By focusing on a single identifiable ethnic group – the Irish, in two disparate international locations – London and New York, DIASPORA will provide a nuanced and penetrative investigation of the intersections between alcohol, drug use, mental health, migration and ethnicity since the Second World War. In doing so, it will lend critical historical context to recent debates about the centrality of race and ethnicity to individuals’ lived experiences, including increasing concerns about inequalities in medical and social care settings and the potential for racial and/or ethnic bias in social and healthcare workers. Crucially, the project 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.
This rigorous historical analysis will encompass expert commentary, government files, community and welfare services records, newspapers, documentaries, literature, film and drama, autobiographies and memoirs, and oral histories. 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 these themes. 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 will blend traditional historical methodologies, including (i) robust research on document-based sources; (ii) analysis of published memoirs, autobiographies, fictional literature, drama, film and television documentaries; and (iii) oral histories. By examining this diverse range of sources, it will provide a nuanced and definitive interpretation of the place of drugs, drink and drinking spaces in the day-to-day lives of Irish migrants/diaspora in post-war London and New York, as well as responses to and portrayals of these groups in relation to them. The project’s methodology will combine qualitative and textual analyses to trace the interplay between shifting expert, state, religious and cultural representations of alcohol, drug use and Irish ethnicity, before juxtaposing these findings with first-hand accounts by Irish migrants/diaspora. A transnational approach will be employed by contrasting domestic and international contexts via existing secondary literature and substantial primary research.
