Remembering Irishness
Participants wanted: British-born people with an Irish family background who experienced adolescence during the 1970s or 1980s
My Master research at the University of Groningen (supervisor: Dr. Philipp Nielsen) examines how British-born people of Irish parentage remember encountering and interpreting Irishness while growing up in Britain during the Troubles. I am interested in how an Irish family background was experienced across different areas of life, including family relationships, school, friendships, community life, and the wider social and political environment.
During this period, public perceptions of Ireland and Irishness in Britain were affected by political violence, anti-Irish prejudice, and changing expressions of British nationalism. However, the research does not assume that these developments shaped everyone’s experiences in the same way. Irishness may have felt important, unimportant, positive, difficult, mixed, or simply not especially relevant at the time.
I am seeking people who:
were born in Britain, preferably between 1960 and 1970;
had one or two parents born in the Republic of Ireland; and
spent all or a substantial part of their adolescence in Britain, in particular London.
Participants will be invited to take part in a semi-structured oral-history interview about their family background and experiences of growing up. It is irrelevant whether the participant feels strongly about “being Irish” or not at all, either during adolescence or today.
If you might be interested in participating, or would simply like to learn more about the project, please contact me to arrange an initial, no-obligation conversation by email, Zoom, or telephone. Requesting further information does not create any obligation to participate.
Participation is voluntary. Before deciding whether to take part, you will receive detailed information about the research, the interview process, and the use and storage of the material. Personal data and interview material will be handled confidentially, and pseudonyms will be used in the research documentation. The project has received ethical approval from the University of Groningen.
CONTACT ME
Photo taken by Tish Murtha