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Deconstructing whiteness: Irish women in Britain
journal contribution
posted on 2023-07-26, 13:08 authored by Bronwen Walter, Mary J. HickmanThe Irish are largely invisible as an ethnic group in Britain but continue to be racialized as inferior and alien Others. Invisibility has been reinforced by academic treatment. Most historians have assumed that a framework of assimilation is appropriate and this outcome is uncritically accepted as desirable. Sociologists on the other hand have excluded the Irish from consideration, providing tacit support for the 'myth of homogeneity' of white people in Britain against the supposedly new phenomenon of threatening (Black) 'immigrants'.
Focus on the paradigm of 'colour' has limited the range of racist ideologies examined and led to denial of anti-Irish racism. But an analysis of nineteenth-century attitudes shows that the 'Irish Catholic' was a significant Other in the construction of the British nationalist myth. Despite contemporary forgetting, hostility towards the Irish continues, over and above immediate reactions to recent IRA campaigns. Verbal abuse and racial harassment are documented in London and elsewhere, but unacknowledged.
The masculine imagery of 'Paddy' hides the existence of Irish women in Britain, although they have outnumbered men since the 1920s. In America, by contrast, there is a strong stereotype of 'Bridget' and her central contribution to Irish upward mobility is recognized. But invisibility does not protect Irish women in Britain from racism. Indeed, they are often more exposed since their productive and reproductive roles connect more firmly to British society. Moreover, women have played a key role in maintaining Catholic adherence, which continues to resonate closely with Irishness and difference.
History
Refereed
- Yes
Volume
50Issue number
1Page range
5-19Publication title
Feminist ReviewISSN
1466-4380External DOI
Publisher
SAGELanguage
- other
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Legacy posted date
2013-05-30Legacy Faculty/School/Department
ARCHIVED Faculty of Arts, Law & Social Sciences (until September 2018)Usage metrics
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