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The concept for this special issue of the Canadian Journal of Irish Studies emanated from an international conference held in Vancouver, British Columbia, in June 2013, titled "On the Edge: Transitions, Transgressions, and Transformations in Irish and Scottish Studies" and sponsored by the Canadian Association for Irish Studies/LAssociation canadienne d'études irlandaises, the University of Aberdeen's Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies, and the Department of History and the Centre for Scottish Studies at 911³Ô¹Ï. As conference organizers, we hoped to break down institutional walls that have persisted between Irish Studies and Scottish Studies despite shared experiences of peripherality within the British Isles—a geopolitical space whose coherence has been highly contested over time. We encouraged participants to move across disciplinary and institutional boundaries in order to explore the idea of "the edge" creatively and critically, in all its forms and evocations: as a space between the known and unknown, a place of endings and beginnings, a border, a site of marginalization, or a contact zone, where interactions are fluid and ongoing.

Within this space of creative engagement, a thought-provoking cluster of papers emerged around the theme of this special issue: "Landscapes: Places of Memory, Subversive Spaces, and Boundary Crossings." Four of the articles that follow are extended versions of "On the Edge" papers: two explore the cultural meanings of Scottish landscapes (Andrew Blaikie, Paula Sledziftska), while two others disrupt conventional readings of Irish/Irish-Canadian spaces (Phillip A. Bernhardt-House, Michele Holmgren). The remaining three (Ann Wilson, Connal Parr, Timothy J. White and Mack Mariani) were submitted individually to the journal, but they also speak eloquently to our conceptual framework and we were pleased to incorporate them into this special issue. The result is a stimulating collection that invites us to investigate multiple manifestations of place and space—geographical, political, cultural, emotional—and to explore the ways we move around in them, interact with them, disrupt them, or inhabit them subversively. The articles demonstrate that landscapes can be spaces of comfort and belonging, or of displacement, dispossession, and alienation. Yet they also argue that boundaries are fluid and borderlands are often spaces of both liminality and innovation. The authors challenge us to understand how places are remembered and represented, often in contested ways, and how identities are negotiated and renegotiated in these processes. They further urge us to take note of the power relations in play in the sublimation of place to cultural imaginaries and collective historical narratives.

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The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies/ Revue canadienne d’études irlandaises (°ä´³±õ³§/¸é°äɱõ) is the official scholarly publication of the . Founded in 1974, the journal was edited at the School of Irish Studies at Concordia University from 2010 to 2020, and is now housed at Mount Royal University under the editorship of Dr. Michele Holmgren. As the journal of record for Irish Studies in Canada, the °ä´³±õ³§/¸é°äɱõ publishes articles, reviews, and other forms of creative expression which promote an understanding and appreciation of Irish history and culture in their broadest terms. It has a special focus on the Irish experience in Canada and in the other countries of the Diaspora. It encourages a variety of critical and methodological perspectives and welcomes in particular multi- and interdisciplinary approaches as well as explorations of visual, material, and spatial culture