ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to examine the role of authenticity within inter-ethnic relationships of young boys. It will argue that being recognised as ‘authentic’ is bound within conceptions of whom can be said to embody nationally and locally authorised dispositions and identity markers, to contend that who can ‘legitimately’ consider themselves and be understood by others as belonging and having ownership of North Dublin is read on the body as a phenomenological racialised object. The chapter is will also contend that notions of whom can be considered an ‘authentic’ Irish boy serves to delegitimise the embodied dispositions of minority groups. To conclude, this chapter will suggest these processes are made invisible within an ethos that one has a ‘true self’ one is aware of, can enact or cynically disguise; and Barry in school three will be examined as the embodiment of an ‘authentic fake’.
