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Open Research Online Oro.Open.Ac.Uk Open Research Online The Open University’s repository of research publications and other research outputs Discourses of authenticity and national identity among the Irish diaspora in England Thesis How to cite: Scully, Marc Donnchadh (2010). Discourses of authenticity and national identity among the Irish diaspora in England. PhD thesis The Open University. For guidance on citations see FAQs. c 2010 Marc Scully Version: Version of Record Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. oro.open.ac.uk Discourses of authenticity and national identity among the Irish diaspora in England. Marc Donnchadh Scully BA (Hons) Applied Psychology MSc Applied Social Psychology Higher Diploma (Hons) Social Policy Thesis presented for the degree of Doctorate in Philosophy Department of Psychology in the Social Sciences The Open University June 2010 Abstract This thesis explores the ways in which Irish people in England draw on discourses of authenticity in constructing and articulating Irish identities. It is based on the theoretical assumption that identities are constructed through discourse, which is understood as a broad horizon of meaning-making. The Irish in England are discussed as a population that negotiate both their personal identities and putative collective identity within discourses of Irishness as diasporic and as a minority identity within multicultural England. It is argued that 'authenticity' is central to both these positionings, but that personal constructions of authentic Irishness may differ from hegemonic constructions. Additionally, a distinction is made between diasporic and transnational Irish identities. Using a convenience sample, participants who self-identified as Irish were recruited from three English cities. Thirty individual interviews and four group discussions were carried out - the interview schedules and analysis was informed by ongoing 'informal' participant observation. In analysing the corpus of data, narratives of a 'typical' Irish life were attended to as well as the rhetorical means by which Irishness was contested. A clear canonical narrative of a 'collective' Irish experience in post-war England emerges, alongside three major areas of contestation through which claims on authenticity were made: public displays of Irishness, local identities, and generational differences. It is concluded that 'authenticity' is central to understanding how individuals situate their personal identities within collective identities. In particular, three distinct but overlapping discourses of Irish authenticity are identified: authenticity through collective experience and memory; authenticity through transnational knowledge and authenticity through diasporic claim. The implications of these findings, the original contribution they make both to Irish Studies and the social psychological study of identity, and how they may inform future study are also discussed, with an emphasis on the need to further examine the importance of county identity. Acknowledgements In writing this thesis, I have been fortunate in being able to rely upon both institutional and interpersonal support networks. Firstly, this thesis was made possible by funding from the Open University and also by the use of OU facilities. While I may have grown to take it for granted over the past 3 and a half years, a moment’s pause is enough to remind me of the gratitude due to the Open University as an institution. This thesis would also not have been possible without the co-operation of all those who participated in the research process. I am extremely grateful for those who willingly gave of their free time in order to be interviewed and/or participate in discussion groups. I would also like to thank the many people who were not participants as such, but who, through occasionally lengthy and occasionally brief snatches of conversation at Irish events and elsewhere, helped me develop a sense of the recent history and contemporary issues concerning the Irish in England. The wise counsel of my supervisors, Dr. Gail Lewis and Dr. Jovan Byford on countless occasions allowed me to free myself from intellectual log-jams of my own making. I am grateful to them for correctly judging occasions on which I needed encouragement, occasions on which I needed to be pushed to improve my work and occasions on which I needed my own space to develop my thinking. Thanks are also due to Prof. Ann Phoenix, who supervised the first year of my PhD and set me thinking about many of the issues within this thesis. I have appreciated the way in which the strong research culture within both the Department of Psychology and the wider Faculty of Social Sciences at the Open University facilitated the development of my thought at all stages of the PhD process. I would especially like to thank the members of the Qualitative Work in Progress group, the Social Psychology Research Group, the Centre for Citizenship, Identities and Governance and all those social science students who participated in the postgraduate seminars and Praxis conferences. The ability to discuss and receive feedback on half-formed (and occasionally half-baked) ideas in the sympathetic environment these fora represented was invaluable in fostering productive work. I would also like to thank the administrative staff in the Department of Psychology, particularly Lynda Hammond. Aside from the conducive academic environment that the OU represented, I would also like to acknowledge the spirit of conviviality among the postgraduate community at the Open University, particularly those who eschewed the bright lights of London for the more subtle enjoyments of Milton Keynes. Anyone who has ever listened to me grouse about the impossibility of making the latest deadline over a pint in the Cellar Bar has therefore played their part in the production of this thesis. On a more tangible level, thanks are due to the brave brigade of proof-readers who spotted the typos that I was no longer able to: Sarah M., Nancy, Sam, Bethany, Sarah F., Pádraig and Diane. Finally, I would like to thank my friends and family on both sides of the Irish Sea. In particular, thanks go to my Mam and Dad for their unfailing moral support and encouragement both since September 2006, and long before. My sister Mairéad’s good humour and repeated exhortations of “It’s only a long essay! What on earth’s taking you so long?” helped to keep me grounded. Lastly, thanks to Deirdre for the sympathy, love and calculated ego boosts she provided at critical points of the writing-up process. Table of contents CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 SITUATING THE RESEARCH : DEFINING ‘THE IRISH ’, DEFINING ‘E NGLAND ’ AND DEFINING ‘AUTHENTICITY ’................................................................................................................................... 6 1.2 RESEARCH THEMES ...................................................................................................................... 11 1.3 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS ........................................................................................................... 13 1.4 INFLUENCES AND BIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................... 16 CHAPTER 2: DIASPORA, DIASPORIC IDENTIFICATIONS AND IRISHNESS..................... 19 2.1 IDENTITY – THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONIST PERSPECTIVE ............................................................ 20 2.2 NATIONAL IDENTITY .................................................................................................................... 21 2.3 DIASPORIC IDENTITY .................................................................................................................... 25 2.4 DIASPORA IN THE IRISH CONTEXT ................................................................................................. 32 2.5 THE IRISH IN ENGLAND : A SUBSET OF THE IRISH DIASPORA ?........................................................ 40 2.5.1 “Second generation” Irish identities................................................................................... 46 2.6 THE ROLE OF THE LOCAL WITHIN THE DIASPORA .......................................................................... 49 2.7 SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................... 57 CHAPTER 3: MULTICULTURALISM, ETHNICITY, ESSENTIALISM AND AUTHENTICITY ................................................................................................................................................................ 58 3.1 THE IRISH IN ENGLAND – BRIEF HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL DETAILS ................................. 59 3.2 MINORITY IDENTITIES AND MULTICULTURAL ENGLAND /B RITAIN ................................................ 64 3.3 THE IRISH AS AN ETHNIC MINORITY IN MULTICULTURAL ENGLAND ............................................. 71 3.4 RECOGNITION OF IRISHNESS WITHIN ENGLAND ............................................................................ 79 3.5 THE SECOND GENERATION IRISH WITHIN THE ‘HEGEMONIC DOMAIN ’ OF ENGLAND ..................... 85 3.6 SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................................
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