Ireland

Ulstermen and Loyalist Ladies on Parade: Gendering Unionism in Northern Ireland

Citation:

Racioppi, Linda, and Katherine O'Sullivan See. 2000. "Ulstermen and Loyalist Ladies on Parade: Gendering Unionism in Northern Ireland." International Feminist Journal of Politics 2 (1): 1-29.

Authors: Linda Racioppi, Katherine O'Sullivan See

Abstract:

This article explores parades as central institutions in the construction and maintenance of unionist ethno-gender identities and a crucial part of politics in Northern Ireland. It presents a brief historical review of the origins of Protestant marches and the organizations which are key to sustaining this tradition. It then analyses the contemporary marches, including the highly contested Portadown parade and the tranquil ll-Ireland demonstration, held in Rossnowlagh in the Republic. These overwhelmingly male events are important to the maintenance of the gender order of unionism. The parades reveal the subordinated femininity within unionism: women participate in small numbers by invitation only. At the same time, they reveal competing masculinities: traditional, 'respectable' unionist masculinity is challenged by the more virile loyalism of 'Billy boy' and 'kick the pope' bands and marchers. This analysis explains why these competing masculinities are central, not only to the maintenance of male hegemony, but also to the ethno-national politics of parading, helping to set the boundaries of accommodation with nationalists and the state.

Keywords: ethnic conflict, Gender, nationalism, Northern Ireland, parades, women

Topics: Ethnicity, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Femininity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Hierarchies, Governance, Nationalism Regions: Europe, Western Europe Countries: Ireland

Year: 2000

The Myth of Sovereignty: Gender in the Literature of Irish Nationalism

Citation:

Valente, Joseph. 1994. “The Myth of Sovereignty: Gender in the Literature of Irish Nationalism.” English Literary History 61 (1): 189-210.

Author: Joseph Valente

Topics: Gender, Masculinity/ies, Femininity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Hierarchies, Nationalism Regions: Europe, Western Europe Countries: Ireland

Year: 1994

Janus and Gender: Women and the Nation's Backward Look

Citation:

Cusack, Tricia. 2000. “Janus and Gender: Women and the Nation’s Backward Look.” Nations and Nationalism 6 (4): 541–61.

Author: Tricia Cusack

Abstract:

This article considers how nations are imagined and  characterised in relation to the national roles allocated to women, with particular reference to the early Irish state. It examines two related dichotomies, that between ‘civic’ and ‘ethnic’ nationalisms, and the concept of the nation itself as ‘Janus-faced’, simultaneously looking ahead to the future and back to the past. It has been suggested that  women bore the burden of the nation's ‘backward look’ towards a putative traditional rural past and an organic community, while men appropriated the nation's present and future. This thesis is examined with reference to Ireland and the representation of women in visual imagery and travel writing.

Topics: Ethnicity, Gender, Gender Roles, Nationalism Regions: Europe, Western Europe Countries: Ireland

Year: 2000

"Furies" and "Die-hards": Women and Irish Republicanism in the Early Twentieth Century

Citation:

Ryan, Louise. 1999. "'Furies' and 'Die-hards': Women and Irish Republicanism in the Early Twentieth Century." Gender and History 11 (2): 256-75. 

Author: Louise Ryan

Annotation:

Summary:
"This paper explores aspects of women’s contribution to the armed Repub-lican campaign in Ireland and analyses, in particular, representations of thesewomen who transgressed and negotiated gender roles in a militarist con-text.From smuggling guns and carrying despatches to actual participationin armed conflict, women played significant and varied roles in the militantcampaign for Irish independence.‘From the onset of the 1916 Easter Risingthrough the struggle for independence and the civil war, women assumeda prominent role in putting Ireland’s case for freedom before the world’" (Ryan 1999, 256).

Topics: Armed Conflict, Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Combatants, Female Combatants, Gender, Women, Masculinity/ies, Gender Roles, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism, Nationalism, Political Participation Regions: Europe, Western Europe Countries: Ireland

Year: 1999

Gender Ironies of Nationalism: Sexing the Nation

Citation:

Mayer, Tamar, ed. 2000. Gender Ironies of Nationalism: Sexing the Nation. New York: Routlege.

Author: Tamar Mayer

Abstract:

This book provides a unique social science reading on the construction of nation, gender and sexuality and on the interactions among them. It includes international case studies from Indonesia, Ireland, former Yugoslavia, Liberia, Sri Lanka, Australia, the USA, Turkey, China, India and the Caribbean. The contributors offer both the masculine and feminine perspective, exposing how nations are comprised of sexed bodies, and exploring the gender ironies of nationalism and how sexuality plays a key role in nation building and in sustaining national identity.

The contributors conclude that control over access to the benefits of belonging to the nation is invariably gendered; nationalism becomes the language through which sexual control and repression is justified masculine prowess is expressed and exercised. Whilst it is men who claim the prerogatives of nation and nation building it is, for the most part, women who actually accept the obligation of nation and nation building. (Amazon)

Topics: Gender, Masculinity/ies, Femininity/ies, Nationalism, Sexuality Regions: Africa, MENA, West Africa, Caribbean countries, North America, Asia, East Asia, Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, Balkans, Southern Europe, Western Europe, Oceania Countries: Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Liberia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, United States of America, Yugoslavia (former)

Year: 2000

Matilda Tone in America: Exile, Gender, and Memory in the Making of Irish Republican Nationalism

Citation:

Brundage, David. 2010. “Matilda Tone in America: Exile, Gender, and Memory in the Making of Irish Republican Nationalism.” New Hibernia Review 14 (1): 96–111.

Author: David Brundage

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Gender, Nationalism Regions: Europe, Western Europe Countries: Ireland

Year: 2010

Daughters of the Troubles: Belfast Stories

Pages

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