‘Every Scotsman Should Be a Scottish Nationalist’

The ‘nationalist unionism’ of the Scottish Unionist Party, as formed in 1912 via a merger of Liberal Unionists and Conservatives in Scotland, is then closely examined as the first of several political party case studies. After explaining the historical circumstances which gave rise to the party, its early statements of Scottish ‘nationality’ and identity are analysed. Although the party’s nationalism had an ethnic element (opposition to Irish immigration), the chapter argues that it was mainly ‘civic’ in nature. It goes on to discuss how the party sought a ‘compromise’ with a more radical Home Rule movement by promoting ‘administrative devolution’ within the United Kingdom. It did so by depicting Scotland as a distinctive part of the Union whose traditions and identity required protection from Anglicising forces.

All the world's a stage: How Irish immigrants negotiated life in England in the 1950s/1960s using Goffman's theory of impression management

This paper uses oral history to consider the relative merits of symbolic interactionism in revealing new insights regarding the Irish immigration experience in England during the 1950s and 1960s. Using a variety of rubrics attributed to Canadian sociologist Erving Goffman, I critically examine the nature of identity work performed by Irish men and women when in their new host country. The paper highlights the interface between citizenship and sociocultural identity epitomised by both the use props (corporeal modifications) and the power of sign vehicles, notably Irish accents in shaping the nature of social interactions. The extent to which Goffman neglects sensory driven constructs of identity is highlighted. The way in Irish immigrants negotiated two simultaneous worlds front and back stage in response to the anticipated reaction of the given audience evokes the metaphor of a revolving door of identity fluid and chameleon like in nature. Actions were at times driven the anticipated reactions of others following presentation but then reclaimed elsewhere manifested by front and back stage behaviours. The Irish men and women worked inside and alongside systems of control where their identities were contested, ambiguous, or problematised to create a fluid sense of self (selves).

‘Unhappy and Wretched Creatures’: Charity, Poor Relief and Pauper Removal in Britain and Ireland during the Great Famine*

During the Great Famine (1845–51) hundreds of thousands of Irish refugees fled to Britain, escaping the hunger and disease afflicting their homeland. Many made new lives there, but others were subsequently shipped back to Ireland by poor law authorities under the laws of Settlement and Removal. This article explores the coping strategies of the Famine Irish in Britain, and the responses of poor law authorities to the inflow of refugees with a particular focus on their use of removal. We argue that British poor law unions in areas heavily affected by the refugee crisis adopted rigorous removal policies, and that the non-settled Irish were consequently deeply reluctant to apply for poor relief, doing so only when alternative sources of support were unavailable. Thus, the true scale of Irish hardship was hidden from the official record. The article also explores, for the first time, the experiences of those sent back to Ireland, a country suffering from the devastating effects of Famine. The combination of heavy Irish immigration to Britain and large-scale removals back to Ireland created distrust between the authorities at British and Irish port towns, as both sides felt aggrieved by the inflow of destitute Irish arriving on their shores. At the centre of all this were the Irish poor themselves. Uncertainty, dislocation and hardship were often their experience, and we argue that this endured long after the Famine had ended; that the events of the late 1840s, indeed, created a new reality for the Irish in Britain.

Disruptive Community: The Irish in Argentina. Readings of Rodolfo Walsh and Juan José Delaney

A community is principally characterized by the collectivity of its members and is defined spatially in terms of arbitrary boundaries that consistently separate its inhabitants from ‘Others’ and the “otherness” of the external world. For a number of centuries the diasporic Irish community has been able to forge communal spaces in Caribbean and Latin American nations, most prominently in Argentina. Nonetheless, these Irish communities in Argentine literature are often represented as insular and, therefore, disruptive to the monolithic national discourse of the host country. The portrayal of the diasporic Irish figure, which deviates from patterns of social normativity, constitutes an important facet of these individuals that permits an analysis of the ways in which their presence interrupts the Argentine literary imaginary. As Hellen Kelly observes, “‘deviancy’ in its variant forms has become, therefore, the most accessible and fruitful approach to assessing levels of integration amongst Irish immigrant communities” (128). In order to examine and comment on the various forms of deviations and, at the same time, the levels of integration of the immigrant Irish community, I offer my readings of the three short stories which comprise the “Irish series” by Rodolfo Walsh and Juan José Delaney’s novel Moira Sullivan. I look to interrogate the elements of the diasporic Irish experience which have informed and given shape to representations of diasporic Irish individuals and the spaces they occupy. I also seek to problematize previous readings of the selected texts that have, in general, omitted any critical consideration of and reflection upon their imbued ‘Irishness’ within the context of Argentine literary imaginaries.Keywords: Rodolfo Walsh; Juan José Delaney; Irishness; Irish immigration.

Appraising Gabriela McEvoy's La experiencia invisible

This an apprasal of Gabriela McEvoy's groundbreaking study on the Irish immigration in Peru.Keywords: Irish migration; Peru.

Reflections on The Invisible Experience. Irish Immigrants in Peru

Through the study of a variety of primary sources such as letters, wills, birth, marriage, and death certificates, the author examines Irish immigration to Peru in mid nineteenth century. In this sense, McEvoy focuses on some of the most representative examples of Irish immigrants. That is, both workers and peasants who were part of one of the first migration projects to Peru and to successful immigrants such as John Patrick Gallagher O'Connor and William Russell Grace, who shortly after reaching Peru, became businessmen and prestigious professionals. By recovering Irish immigrant voices, this book reconstructs part of the story of men and women that printed their culture in Peru and contributed with the construction of modern Peru.Keywords: Irish diaspora; immigration projects; mobilized and proletariat diaspora; assimilation; transnationalism.

Irish Girls in Liverpool (2)

This chapter focuses on the LVA’s efforts to engage with Irish women in Liverpool during the Second World War and post-war years. Despite a reduction in Irish immigration during the war, which saw the LVA’s staff reduced, the organisation was quick to raise concerns about the moral wellbeing of Irish young women once peace was resumed. As such, the LVA continued, throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s, to provoke concerns about the supposed moral vulnerability of Irish young women in Liverpool in a bid to generate support for their patrols.

Early Political Nativism in Louisiana: 1832–49

This chapter discusses the ethnic and religious politics in Louisiana that began in the 1830s that came out of the Creole-American rivalry of the early days following the Louisiana Purchase. Louisiana became more democratic with an influx of native (Anglo) Americans and this led to political turmoil. The chapter discusses foreign immigration, mainly Irish immigration that further heightened nativism in the state during the 1830s and 1840s. The chapter describes how the nativist sentiment affected politics in the state, both in local and national elections, and which, at times, led to third party movements that exploited the nativism. Violence and fraud became more commonplace in the state.