Descripción del proyecto
La importancia de comprender los problemas de la migración irlandesa
En Londres y Nueva York se considera a muchos emigrantes irlandeses de la posguerra como alcohólicos o drogadictos. El proyecto DIASPORA, financiado con fondos europeos, utilizará dichos estereotipos étnicos como plataforma para investigar la migración irlandesa y los problemas asociados a ella, como el abuso de drogas, la salud mental, el origen étnico y la discriminación. El estudio se basará en una variedad de fuentes, que incluye relatos de expertos, religiosos y personales. El objetivo final es permitir que la apreciación de las complejidades sobre la larga historia de la migración irlandesa se aplique a otras situaciones migratorias más contemporáneas en Gran Bretaña y Estados Unidos.
Objetivo
DIASPORA will focus on the Irish in post-war London and New York to provide a nuanced and penetrative investigation of the intersections between alcohol, drug use, mental health, migration and ethnicity. Crucially, it will interrogate the cultural and societal implications of the ubiquitous “drunken Irish” label, the disproportionate rates of alcoholism reported among Irish migrants/diaspora, and the perceived day-to-day roles of recreational drugs, drink and drinking spaces – both positive and negative – in the lived experiences of this cohort. The project will trace the interplay between expert, state, religious and cultural representations, before contrasting findings with first-hand accounts by Irish migrants/diaspora.
By casting alcohol and drugs as prisms through which to view experiences and portrayals of the Irish abroad, the project will expose fault lines in existing historical studies of (i) Irish migration; (ii) migration, health and ethnicity; and (iii) alcohol and drugs, which have eschewed any meaningful examination of this topic. By drawing together these ordinarily distinct strands of historiography, and placing an ethnic stereotype at the centre of its investigation, it will redefine scholarly debates about other ethnic groups, as well as broader discourses on the physical and mental implications of migration and discrimination.
DIASPORA’s overarching aim is to use the longevity of Irish migration to London and New York to enlighten the evolving ethnic and racial experience in Britain and the US. The project will offer a blueprint for future comparative analyses of health, ethnicity and race in historical perspective. To do so, it will blend traditional historical methodologies, including robust archival research on government files and Irish community and service centre records, with oral histories, and analysis of medical, sociology, social work and religious journals, autobiographies, fictional literature, drama, film and documentaries.
Ámbito científico
Programa(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Régimen de financiación
HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-BasedInstitución de acogida
4 Dublin
Irlanda