Much recent sociological work on education makes reference to gender, sexual, ethnic, local and political "project" identities, yet there remains a need to bring the nation, and the state, back in; to also question the way in which "national" identities are constructed in a context of globalisation and localisation. Through an analysis of Irish primary history curriculum statements from 1971 and 1999, I identify some key features of the state's response to identity construction in a globalised context. They include a focus on pupils becoming skilled in reflexively producing identity, and a focus on a "boundless" globalised identity. These changes are not unproblematic. You will know all too well that Ireland is a country at war with its past--or, at least, with conflicting versions of its several pasts. But we are each of us in a struggle with those... on a much more deeply personal level than we sometimes know. (The character "Sr. Mary Rose Kennedy" in Joseph O'Connor's novel "Inishowen") (O'Connor, 2000, p. 42)