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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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The Essay Podcast

The Essay

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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

The Essay: What Is a Nation?

The Essay: What Is a Nation?: Episode 1: The US Scotch-Irish

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What Is a Nation?

Episode 1

Episode 1: The US Scotch-Irish

The US Scotch-Irish

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Links between Northern Irish Protestants and their blood relations, the US Scotch-Irish.

Michael Goldfarb explores the definition of the 'nation' today, focusing on connections between Northern Irish Protestants and their blood relations, the US Scotch-Irish.

What is a nation? Is it the same as a country? Are a people, or a tribe, the same thing as a nation?

American writer Michael Goldfarb looks for a definition of "Nation" for the globalised 21st century. Goldfarb who spent most of the last two decades covering conflicts and conflict resolution draws on his experiences in Bosnia, Iraq, and Northern Ireland to look at the question. These essays contain not just ideas but vivid anecdotes of real people caught up in the frequently violent confrontations sparked by unresolved questions of nationhood.


The first essay looks at the close connections between Ulster's Protestant community and their blood relations in America, the Scotch-Irish. Separated by centuries and an ocean they still have many cultural similarities including using religion as a principle of political action.

First broadcast in June 2012.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Michael Goldfarb considers the definition of the 'nation' for the globalised 21st century.

Writer Michael Goldfarb considers the definition of the 'nation' for the globalised 21st century. Is it the same as a country? Are a people or a tribe the same thing as a nation?

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Episode 1: The US Scotch-Irish

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