Title Everyday racism in the west of Ireland Author(s) Naughton, Anita Publication Date 2016-09-30

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Title Everyday racism in the west of Ireland
Author(s) Naughton, Anita
Publication
2016-09-30
Date
Item record http://hdl.handle.net/10379/6337
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EVERYDAY RACISM IN THE WEST OF IRELAND

by

Anita Naughton

A thesis submitted to the School of Political Science and Sociology
In conformity with the requirements for
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

National University of Ireland
Galway, Ireland
September, 2016

Supervisor: Dr Kevin Ryan
Internal Examiner: Dr Katherine Powell
External Examiner: Professor Les Back
Abstract

Everyday life might be described as a rhythmic flow of routines and practices that frame
social life’s multitudinous interactional episodes. Everyday social life is also punctuated by
various types of racism that can be mapped along a continuum, from racist physical and
verbal abuse to more subtle practices and discourses of racialized exclusion. Combining
qualitative interviews with (auto-) ethnography, this thesis explores everyday racism in the
City of Galway in the West of Ireland. The last census (2011) recorded 19.4 percent of the
city’s resident population as ‘non-Irish nationals’, making it the most ‘multi-cultural’ city in
the Republic of Ireland. As this thesis demonstrates, everyday racism is very much a feature
of multi-cultural Ireland, evidenced for example when the rhythm of everyday praxis, such as
walking a dog on a local beach is ruptured by a violent racist assault, as was the case with one
of my informants. At the other end of the continuum are banal racist episodes which
generally exist beneath the radar of reported (and reportable) actions and experiences.
The everyday is theorized using six core concepts: the social, social space, practices, scripts,
flow and temporality, drawing on the work of Bourdieu (1977, 1989 and 1990), Giddens
(1984) and Pink (2012). The methodological journey describes how reflexivity was key to
addressing incumbent methodological and ethical challenges facing a white female
researcher interviewing and volunteering with people from various multi-ethnic backgrounds.
The research findings are divided into three parts: episodes of overt racism, including physical
assault and verbal abuse; everyday racism, comprising discourses and practices of exclusion
which occur in fields of social life including education, work and leisure; and everyday racist
discourse which occurs without the presence of the Other and yet remains an intrinsic part of
the process that constitutes racialized difference. These three areas describe how overt
racism disrupts yet also shapes the lives of those impacted, while more banal episodes
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become part of everyday life and practices, with both underpinned by racist discourses which
circulate and change over time, configuring and re-constituting us/them relations in Irish
society.

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Acknowledgements

The journey of completing a thesis necessarily involves many other people. My supervisor, Dr
Kevin Ryan, has been supportive of this thesis from early conversations through the highs and
lows of personal and academic life. I would like to thank Kevin for his guidance, support and
patience throughout this project. The staff of the School of Political Science and Sociology
have also been supportive, particularly the members of my GRC, Professor Siniša Malešević,
Dr Kathy Powell and Dr Brian McGrath, members of the PCI Cluster and colleagues involved in
teaching and co-ordinating the First Year Undergraduate course. A special mention to fellow
NUIG graduates Amanda O’Connor, Genevieve Pierce and Lisa Moran who believed in me,
especially when I needed it most. Thank you to my sister Siobhan for her help and patience
in collating the final drafts of the thesis.
The data collected during this research project was collected with the help of a number of
people. Margaret O’Riada of Galway Traveller Support Group, Ernest Bishop of Galway City
Partnership, Triona Ní Ghiolla Choille and Suzanne Mc Kane of Galway Refugee Support
Group, Janet Kehelly and Loretta Needham of Croí na Gaillimhe Resource Centre who all
provided help and support during the project, for which I am most grateful. Research of this
nature requires research participants and I would like to especially thank everyone who took
part, giving generously of their time and energy to share their own personal experience of
everyday racism. To fellow tutors and students who I had the pleasure to work with in the
‘Failte Insteach’ conversational English language programme, thank you for your friendship
and for teaching me about the diversity of everyday life in Galway.
Finally, thank you to family, my parents Ann and Paddy who have always been there for me
and to the three most important people in my life, who have lived with me through this
thesis, my husband Padraic and children Eoin and Aoife, thank you for your unconditional
love and support.
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Statement of Originality

I, Anita Naughton, hereby certify that all of the work described within this thesis is the
original work of the author. Any published (or unpublished) ideas and/or techniques from
the work of others are fully acknowledged in accordance with the standard referencing
practices.

Signed:

Date:

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Table of Contents

Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ i
Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... iii
Statement of Originality .............................................................................................................. iv
Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... v
List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. ix
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1
Light in August ......................................................................................................................... 1
Racism in Ireland in context .................................................................................................... 6
Overview of methodological journey...................................................................................... 9
SECTION 1.................................................................................................................................. 14
Chapter 1: Race and racisms ..................................................................................................... 15
1.1 Introduction: The new colour line................................................................................... 15
1.2 Stepping back in time – Exhibit B, a very brief history of race ....................................... 19
1.3 Learning from theoretical legacies and debates ............................................................. 25
1.4 Racialization without race ............................................................................................... 31
1.5 Does whiteness matter? ................................................................................................. 35
1.6 Intersectionality: race, ethnicity, gender, class and nation ............................................ 39
1.7 What about racisms in Ireland? ...................................................................................... 43
1.7.1 What is the genealogy of race and racisms in Ireland? ........................................... 44
1.7.2 What frameworks describe racisms in Ireland? ....................................................... 45
1.7.3 Where/how do nationalism and ethnicity intersect in the analysis of racisms? ..... 46
1.7.4 How can racialization and whiteness explain racism in Ireland? ............................. 49
1.8 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 53
Chapter 2: Historical Moments ................................................................................................. 56
2.1 Introduction: race and racialization in Ireland ................................................................ 56
2.2 The racialization of Travellers - 1963 Report of the Commission on Itinerancy ............. 60
2.2.1 Who are Travellers? ................................................................................................. 60
2.2.2 The Other within the nation – racialization of Travellers ........................................ 61
2.2.3 Contingent toleration ............................................................................................... 62
2.2.4 ‘Itinerants’: ‘Menace to public health’ and ‘criminals’ ............................................ 64
2.2.5 Explicit racialization of Travellers ............................................................................. 66
2.3 1969 ‘The land of Ireland for the people of Ireland’ ....................................................... 68
2.3.1 The English are gone, Bull ........................................................................................ 68
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2.3.2 Land redistribution 1900 - 1960 ............................................................................... 69
2.3.3 ‘Aliens’, foreigners and non-nationals purchasing Irish land ................................... 70
2.3.4 Burning of German farms 1969-1970 ...................................................................... 73
2.4 ’Black babies’: 1973 founding of Trócaire ....................................................................... 74
2.4.1 Origins of Trócaire: ‘help our needy brothers’......................................................... 75
2.4.2 ‘Black babies’ ............................................................................................................ 78
2.5 Migrant women and 2004 Citizenship Referendum ....................................................... 79
2.5.1 Migrant women, the nation and citizenship ............................................................ 82
2.6 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 86
Chapter 3: The everydayness of everyday racism .................................................................... 89
3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 89
3.2 The social ......................................................................................................................... 92
3.3 Social Space ..................................................................................................................... 95
3.4 Practices and scripts ...................................................................................................... 101
3.5 Flow and temporality .................................................................................................... 107
3.6 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 110
Chapter 4: Methodology ......................................................................................................... 112
4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 112
4.2 Qualitative research ...................................................................................................... 114
4.3 Who and why ................................................................................................................ 120
4.4 Position of the researcher ............................................................................................. 121
4.5 Researching the everyday ............................................................................................. 124
4.6 ‘It’s like poking at an open wound’ (Interview with Tariq) ........................................... 126
4.7 Ethics ............................................................................................................................. 128
4.8 Sample ........................................................................................................................... 129
4.9 Methodology path ........................................................................................................ 132
4.10 Reflexivity .................................................................................................................... 137
4.11 Becoming a researcher ............................................................................................... 139
SECTION 2................................................................................................................................ 141
Chapter 5: Racism and Racialization as a Continuum: Between the Overt and the Everyday 142
5.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 142
5.2 Overt racism – racialization of the Other through verbal abuse: ................................. 146
5.2.1: Patricia’s experience ............................................................................................. 147
5.2.2: Katie’s experience ................................................................................................. 152
5.2.3: Kumara’s experience ............................................................................................. 156
Chapter 6: Everyday Racism in Public Space ........................................................................... 160
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6.1 Public Space .................................................................................................................. 160
6.2 Cumulative episodes of everyday racism ...................................................................... 162
6.2.1 ‘Paki thief’ – practices and scripts .......................................................................... 163
6.2.1 ‘Go home, you don’t belong here’ ......................................................................... 164
Chapter 7: Everyday Racism in the Fields of Employment and Education ............................. 174
7.1 Field of employment ..................................................................................................... 177
7.1.1 Overt racism, monkey noises ................................................................................. 177
7.1.2 Vicarious accounts and reported speech ............................................................... 178
7.1.3 Everyday exclusion of migrants ............................................................................. 180
7.1.4 Practices of exclusion – social isolation ................................................................. 182
7.2 Field of Education.......................................................................................................... 183
7.2.1 Everyday racist discourse ....................................................................................... 185
7.2.2 Practices of exclusion ............................................................................................. 186
7.2.3 Rules, regulations and monitoring indiscipline ...................................................... 192
7.3 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 194
Chapter 8: Everyday racism in the Field of Leisure and Consumption ................................... 196
8.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 196
8.2 Practices of exclusion .................................................................................................... 199
8.3 Surveillance and liminal (in)visibility ............................................................................. 207
8.3.1 Surveillance ............................................................................................................ 208
8.3.2 Liminal (in)visibility ................................................................................................ 212
8.4 Impact of racism ............................................................................................................ 219
8.5 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 220
Chapter 9: Everyday Racist Discourse ..................................................................................... 221
9.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 221
9.1 Stocks of knowledge, myths and media ........................................................................ 226
9.3 Everyday racist discourse .............................................................................................. 233
9.3.1 Binary representation ............................................................................................ 233
9.3.2 Moral Excess........................................................................................................... 234
9.3.3 Parasites and predators ......................................................................................... 236
9.3.4 The menace within ................................................................................................. 239
9.3.5 Racializing discursive consciousness knowledge ................................................... 242
9.5 Everyday racist discourse: Confirm-structuration and de-structuration ...................... 245
9.5.1 Confirm-Structuration ............................................................................................ 245
9.5.2 Countering everyday racist discourse, de-structuration........................................ 249
9.6 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 250
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Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 251
Conceptualising everyday racism ........................................................................................ 251
Racialization and historical moments ................................................................................. 251
Telling a different story ....................................................................................................... 252
On the bus: Part 1 ........................................................................................................... 253
On the bus: Part 2 ........................................................................................................... 253
Coffee-shop ..................................................................................................................... 254
At school .......................................................................................................................... 254
What is the contribution of this thesis? .............................................................................. 255
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 258
Appendix 1: Interview Forms .................................................................................................. 274
Consent Form ...................................................................................................................... 274
Participant Information Sheet............................................................................................. 275
Interview Schedule .............................................................................................................. 277
Post Interview Analysis ....................................................................................................... 278
Appendix 2: List of Research Participants ............................................................................... 279

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