Notes on Gender and the Politics of the in Northern Ireland

andat Irish language events andgath- In Belfast gender roles are not so erings, I carried out 82 in-depth in- clear cut, and it has thus been more C'est h question Asgenres h I 'intprieur terviews with people involved with difficult to assess the impact of my du mouvement du renouveau A & the movement in avariety ofdifferent own gender on access to certain cir- &ngueen Zrlandcdu Nordquia inspirC capacities. I talked to activists, teach- cles and on other aspects of my re- cet amrtrcIc.L Luteure met m contraste ers, Irish language learners, and the search. The only domain to which I les observations parents ofchildren in the Irish schools, could not gain access was all-male faites par d'autres and took an oral history of each per- socializing, for example, in the pub. Gender patterns in the d~ffcheur~q~i$nt son's involvement with the language. But most Irish language social occa- revival movement were un travail ana- It came as no surprise, though, that sions involve both sexes, so this never logueaknsdkutres gender became an important consid- really became an issue. While there of interest because they eration during my field research. are certain organizations or groups both reinforced and While, as has been observed by so which tend to be male-dominated, broke stereotypes. Over the past dec- many female anthropologists before none are openly exclusive. ade or two inter- (Golde; Bell, Caplan, and Karim), My position in the community of est in the Irish lan- my gender was important to my ex- Gaeifgeoiri (Irish language enthusi- guage in Northern Ireland has in- perience as a researcher, I also noticed asts) and in West Belfast in general creased, particularly amongst the gender patterns in the revival move- changed part way through my field- nationalist1 community. The 1991 ment that were of interest not only work when I married my partner. census included a question about the because they contrasted with obser- While people already knew me as a Irish language for the first time since vations made by other researchers researcher and an Irish language Ireland was partitioned in 1921, with doing similar work in other locations learner, this was a new role which 37,253 people claiming to havesome (especially McDonald 1986, 1989), subtly (and not so subtly) altered my knowledge of the language in the but because they both reinforced and status. Irritating as it was at times to Belfast Urban Area alone (West Bel- broke certain western gender stereo- be referred to as someone's wife, in- fast Economic Forum). Irish medium types. stead ofbeing identified as aperson in preschool playgroups, elementary my own right, it had certain advan- schools, and secondary schools have A woman in the field tages. I seemed to become more invis- mushroomed all over the North, es- ible in my role as researcher, and I pecially in West Belfast, and the The gender of the ethnographer is seemed to stand out less as a stranger number of Irish classes for adults has one aspect ofidentitywhich has come (on a number of occasions, it was also grown. There is an Irish lan- under increasing scrutiny (see Okely; guage bookstore and a bilingual cafe Ardener 1975, 1984; Callaway). housed in the Cultlirlann, an Irish Hastrup (1987) discusses the signifi- It has been dzpcult to language cultural centre in West Bel- cance of the sex of the fieldworker assess the impact of my fast. A week hardly passes without with reference to her own experiences own gender on access to Irish language activities being held in during research in Iceland. She points. certain circles and on the city, including music events, so- out that when conducting fieldwork cial evenings, lectures, and plays. "at home," gender-markers tend to aspects of my research. I have been involved in fieldwork be the same for both the ethnogra- with the Irish language movement in pher and the group being studied. West Belfast since April 1992. My Whereas in "exotic" tribes the female apparent by what people said that primary interest has been the social ethnographer may lack such markers they had momentarily "forgotten" construction of the Irish language and therefore be treatedasan "honor- that I was a foreigner). Marrying an and its importance in the politics of ary male," at home she is more likely Irishman legally changed my foreign identity in the north of Ireland. The to be classified according- to her femi- status, and eventually I was able to most intensive period ofresearch was nine gender. For Hastrup, this meant obtain Irish citizenship. The fact that from June l993 to Januaryl995, but taking part in the world of women, I married a Gaeilgeoir, however, was my involvement in Irish language and encountering difficulties when more significant in terms of my posi- circles has been ongoing. In addition she attempted to take part in tradi- tion as a stranger. In my encounters to observations made in Irish classes tionally male activities. with some people, my status became

VOLUME 17, NUMBER 3 43 more ambiguous. In some ways and ers" (1986, 178). According to through the use of simple order form under some circumstances I was still McDonald, a primary goal of the sentences commonly used with small foreign, but in other ways and under independent Brehon language nurs- children (for example, Ithdo dhznnear ' other circumstancesI was considered ery schools, set up by the organiza- and Druid an doras-"Eat your din- Irish. Within my closest circle of tion Diwan (Seed), is "to realize the ner" and "Close the door"). In the friends I had crossed over an invisible image of a rightfully Brehon-speak- north of Ireland, the majority of par- line. The fact that I could speak Irish ing childhood anda properly Brehon- ents sending their children to Irish with relative fluency and had married speaking motherhoodn (1986, 185). medium schools have little or no Irish, an Irishman made me more Irish In 1980, a congress of all Diwan so the final case is the most common. than foreign, especially in terms of members urgently discussed theques- At the time that the first Irish me- the behaviour and beliefs that were tion of how to get more mothers to dium school was set up, however, this now expected ofme. Being connected learn Brehon and speak it to their was not the case. The school was part to the community children in the home. Not surpris- of an ambitious attempt to establish through- marriage- ingly, mothers present at the congress an urban (Irish-speaking mjb jt W& rnen~gymade me feel more protested, saying that they had jobs area) in the late 1960s on the Shaws agreed thatfithers CO& accepted2 but my and no time to learn Brehon, and that Road in what was then the outskirts ability to speak in any case it was chauvinistic to of West Belfast. The Gaeltacht was out^ the 'f Irish and my leng- expect mothers to bear the burden organized to bring together Irish- aYathertonguc"W& thystay in the alone. While it was eventually agreed speaking families into one area to met with some mirth. "field" were impor- that fathers could help out, the no- provide mutual support. In the previ- tant factors as well. tion of a "father tongue" rather than ous generation, there had been four a "mother tongue" was met with some or five families in Belfast who at- Women in the revival movement mirth (McDonald 1986,186). tempted to use Irish as the language In contrast, the Irish language re- of the home, but most failed to reach It is interesting to note the sym- vival movement in Northern Ireland this goal due in large part to isolation. bolic importance of the metaphor tends to emphasize the promotion of By bringing this new set of families "mother tongue" in the Brehon move- Irish as the primary language of the together into one neighbourhood on ment in relation to the emphasis home. Since confining the language the outskirts of the city, Gaeilgeoiri placed on the role of women and to the classroom is seen as one of the succeeded for the first time in creat- mothers in the Irish revival move- failings of past policies to promote ingan environment where Irish could ment. McDonald suggests that this Irish, great emphasis is placed on the be used not only as the language of metaphor evokes an "image of primi- language being used in as many the home, but as the language ofdaily tive primacy and primordial cultural spheres of life as possible. Many con- communication between neighbours attachment, and the notion has gath- sider the home to be the most crucial and friends as well. As the children ered an increasing moral imperative- sphere for the survival of Irish as a grew up, the parents started their ness associated with the relationship living language. It could be argued own primary school so that the chil- ofmother to child" (1986,184). The that the private sphere of the home is dren could continue to speak Irish in equivalent term in the Irish language strongly associated with women and as many domains as possible. revival movement is generally "native the family, and therefore an emphasis The success of this is reflected in tongue" (teanga dhuchais). In all my on the home is &farto an emphasis the comment ofone of my interview- years of fieldwork, I cannot recall the on the role ofwomen in propagating ees who grew up on the Shaws Road term "mother tongue" being used in the language. However to my knowl- in its early years. He told me he had West Belfast, while "native tongue" edge, there has been no widespread mostly a passive knowledge of Eng- or "our own language" are very com- effort to promote the idea that a wo- lish until he was old enough to go to mon. Perhaps significantly, the man must speak Irish to her children secondary school. He spoke Irish at mother-child relationship does not for the language to survive, as seems home, in school, and with his neigh- take such a central place in terms of to be the case in McDonald's study. bourhood friends. English came from strategies for passing on the language. The ideal situation is considered to the television, the grandparents, trips Yet, McDonald (1989; 1986) notes be both parents fluent and speaking to the shops, and contact with local that Brehon language militantsviewed Irish in the home at all times. Less English-speaking children. Although women, and mothers in particular, as favourable but more common is one he must have had a good command especially important in the passing fluent parent using Irish as much as of the language, he neverfelt fluent or on and survival of the language. She possible. Where neither parent is flu- comfortable with English until well notes also that the few female activists ent, there is a strong push for them to into secondary school. with prominent roles in the move- learn at least some Irish and use it Eleven families can only produce ment "have first done their duty as whenever possible, even if only in so many children, however, and by Brehon-speaking wives and moth- helping with the homework or the late 1970s it became necessary to

CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIESILES CAHIERS DE LA FEMME bring in English-speaking children questions. There need to be some- poor attendance andlor lack of time in order for the school to survive. The thingarrangedfir women, maybe for study and revision. While this number ofEnglish-speakingchildren while the children are at the pattern is not unique to women, more attending- the Shaws Road bunscoil naioscoil. na bhFdl is men than women are able to break (primary school) required special working on this, but the Bunscoil out of it and progress to greater levels measures to bring fluency up to the never seemed to get anything like of fluency. This is reflected in the point where the children could learn that offthe ground. relatively low proportion of women through Irish. The solution was two attending advanced classes in places years of nursery school education Some provision has been made for like Cumann Chluain Ard, an Irish through Irish (starting around age women, with day classes occasionally language club established in West two), and efforts to get the parents of being directed towards them espe- Belfast in the 1930s. The same inter- the children involved in the school cially. There has also been the occa- viewee who complained about classes and in learning at sional mother and child class, al- not being designed for women had least basic Irish. though not many compared to the this to say: Many consider the Even at this stage, overall number of classes available. home to be the most no special empha- Another complaint is the lack of Every time Iwent to classes Iended sis was put on the vocabulary for subjects of particular up falling pregnant. I have seven miaC*herefor the mothers of the interest to women, since such things kid, but I would have had eleven survival of Zrhh as a children over the are rarely taught in ordinary classes. but for miscarriages and two that living kznguuge. fathers. In fact, as How do you talk about your men- died. For 12 years I haven 't hada McDonald also strual cycle or the experience ofbeing single year fi.ee. I keep having to notedin , pregnant?What is theword for meno- start overfi.om the beginning. men tend to know more Irish and pause? How do you baby talk to an attend Irish classes more frequently infant in Irish? Not only are these During an intensive course which than women (1989; 1986). topics not taught in the great major- involved classes on two or three morn- This is not to say that it is consid- ity of classes, most women would ings per week, I met a number of ered unimportant for women to know probably feel uncomfortable asking women who enthused about the tim- Irish, only that little special emphasis for information or lessons on these ing of the classes. They started at ten has been placed on this aspect. One subjects in an ordinary class setting. o'clock in the morning, and one wo- of my interviewees mentioned to me Because of greater responsibilities man was pleased that she was able to that her father had some Irish, but in the home and with the children, make breakfast, take the kids to school, did not teach it to the children. When married women and women with do the housework and get the shop- as an adult she asked why, he told her families often have less free time to ping before the class, and then get that he thought it was more impor- devote to 1earningIris.h than men (see home in time for the children return- tant for the mother to have Irish and OWey; Jackson). One parent, com- ing from school. Evening classes, she teach it to the children. The same menting on her initial lack of interest told me, were out of the question. woman complained about the difi- in Irish, clearly did not have the same However, the evening classes are more culties involved in learning Irish for free time her unemployed husband many women: had to pursue an interest in some- thing as time-consuming as a lan- Married women and Iti important for the woman of guage. While she worked part-time women withfamilies the how, or whoever is home the and looked after the housework and have lessfiee time to most, to have it [Irish]. Iti dtfi- the children, he had the time to take cultfor a woman with chikiren to numerous classes and develop his in- devote to learning go to classes though. You need to terest in the language. Irish than men. get child care for the morning, The need for babysitters often re- school is out in the ajernoon, and stricts women's ability to attend night you haw to put the kid to bedat classes, or to attend with the fre- popular, and tend to run throughout night. There i not enough facili- quency and dedication necessary to the year instead of in short bursts like ties, and when there is a creche iti reach fluency. Many women I spoke day classes (with the exception of always overbooked. It i badly to had been learning for years, yet still courses which lead to formal second- geared for women, but if thcy 're could not speak more than a few level qualifications which can be taken the ones with the chikiren, carting sentences. Often they would begin during the day throughout the aca- them back andforth to school, it? the same course or classes on the same demic year). There also tends to be very importantfor the woman to level year after year, but would be more socializing afterwards in evening have l&. You need to have classes unable to complete the course or ad- classes. that you 're comfortable in to ark vance to higher level classes due to By far the best way to become

VOLUME 17, NUMBER 3 fluent in Irish is to take a university made the space to learn Irish is by work, there is no perceived threat to degree in the language, or at least to volunteering to work in the naionrai, masculinity associated with an in- study for a second-level qualification Irish medium nurseries. Volunteer- volvement in the nursery schools and such as GCSE or "A" levels. Failing ing as a nursery worker gives a person no special measures are taken by the this, having a social life through Irish the opportunity to listen to and speak men involved to assert or protect is considered to be a crucial part of Irish for a number ofhours every day, their masculine identity. obtaining fluency in the language. and provides an "excuse" to attend While many of the more high pro- Classes aloneare not enough. Women classes more frequently to improve file figures in the Irish language move- also tend to have less leisure time and the standard of their Irish. ment are men, there are quite a are less able to socialize through Irish. During the 1980s nursery educa- number ofwomen in important and In addition to this, in my own expe- tion was the biggest area ofgrowth in sometimes powerful positions. In rience with learning Irish during my the language revival. Small groups of Belfast as a whole there are 68 co- educational English medium primary schools, one-third of which have fe- male principals (Morgan and Lynch). The six Irish medium primary schools in Belfast are also CO-educational,and five are large enough to have a princi- pal. Of these five bunscoileanna, four are headed by women. Both the Irish language bookstore and the cafe in the Cultdrkznn are owned and run by women, the current administrator of the Cultzirkznn is a woman, and the spokesperson of Gfdr na nGael was for many years a woman. Other organizations are clearly male-dominated. For example, the editor and most of the staff of the Irish language newspaper Ldare men. Cumann Chluain Ard in particular has a reputation as a male preserve. In its early years it was heavily male- dominated, and it remains largely so today, particularly in terms of teach- ers and active members. The first woman chair of Cluain Ard was not Mural in Ardoyne, North Belfast, depicting ~ire,Queen of the Tuatna movement at the time. elected until the late 1980s, and she dB Danaan. The caption in Irish reads: "To Lift the Spirit of the People Through Culture." Photo: Camille O'Reilly Since a higher proportion did not remain in the position for of men worked in Gfdr na long. A number ofwomen attending fieldwork, I found women to be much nGael, perhaps this led to a larger classes there commented on the per- more shy about using what Irish they number of men becoming involved ception that Cluain Ard was male- knew. They were afraid of making in nursery work. There are still more dominated, and I noticed it myself mistakes and looking foolish much women than men working in the when I first started attending classes. more than men, and were more likely naionrai, but the unusually high pro- Acomment made by one interviewee to underestimate their abilities. Men, portion of men is an interesting de- is illustrative: on the other hand, tended to be less viation from the norm for nursery shy about attempting to speak and schools. Undoubtedly another factor My mother was never really keen, were more likely to accurately assess, is the larger number of male fluent well I won 't say she wasn't keen or even to overestimate,their abilities speakers, making male teachers and about the language, but she didn 't with the language. Since the best way nursery workers more common. Al- really have much time for it, and to learn is to speak and have your though there is little or no self-con- I think it was because my father mistakes corrected, this tendency di- scious feminism in the nursery schools spent so much time in the Cluain minishes women's learning experi- movement, feminist ideology has Ard. He was out every night of the ence and inhibits their ability to reach nevertheless had an indirect impact. week. The women were called the fluency. While caring for young children is Cluain Ard widows... . Cluain One way that some women have still seen as ~redominantl~women's Ard camejrst and everything eke

46 CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIESILES CAHIERS DE LA FEMME was second But my mother didgo theme which will bepublished in 1998. Ridd and H. Callaway. Basing- around to Cluain Ard herself: stoke: Macmillan Education, 1986. That i where she met my My, 'In Ireland, the term "nationalist" McDonald, M. We are Not French! who was an Irish teacher. refers to those people, usually Catho- Language, Culture, and Identity in lic and ethnically Irish, who wish to Brittany. London: Routledge, During a discussion about Belfast see some form of a united Ireland or 1989. in the late 1970s, another interviewee at the very least, the establishment of Morgan, Valerie, and Kathleen put it more succinctly. When I asked, significant cross-border institutions Lynch. "Gender and Education: "What was Cluain Ard like back connecting the north and south of North and South." Irish Society: then?" she replied, "Male." Ireland. Unionists, on theother hand, Sociological Perspectives. Eds. P. wish to see Northern Ireland remain Clancy, S. Drudy, K. Lynch, and Concluding remarks a part of the United Kingdom and are L. O'Dowd. Dublin: Institute of deeply suspicious ofany kind ofcross- Public Administration, 1995. Even without the self-conscious border institution. Okely, J. "The Self and Scientism." adoption of feminist ideologies, the 2~ncreasingly,nafonraf are established Journal of the Anthropology Society impact offeminist thinking is clear in as part of a particular bunscoil rather of Oxford6.3 (1975): 171-88. many areas of the Irish language re- than as independent schools. West Belfast Economic Forum. Brief- vival movement in Belfast. Women ing Paper No. I. The 1991 Census have taken on relatively powerful References Results. Belfast: West Belfast Eco- positions in the revival movement in nomic Forum, July 1993. spite of the difficulties in acquiring Ardener, S. Perceivinf- Women. Lon- fluency encountered by many. In the don: Dent, 1975. case of primary school principals, Ardener, S. "Gender Orientations in women tend to dominate in Irish Fieldwork." EthnographicResearch: medium schools in contrast to their A Guide to General Conduct. Ed. R. Come Visit English-speaking counterparts. Allen. London: Academic Press, While it is difficult to say why this is 1984. CWS Online! the case, it may be linked to the fact Bell, D., P. Caplan, and W. J. Karim, that Irish medium schools are estab- eds. Women, Men, and Ethnogra- lished independently. They almost phy. London: Routledge, 1993. invariably operate outside of the Callaway, H. "Ethnography and Ex- Calls for..p upers .... mainstream educational establish- perience: Gender Implications in ment for the first few years of their Fieldwork and Texts." Anthropol- existence, until they succeed in ob- ogy andAutobiography.Eds. J. Okely Guidelines..l or ...... taining government recognition and and H. Callaway. London: submitting- -.- - funding. The bunscoileanna tend to Routledge, 1992. be quite small in the first few years Golde, P., ed. Women in the Field. until pupil numbers expand suffi- Berkeley: University of California ciently to gain government support. Press, 1986. Back issues- In such a context there are, perhaps, Hastrup, K. "Fieldwork Among fewer barriers to women gaining Friends: Ethnographic Exchange higher status positions. Within theNorthern Civilization." Finally, the conceptualization of Anthropology at Home. Ed. A. Irish as the "native" tongue of the Jackson. London: Tavistock Pub- Irish people-rather than their lications, 1987. "mother" tongue-has significant Hastrup, K. "Writing Ethnography: implications for the way that the State of the Art." Anthropology and Inanna...bo.oks ...... relationship between language and Autobiography. Eds. J. Okely and people is envisioned. H. Callaway. London: Routledge, 1992. Ad rates..und...... Camilh 0 'Reilly recently completed Jackson, S., ed. Womeni Studies: A deadlines ...... her PhD in SocialAnthropology at the Reader. London: Harvester Queen i University ofBelfast in North- Wheatsheaf, 1993. ern Ireland. Her thesis was an investi- McDonald, M. "Brittany: Politics and ...... gation into the politics of the Irish lan- Women in a Minority World." Whereto.buy guage revival in West Belfast. She is Caught Up in Conflict: Women? cWS/d ...... working on a book with a similar Responses to Political Strif Eds. R.

VOLUME 17, NUMBER 3 KATHRYN ALEXANDER

I ~ootsof MY Language

Where do the roots of my language come? Come a riddle, come a riddle, come a root root root come a wee wee man in a red red coat with a staff in his hand and a stone in his throat come a riddle, come

heart stones, the bitter root my grandmother speaks, fed by her stories. Our skin is tough and filled with memory. The root of the heart is blood red and biting memory breaks through, the thorns push from inside from inside bites off the artery 4s an Olympic skier, I'm archery of relations, I want to know where courageous for two minutes the arrows slide-taut uncertainty at a time. My friend Linda is of connections, mothers daughters courageous every day of her fathers sons, how much further can it go? life. She is a true champion. Linda has Huntington's. It is I want to know a cruel, hereditary brain where does the cut come disease that causes physical and mental deterioration, sadness feathers down and eventual death. the edges frayed but not bleeding Although there is no cure, there is hope. Research has a child separates from her body never been more promising. a chorus of memories We've found the gene that a century of weeping causes Huntington's. Now, we're working on a a geranium, the washed out bones of a flower, treatment and hopefully, that bird, "poor jim .. . poor jim" a cure. gathered up in the ribbons of wedding guests. Please support these When Nana died I lost all the stories. champions and help us fight Huntington's disease. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

LIT=- L & \-c&) Edi Podivinsky Olympic Bronze Medalist 0 HUNTINGTON SOCIETY OF CANADA 13 Water Street North, Box 1269 Cambridge, Ontario NIR 7G6 Kathryn Alexander is a doctoral student in the Faculty of Education at Simon 1-800-998-7398 Frasier University, where she is exploring the politics offeminist literacy and textual "identity." When the occasional poem eruptsfiom her weary soul, she Charitable Registration #0464040-11-15 is exceedingly glad of her brooding and fey Celtic inheritance.

CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIESlLES CAHIERS DE LA FEMME