Gendering the Irish diaspora: Questions of enrichment, hybridization and return

Abstract

This article discusses the gendering of diaspora at three different levels of analysis, first, in relation to contemporary theorising of diaspora, second, with regard to former President Robinson's representations, in the 1990s, of Irish identity as a diasporic one and, finally, with reference to the particularity of the 'lived' experiences of Irish women's diasporic lives. The tendency towards an asymmetric valorisation of movement over dwelling in theorisations, discourses, and practices of diaspora produces contradictory effects as Irish women emigrants are represented both in individualistic and progressive terms of achievement associated with movement, but also as connected to the national community and tradition through gendered kin relationships and obligations. The migration of Traveller women, on the other hand, because Travellers are excluded from the national and indeed the diasporic 'imagined community', is represented as deviant and regressive paradoxically making national borders even more significant when it comes to claims to belong. The accounts of diasporic Irish women discussed in this article are often painfully stretched between staying-put and moving out, individualism and the burden of responsibility for the maintenance of Irish culture and identity. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.