Remembering Irishness
Participants wanted: people who grew up in the Republic of Ireland and experienced adolescence during the 1970s or 1980s
My research examines how people who grew up in the Republic of Ireland remember understanding and experiencing Irishness during the Troubles. I am interested in how national identity and belonging were encountered across different areas of life, including family relationships, school, friendships, religion, community life, and the wider social and political environment.
During this period, political violence associated with the Troubles affected Dublin and other parts of the Republic, while the economic difficulties that intensified from the late 1970s shaped the circumstances in which many young people came of age. The research does not assume, however, that these developments affected everyone in the same way or that Irish identity was always a matter of conscious reflection. Irishness may have felt ordinary, important, contested, difficult, or largely irrelevant at the time.
This research forms part of a wider comparative study of two groups: young people who grew up in the Republic of Ireland and British-born teenagers of Irish parentage growing up in Britain during the same period. The comparison explores how Irishness was understood and negotiated in two different but closely connected social and political environments.
I am seeking people who:
were born in the Republic of Ireland, preferably between 1960 and 1970;
were raised in the Republic; and
spent all or a substantial part of their adolescence there.
Participants will be invited to take part in a semi-structured oral-history interview about their experiences of growing up. No particular political or religious outlook is required, and participants do not need to have been directly affected by political violence.
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
Image Credit: Dublin City Public Libraries and Archive