DOCSLIB.ORG

By Carmel Winter Thesis Submitted for the Award of MA by Research. Mater

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
By Carmel Winter Thesis Submitted for the Award of MA by Research. Mater Dress and the home: aspects of women’s changing gender roles, 1910-1937 by Carmel Winter Thesis submitted for the award of MA by research. Mater Dei Institute of Education Dublin City University Dr. Leeann Lane Irish Studies Date of Submission: August 2013 I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessment on the programme of study leading to the award of MA by research is entirely my own work, and that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, and does not to the best of my knowledge breach any law of copyright, and has not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. Signed: ¿ ^ ^ ^ ^ ¿ ^ ¿ O K fCandidate) ID No. Date: C f r / / d // £ Table of Contents Introduction................................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter One Becoming Citizens: Women’s roles in early twentieth century Ireland....................................5 Chapter Two Early Twentieth Century Irish Women’s Dress........................................................................35 Chapter Three The Department Store: shopping in early twentieth century Ireland.........................................75 Chapter Four Changing female roles: the response of the Establishment.....................................................106 Conclusion....................................... 129 Bibliography.............................................................................................................................132 Appendix.......................................................................................................................................i Dress and the home: aspects of women’s changing gender roles, 1910-1937. Carmel Winter This research examines women’s changing gender roles and related changes in female dress in the period 1910-1937. Women’s increasing role in the public sphere, for example, necessitated a move towards practical dress. Both women’s shifting gender roles and changes in choice of clothing were regularly debated in newspapers and prescriptive literature throughout the period in question. Despite changes in women’s roles, the dominant discourse in Ireland in this period was still that of separate spheres, particularly after 1922, with women viewed as belonging to the private or domestic sphere. Therefore, women’s gender roles in the period cannot be discussed without an examination of representations of the home. Fashions and trends relating to home interior also changed as women’s roles slowly changed and evolved. Changes in dress and home furnishings in Ireland saw influences from Paris, London and New York despite the anti-modernist discourse of the early Free State. With due reference to class it can be said that Irish women participated in contemporary international trends and displayed such engagement in their dress and home furnishings and design. Prescriptive literature provides the images, descriptions and public discourse for this research. Introduction Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening. -Coco Chanel This research examines women’s changing gender roles and related changes in female dress in the period 1910-1937, demonstrating that fashion both reflected and shaped change in gender roles. Fashion, as contextualised in this research, is understood to be the latest style of clothing, hair or accessories. Fashion was not a new phenomenon for early twentieth century Ireland but advances of the early twentieth century allowed fashion to be explored and experimented with making fashion a popular interest among the middle and upper classes by the early 1900s. It is these middle-class women that are the primary subject of enquiry as this research explores an era in which advances in communication allowed ideas of fashion permeate and spread more quickly. The turn of the twentieth century in Ireland was a key time in Irish women’s history. Women had organised themselves politically for the suffrage campaign: the Northern Ireland Society for Women’s Suffrage was founded in 1871 and the Dublin Women’s Suffrage Association was founded in 1876. Women had gained educational rights1 and property rights.2 From 1896 women could be elected as poor law guardians and from 1898 they could be elected to some local councils and in 1900 Inghinidhe na hEireann, an Irish women’s nationalist organisation, was founded. So by the time the twentieth century had come round women were getting louder and more visible in a society of separate spheres where patriarchal values were dominant. This activity would have only affected a small number of women in Ireland, the middle and upper classes and mostly Protestant or Quaker, but gender roles had been changing slowly and more progressively for nearly thirty years. Women’s role in society became a topic of concern for society in the early twentieth century and it remained so into the Free State period. The traditional idea of femininity was being challenged by women’s shifting gender role. This was translated through her appearance, her clothes and therefore her fashion. Irish women’s history, for the past thirty years, has been a rich area of study. Previous to this, Irish women’s history was overlooked. The Women’s History Association of Ireland was founded in 1989 with the aim to promote research into this overlooked history. Since its foundation historians such as Cliona Rattigan,3 Leeann Lane,4 Maria Luddy5 and Mary 1 The Intermediate Education (Ireland) Act 1878 and the Royal University of Ireland Act 1879 gave girls and women the right to sit for public competitive examinations and to take university degrees. 2 The Married Women’s Property Act 1870 & 1882 allowed women to own and control their own property. 3 Cliona Ratigan, What Else Could I Do?: Single Mothers and Infanticide, Ireland 1900-1950 (Dublin, 2011). 4 Leeann Lane, Rosamond Jacob: Third Person Singular, (Dublin, 2010). Cullen6 have enriched the topic of Irish women’s history. The history of fashion has also been a topic of rich research for the past thirty years. Christopher Breward7, Valerie Steele8 and Jennifer Craik9 among many others have been significant contributors to research into the history of fashion. This research, however, has excluded Ireland. There has been some discussion of Irish women’s fashion and dress by Caitriona Clear10 and Diarmaid Ferriter11 but nothing significant and never taken as a subject in itself. Fashion is a rich topic of research and reveals a multitude about people. It has historical, psychological, economic and communicative connotations. From a history of fashion one can see dramatic changes have occurred over time. For example, King Henry VIII in the 16th century wore knee-length embellished dresses, elaborate coats, tights or stockings and a lot of jewellery. The purpose of this fashion was to portray his wealth and status. This adornment of the body was to help differentiate this man as superior to everyone else. A modem king such as King Albert II of Belgium would contrast significantly. To show his status he may wear a sash or a badge but with an unadorned tailored suit. His wealth is not showcased on his person. Another example, a woman of any class in the late Victorian era would have opted for a floor length gown with a high collar and a cinched in waste. Activity was restricted for these women by this style of fashion. Activity for middle-upper class women was also restricted by a society of separate spheres. Fashion author, Anne Hollander suggested, ‘Clothes can suggest, persuade, connote, insinuate, or indeed lie, and apply subtle pressure while their wearer is speaking frankly and straightforwardly of other matters.’12 Fashion is a diverse commodity and changes its appearance for a range of reasons be it by designers or the individual consumer-wearer. Fashion is instant visual language. One can communicate a story through fashion. This is the aim of this research, to tell the story of women through an examination of fashion in the early twentieth century. Prescriptive literature such as The Lady o f the House and Our Girls will comprise a central primary source for this study. Prescriptive Literature includes conduct-of-life books, domestic arts manuals, etiquette guides and women’s magazines. The Lady of the House and Our Girls contained sections on how to behave correctly, how to improve personal appearance and the home, cooking and cleaning tips and many more instructive literature type sections. Prescriptive literature can challenge both change and tradition in gender roles. 5 Maria Ludddy, Women in Ireland, 1800-1918: A Documentary History, (Cork, 1995), Prostitution & Irish Society, 1800-1940, (Cambridge, 2007), Women & Philanthropy in Nineteenth Century Ireland, (Cambridge, 1995). 6 Mary Cullen (ed), Girls D on’t Do Honours: Irish Women in Education in the 19th and 20th Centuries (Dublin, 1987). 7 Christopher Breward has published numerous history of fashion books including Fashion and Modernity, Fashion (Oxford, 2005), Fashion (Oxford, 2003) and The Hidden Consumer (Manchester, 1999). 8 Valerie Steele has also published numerous history of fashion books including The Corset: A Cultural History (Yale, 2003), Fifty Years of Fashion: New Look to Now (Yale, 1997), Paris Fashion: A Cultural History (Oxford, 1988) and Fetish: Fashion,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Women's Organizations in Pre-Independence India
    International Journal of Applied Research 2019; 5(1): 142-145 ISSN Print: 2394-7500 ISSN Online: 2394-5869 Women’s organizations in pre-independence India Impact Factor: 5.2 IJAR 2019; 5(1): 142-145 www.allresearchjournal.com Received: 04-11-2018 Jagdeep Kaur Accepted: 06-12-2018 Abstract Jagdeep Kaur Women have been playing different roles in civilization since ancient times and these roles have been Research Scholar, Political changing over the period. Research studies have demonstrated that women have raised their position Science Department, Punjabi from low to high and made a place in different sectors. In India women have been suffering from University Patiala. Punjab, social, political and economic inequalities for a very long time. From the low points in medieval period, India women suffered a lot and still struggling for gender equality. However the things started changing with th the launching of some social reform movements in the 19 century. The educational experiments of the th th late 19 and early 20 centuries brought women out from household chores. Therefore women began to communicate with women outside their families and local communities. As a result of this various women’s organizations developed from the 19th century onwards. Keywords: Women associations, women development, awareness campaign Introduction In this paper an attempt has been made to discuss various women’s organizations which were emerged in pre-independence India and laid the foundation of the political participation of women. The roots of the Indian women’s participation in politics can be traced back to the 19th century reform movement.
    [Show full text]
  • 'Perfect Fit': Industrial Strategies, Textual Negotiations and Celebrity
    ‘Perfect Fit’: Industrial Strategies, Textual Negotiations and Celebrity Culture in Fashion Television Helen Warner Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) University of East Anglia School of Film and Television Studies Submitted July 2010 ©This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that no quotation from the thesis, nor any information derived therefrom, may be published without the author's prior, written consent. Helen Warner P a g e | 2 ABSTRACT According to the head of the American Costume Designers‟ Guild, Deborah Nadoolman Landis, fashion is emphatically „not costume‟. However, if this is the case, how do we approach costume in a television show like Sex and the City (1998-2004), which we know (via press articles and various other extra-textual materials) to be comprised of designer clothes? Once onscreen, are the clothes in Sex and the City to be interpreted as „costume‟, rather than „fashion‟? To be sure, it is important to tease out precise definitions of key terms, but to position fashion as the antithesis of costume is reductive. Landis‟ claim is based on the assumption that the purpose of costume is to tell a story. She thereby neglects to acknowledge that the audience may read certain costumes as fashion - which exists in a framework of discourses that can be located beyond the text. This is particularly relevant with regard to contemporary US television which, according to press reports, has witnessed an emergence of „fashion programming‟ - fictional programming with a narrative focus on fashion.
    [Show full text]
  • November 2019
    MOVIES A TO Z NOVEMBER 2019 D 8 1/2 (1963) 11/13 P u Bluebeard’s Ten Honeymoons (1960) 11/21 o A Day in the Death of Donny B. (1969) 11/8 a ADVENTURE z 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932) 11/5 S Ho Booked for Safekeeping (1960) 11/1 u Dead Ringer (1964) 11/26 S 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) 11/27 P D Bordertown (1935) 11/12 S D Death Watch (1945) 11/16 c COMEDY c Boys’ Night Out (1962) 11/17 D Deception (1946) 11/19 S –––––––––––––––––––––– A ––––––––––––––––––––––– z Breathless (1960) 11/13 P D Dinky (1935) 11/22 z CRIME c Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) 11/1 Bride of Frankenstein (1935) 11/16 w The Dirty Dozen (1967) 11/11 a Adventures of Don Juan (1948) 11/18 e The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) 11/6 P D Dive Bomber (1941) 11/11 o DOCUMENTARY a The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) 11/8 R Brief Encounter (1945) 11/15 Doctor X (1932) 11/25 Hz Alibi Racket (1935) 11/30 m Broadway Gondolier (1935) 11/14 e Doctor Zhivago (1965) 11/20 P D DRAMA c Alice Adams (1935) 11/24 D Bureau of Missing Persons (1933) 11/5 S y Dodge City (1939) 11/8 c Alice Doesn’t Live Here Any More (1974) 11/10 w Burn! (1969) 11/30 z Dog Day Afternoon (1975) 11/16 e EPIC D All About Eve (1950) 11/26 S m Bye Bye Birdie (1963) 11/9 z The Doorway to Hell (1930) 11/7 S P R All This, and Heaven Too (1940) 11/12 c Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • The Life and Works of Beatrice Elvery, 1881-1920
    Nationalism, Motherhood, and Activism: The Life and Works of Beatrice Elvery, 1881-1920 Melissa S. Bowen A Thesis Submitted to the Department of History California State University Bakersfield In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in History May 2015 Copyright By Melissa S. Bowen 2015 Acknowledgments I am incredibly grateful for the encouragement and support of Cal State Bakersfield’s History Department faculty, who as a group worked closely with me in preparing me for this fruitful endeavor. I am most grateful to my advisor, Cliona Murphy, whose positive enthusiasm, never- ending generosity, and infinite wisdom on Irish History made this project worthwhile and enjoyable. I would not have been able to put as much primary research into this project as I did without the generous scholarship awarded to me by Cal State Bakersfield’s GRASP office, which allowed me to travel to Ireland and study Beatrice Elvery’s work first hand. I am also grateful to the scholars and professionals who helped me with my research such as Dr. Stephanie Rains, Dr. Nicola Gordon Bowe, and Rector John Tanner. Lastly, my research would not nearly have been as extensive if it were not for my hosts while in Ireland, Brian Murphy, Miriam O’Brien, and Angela Lawlor, who all welcomed me into their homes, filled me with delicious Irish food, and guided me throughout the country during my entire trip. List of Illustrations Sheppard, Oliver. 1908. Roisin Dua. St. Stephen's Green, Dublin. 2 Orpen, R.C. 1908. 1909 Seal. The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, Dublin.
    [Show full text]
  • World Mourns Loss of King of Belgians
    ^ \ ; ' ' f •.) «» '» • ' AVERAGE DAILY OIRCULATIOM THE WEATHER for ttie Month of Jaannry, 1984 f^reoMt of 0. A Wenther H*rttord 5 , 3 6 7 Feir and much colder with a cold Member of the Audit wave tonlffat; Toeaday fair and Dureen of Ofrcoletlonei colder. VOL. LIIL, NO. 119. (daaalfled Advertlalng on Page 10.) MANCHESTER, CONN., MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19,1934. (TWELVE PAGES) PRICE THREE CENTS 1286 RAISED Picture Higrhlights In Life of Belgian Ruler AS 7SOO SEE WORLD MOURNS LOSS ICE URNIVAL OF KING OF BELGIANS Smiling Skies Draw Large Mouarch Killed While Moun- Crowd as Skating Stars Wethersfield Warden taiu CIhubiug — Fuueral Perform on Smooth Ice at Knew Belgians * King services ou Thursday — Center Springs Park. Sou Leopold Will Be Hartford, Feb. 19.— (AP)—Ward-<^ "I was with the party for two en Cha-les S. Reed of the State days," the warden said, "and had a Perfect weather aided by the delightful time. The Prince was a Crowued ou Friday — Prison at Wethersfield is one of the largest and best cast of skating wonderful fellow, democratic and a talent ever to vlait a Msuichester few men in this country who had a delightful conversationalist. He was Flags All Oyer Europe Fly rink combined to produce the ban­ standing invitation to call upon a handsome fellow and one of the King Albert of Belgium at the most delightful companions one ner event in the history of the an­ Brussels palace. could hope to meet.” at Half Staff. nual outdoor sports in this town on The warden, today, recalled two Before the Prince, left the city, he Center Springs rink yesterday after­ pleasant days spent with the klz.g, gave Police Chief Reed his card and noon- then Prince Albert, when he came invited him to call upon nlm if you The weather was ideal for out­ to this country Incognito in 1898 ever come into my country,” re­ By Associated Press door activities and the ice was in and as a guest of the late railroad gardless ot the rank he might hold.
    [Show full text]
  • History of Woman Suffrage Vol.V
    History of Woman Suffrage Vol.V By Elizabeth Cady Stanton History of Woman Suffrage Vol.V CHAPTER XLVI WISCONSIN. Progressive Legislation—The Rights of Married Women—The Constitution Shows Four Classes Having the Right to Vote—Woman Suffrage Agitation—C. L. Sholes' Minority Report, —Judge David Noggle and J. T. Mills' Minority Report, —State Association Formed, —Milwaukee Convention—Dr. Laura Ross—Hearing Before the Legislature— Convention in Janesville, —State University—Elizabeth R. Wentworth—Suffrage Amendment, , '81, '82—Rev. Olympia Brown, Racine, —Madame Anneke—Judge Ryan— Three Days' Convention at Racine, —Eveleen L. Mason—Dr. Sarah Munro—Rev. Dr. Corwin—Lavinia Goodell, Lawyer—Angie King—Kate Kane. For this digest of facts in regard to the progress of woman in Wisconsin we are indebted to Dr. Laura Ross Wolcott, who was probably the first woman to practice medicine in a Western State. She was in Philadelphia during all the contest about the admission of women to hospitals and mixed classes, maintained her dignity and self-respect in the midst of most aggravating persecutions, and was graduated with high honors in from the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, of which Ann Preston, M. D., was professor for nineteen years, six years dean of the faculty, and four years member of the board of incorporators. After graduation Laura Ross spent two years in study abroad, and, returning, commenced practice in Milwaukee, where she has been ever since. By an act of Congress approved May , , Wisconsin was admitted to the Union. Its diversity of soil and timber, the healthfulness of its climate and the purity of its waters, attracted people from the New England and Middle States, who brought with them fixed notions as to moral conduct and political action, and no little repugnance to many of the features of the old common law.
    [Show full text]
  • FOREST LAWN MEMORIAL PARK Hollywood Hills Orry George Kelly December 31, 1897 - February 27, 1964 Forest Lawn Memorial Park  Hollywood Hills
    Welcome to FOREST LAWN MEMORIAL PARK Hollywood Hills Orry George Kelly December 31, 1897 - February 27, 1964 Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills Order of Service Waltzing Matilda Played by the Forest Lawn Organist – Anthony Zediker Eulogy to be read by Jack. L. Warner Pall Bearers, To be Announced. Photo by Tony Duran Orry George Kelly December 31, 1897 - February 27, 1964 Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills Photo by Tony Duran Orry George Kelly December 31, 1897 - February 27, 1964 Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills Orry-Kelly Filmography 1963 Irma la Douce 1942 Always in My Heart (gowns) 1936 Isle of Fury (gowns) 1963 In the Cool of the Day 1942 Kings Row (gowns) 1936 Cain and Mabel (gowns) 1962 Gypsy (costumes designed by) 1942 Wild Bill Hickok Rides (gowns) 1936 Give Me Your Heart (gowns) 1962 The Chapman Report 1942 The Man Who Came to Dinner (gowns) 1936 Stage Struck (gowns) 1962 Five Finger Exercise 1941 The Maltese Falcon (gowns) 1936 China Clipper (gowns) (gowns: Miss Russell) 1941 The Little Foxes (costumes) 1936 Jailbreak (gowns) 1962 Sweet Bird of Youth (costumes by) 1941 The Bride Came C.O.D. (gowns) 1936 Satan Met a Lady (gowns) 1961 A Majority of One 1941 Throwing a Party (Short) 1936 Public Enemy’s Wife (gowns) 1959 Some Like It Hot 1941 Million Dollar Baby (gowns) 1936 The White Angel (gowns) 1958 Auntie Mame (costumes designed by) 1941 Affectionately Yours (gowns) 1936 Murder by an Aristocrat (gowns) 1958 Too Much, Too Soon (as Orry Kelly) 1941 The Great Lie (gowns) 1936 Hearts Divided (gowns)
    [Show full text]
  • Paseta Text.Indd
    The Kehoe Lecture in Irish History 2018 Suffrage and citizenship in Ireland, 1912–18 Senia Pašeta LONDON INSTITUTE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH Published by UNIVERSITY OF LONDON SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY INSTITUTE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU 2019 This book is published under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. More information regarding CC licenses is available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Available to download free at http://www.humanities-digital-library.org ISBN 978-1-912702-18-3 (PDF edition) ISBN 978-1-912702-31-2 (paperback edition) DOI 10.14296/119.9781912702183 Senia Pašeta is professor of modern history at the University of Oxford and a fellow of St Hugh’s College, Oxford. A specialist in the history of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Ireland, Senia’s current research focuses on women’s political activism and on connections between Irish and British radical politics. Her publications include Irish Nationalist Women, 1900–1918 (Cambridge, 2013) and Uncertain Futures: Essays about the Irish Past (Oxford, 2016). The Kehoe Lecture in Irish Historyis one of the principal named lectures hosted each year by the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. Inaugurated in 2016, the Kehoe Lecture promotes new research undertaken by leading scholars of Irish history and culture. Suffrage and citizenship in Ireland, 1912–18 Senia Pašeta Presented on 15 November 2018 at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London All Irish historians and anyone interested in Irish history will know that we have for some time been in the middle of a decade of centenaries.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ohio State University
    MAKING COMMON CAUSE?: WESTERN AND MIDDLE EASTERN FEMINISTS IN THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S MOVEMENT, 1911-1948 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Charlotte E. Weber, M.A. * * * * * The Ohio State University 2003 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Leila J. Rupp, Adviser Professor Susan M. Hartmann _________________________ Adviser Professor Ellen Fleischmann Department of History ABSTRACT This dissertation exposes important junctures between feminism, imperialism, and orientalism by investigating the encounter between Western and Middle Eastern feminists in the first-wave international women’s movement. I focus primarily on the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship, and to a lesser extent, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. By examining the interaction and exchanges among Western and Middle Eastern women (at conferences and through international visits, newsletters and other correspondence), as well as their representations of “East” and “West,” this study reveals the conditions of and constraints on the potential for feminist solidarity across national, cultural, and religious boundaries. In addition to challenging the notion that feminism in the Middle East was “imposed” from outside, it also complicates conventional wisdom about the failure of the first-wave international women’s movement to accommodate difference. Influenced by growing ethos of cultural internationalism
    [Show full text]
  • Most Eminent Indian Women Who Contributed to the Constitution of India
    _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Written & Conceptualized by: Bonani Dhar Development Sociologist, Gender & Human Resource Specialist Ex-World Bank & UN Adviser CDGI, Students & Faculty Development Cell & Chairperson WDC Phone: 9810237354 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Most Eminent Indian Women who contributed to the Constitution of India The Constitution of India was adopted by the elected Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949 and came into effect on 26 January 1950. The total membership of the Constituent Assembly was 389. While we all remember Dr. B R Ambedkar as the Father of the Constitution and other pioneering male members who helped draft the Indian Constitution, the contribution of the fifteen female members of the Constituent Assembly is easily forgotten. On this Republic Day, let’s take a look at the powerful women who helped draft our Constitution. 1. Ammu Swaminathan Image Credit: The Indian Express Ammu Swaminathan was born into an upper caste Hindu family in Anakkara of Palghat district, Kerala. She formed the Women’s India Association in 1917 in Madras, along with Annie Besant, Margaret Cousins, Malathi Patwardhan, Mrs Dadabhoy and Mrs Ambujammal. She became a part of the Constituent Assembly from the Madras Constituency in 1946. In a speech during the discussion on the motion by Dr B R Ambedkar to pass the draft Constitution on November 24, 1949, an optimistic and confident Ammu said, “People outside have been saying that India did not give equal rights to her women. Now we can say that when the Indian people themselves framed their Constitution they have given rights to women equal with every other citizen of the country.” She was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1952 and Rajya Sabha in 1954.
    [Show full text]
  • Cultural Convergence the Dublin Gate Theatre, 1928–1960
    Cultural Convergence The Dublin Gate Theatre, 1928–1960 Edited by Ondřej Pilný · Ruud van den Beuken · Ian R. Walsh Cultural Convergence “This well-organised volume makes a notable contribution to our understanding of Irish theatre studies and Irish modernist studies more broadly. The essays are written by a diverse range of leading scholars who outline the outstanding cultural importance of the Dublin Gate Theatre, both in terms of its national significance and in terms of its function as a hub of international engagement.” —Professor James Moran, University of Nottingham, UK “The consistently outstanding contributions to this illuminating and cohesive collection demonstrate that, for Gate Theatre founders Hilton Edwards and Micheál mac Liammóir and their collaborators, the limits of the imagination lay well beyond Ireland’s borders. Individually and collectively, the contribu- tors to this volume unravel the intricate connections, both personal and artistic, linking the theatre’s directors, designers, and practitioners to Britain, Europe, and beyond; they examine the development and staging of domestic plays written in either English or Irish; and they trace across national boundaries the complex textual and production history of foreign dramas performed in translation. In addition to examining a broad spectrum of intercultural and transnational influ- ences and perspectives, these frequently groundbreaking essays also reveal the extent to which the early Gate Theatre was a cosmopolitan, progressive, and inclusive space that recognized and valued women’s voices and queer forms of expression.” —Professor José Lanters, University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee, USA “Cultural Convergence is a book for which we have been waiting, not just in Irish theatre history, but in Irish cultural studies more widely.
    [Show full text]
  • The International Arbitration and Peace Association1
    ‘the truest form of patriotism’ 7 ‘Unity is strength’: the International Arbitration and Peace Association1 he absolutist Peace Society dominated the British peace movement throughout most of the nineteenth century. However, T its absolutism was increasingly challenged from mid-century onwards, and it became apparent by the 1870s, as a result of republican nationalist campaigns in Europe, and in Britain the rise of working men’s peace groups and the growth of the women’s movement, that there was also some demand for a secular peace organisation. The Inter- national Arbitration and Peace Association (IAPA), founded in 1880, was the main secular peace organisation in Britain and the one which experienced the greatest conflict with the Peace Society. Significantly, it was also the most likely of the mixed peace societies to draw in women from the feminist movement. It accommodated a variety of feminist perspectives, as well as attracting women such as Priscilla Peckover who were active within the peace movement but maintained a distance from the women’s movement. As an organisation, the IAPA drew together discourses of liberalism, socialism, Evangelicalism, feminism and internationalism, a blend that made it central to both the British and European peace movements. The IAPA acknowledged European definitions of ‘just wars’ and refused to be swept along in the tide of jingoistic imperialism that gripped Britain at the turn of the century. Although it was officially secular in its arguments for peace, it had many members who upheld religious and Evangelical ideas. The IAPA’s arguments for equality drew in women from various strands of the feminist movement, giving rise to a range of ways of working within the organisation.
    [Show full text]