Migration Nation: Intercultural Education and Anti-Racism as Symbolic Violence in Celtic Tiger Ireland

Abstract

Cultural diversity has historically been a feature of Irish society, as evidenced by the presence of a host of minority groups, including Travellers, blacks (often referred to as black-Irish), Jews, and Asians.1 Despite this diversity, the “Celtic Tiger” era is often popularly (if erroneously) understood to signal Ireland’s transition from a monocultural to a multicultural society. This chapter examines the interplay of inter/national forces that influenced the evolution of educational policy responses to cultural diversity and the intensification of racism in the Republic of Ireland during the so-called Celtic Tiger era. The idea of the Celtic Tiger economy, akin to the “tiger” economies of south-east Asia, first emerged in the mid-1990s, as evidence of Ireland’s nascent economic boom began to accumulate (Coulter 2003). This period of unprecedented economic growth was associated with changes in the operation of global capitalism and the convenient base that the Republic offered to multinational corporations seeking to expand operations in Europe (e.g., Coulter 2003; Garner 2004). The accompanying immigration trend, which coincided with European Union (EU) enlargement, resulted in a newfound emphasis on interculturalism and anti-racism at multiple levels of Irish society, including schools.