Bog

Abstract: Bog philology hosts a dynamic entanglement of nature and culture. The word bog refers to a natural phenomenon of wetlands, but it also hosts a range of figurative associations, often negative, as bog wetlands were long regarded as wastelands. This essay traces the histories of entanglement that the bog dramatizes as a vital keyword of Irish culture and society. Exploring the politics of bog language, I consider the transition from a colonial vocabulary of draining, reclamation, and improvement to a contemporary language of re-wilding and ecological awareness that acknowledges the bog's remarkable capacity for survival and resistance in the face of destruction by humans.