of World History in Arguments about Partition during the Irish Revolution," in Neil C. Fleming and James H. Murphy, eds., Ireland and Partition: Contexts and Consequences. Clemson: Clemson University Press, 2021.
• “Taxation and the Revolutionary Inheritance: Tax Proposals, Legitimacy, and the Irish Free State, 1922-32.” in Douglas Kanter and Patrick Walsh, eds., Taxation, Politics, and Protest in Ireland, 1662-2016. London: Palgrave, 2019.
• "A Slightly Revolutionary Party: Labour and Parliamentary Politics in the Early Free State," New Hibernia Review Vol. 21 No. 4 (Winter 2017): 39-61.
• "The Irish Revolution and World History: Nation, Race, and Civilization in the Rhetoric of the Irish Revolutionary Generation," Éire-Ireland Vol. 52 Nos. 3-4 (Fall/Winter 2017): 157-189.
• “A Cult of No Personality: W.T. Cosgrave and the Election of 1933,” Éire-Ireland, Vol. 47, Nos. 3-4 (Fall/Winter 2012): 64-90.
• "Apostates or Imperialists?: W.T. Cosgrave, Kevin O'Higgins, and Republicanism," New Hibernia Review, Vol. 14, No. 4 (Winter 2010): 51-73.
• "The Dominion of Ireland: The Anglo-Irish Treaty in an Imperial Context," Éire-Ireland Vol. 42 No. 1-2 (Spring/Summer 2007).
• "Afterimage of the Revolution: Kevin O'Higgins and the Irish Revolution," Éire-Ireland, Vol. 38, No. 3-4 (Fall 2003).
• "Ghosts and Realities: Female TDs and the Treaty Debate," Éire-Ireland, Vol. 32, No. 4 (Winter/Spring 1997-98).

Fields of Study

• Modern Ireland
• Modern Britain/British Empire
• Tudor-Stuart Britain
• Modern France