Published: 2007-11-27
ISBN:
ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)
This paper focuses on the transnationality of identity in terms of how Irish diasporic memory is functioning in a post-September 11th context. Here a distinction is made between Irish identity in Ireland and Irish-American identity. Drawing on current cultural studies critiques; a further distinction is made; namely how the look of Irishness is functioning as a sign for white America (Negra: 2006).
In this respect; The Irish Face In America is an interesting text in that it exploits both the conventions of ‘old’ and ‘new’ photography. This study draws out the significance of these strategies in terms of constructions of Irish-American diasporic cultural memory as it is being currently formulated in a specific location; namely; a post 9/11 US context. Transnationality; in this instance works in two directions because a post-Cease-Fire Irish context is necessary for this re-imagining of the Irish terrorist. Through this case study of The Irish Face In America; I argue that photography is being employed to reify notions of roots and identity (Ireland and the Irish) that serve to obfuscate the challenges of multiculturalism in contemporary North America. European identification is; thus; refashioned to appease anxieties about authenticity and memory; and to articulate concerns about migration and integration.
Anderson; Benedict (1983) Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism; London: Verso.
Baudrillard; Jean ([1981]; 2006) Simulacra And Simulation; translated by Sheila Faria Glaser; Michigan: Anne Arbour: University of Mitchigan Press.
Baylis; Gail (2007) ‘Imagined Narratives: Photography and the Construction of Diasporic Cultural Memory’; in Ni Eigeartaigh; Aoileann; Kevin Howard and David Getty (eds) Rethinking Diasporas: Hidden Narratives and Imagined Borders; Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press; pp. 20-30.
Bourdieu; Pierre (1984) Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste; translated by Richard Nice; London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Brah; Atvar (1992) ’Difference; Diversity and Differentiation’; in Donald; James and Ali Rattansi (eds) ’Race’; Culture and Difference; London: Sage; pp.126-145.
Brah; Atvar (2007) ’From Cartographies Of Diaspora: Contested Identities’; in Rossington; Michael and Anne Whitehead (eds) Theories Of Memory: A Reader; Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press; pp.286-289.
Clifford; James (1994) ’Diasporas’; Cultural Anthropology: Journal of the Society for Cultural Anthropology; Vol. 9; No.3; pp.302-338.
Cohen; Robin (1997) Global Diasporas: An Introduction; Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Curtis Jr; Lee Perry (second edition 1997); Apes and Angels: The Irishman in Victorian Caricature; Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Dyer; Richard (second edition 2002) ’White’; in Dyer; Richard The Matter of Images: Essays on Representation; London and New York: Routledge; pp.126-148.
Eagan; Catherine M. (2006) “Still Black’ and ’Proud”: Irish America and the Racial politics of Hibernophilia’; in Negra; Diane (ed.); The Irish in Us: Irishness; Performativity; and Popular Culture; Durham and London: Duke University Press; pp.20-63.
Flew; Terry (2002) New Media: An Introduction; London and New York: Oxford.
Foster; Roy F. (2002) The Irish story: Telling tales and making it up in Ireland; London and New York: Penguin Books.
Jameson; Fredric (1991) Postmodernism; or; The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism; London: Verso.
Hirsch; Marianne and Valerie Smith (2002) ’Feminism and Cultural Memory: An Introduction’; Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society; Vol. 28; No. 1; pp.1-19.
Hirsch; Marianne (2002) ’The Day Time Stopped’; The Chronicle Of Higher Education; ’Review Section’; January 25; rpt. http://chronicle.com; pp.1-5.
Huyssen; Andreas (1995) Twilight Memories: Marking Time in a Culture of Amnesia; London and New York: Routledge.
Ignatiev; Noel (1995) How the Irish Became White; London: Routledge.
Kennedy; Liam (2003) ’Remembering September 11: photography as cultural diplomacy’; International Affairs; Vol. 79; No. 2; pp.315-326.
Kuhn; Annette (1995; new edition 2002) Family Secrets: Acts of Memory and Imagination; London and New York: Verso.
Kuhn; Annette (2000) ’A Journey Through Memory’; in Radstone; Susannah (ed.) Memory and Methodology; Oxford and New York: Berg; pp.179-196.
Lloyd; David (2003) ’The Spirit of the Nation’; in Connolly; Claire (ed.); Theorizing Ireland; Houndmills; Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan; pp.160-172.
McNamara; Julia and Jim Smith (2004) The Irish Face In America; New York: Bulfinch Press.
Mizoeff; Nicholas (1998) ‘What is Visual Culture?’; in Mirzoeff; Nicholas (ed.); The Visual Culture Reader; London and New York: Routledge; 1998; pp.3-13.
Negra; Diane (ed.) (2006) The Irish In Us: Irishness; Performativity; and Popular Culture; Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Nora; Pierre ([1984] 1989) ‘Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Memoire’; Representations; 26; Spring 1989; pp. 7-25.
Nora; Pierre (2002) ’The Reasons for the Current Upsurge in Memory’; Transit: Europaische (Tr@nsit-Virtuelles Forum; No. 22; http://www.iwm.at/t-22txt3.html); pp. 1-8.
Rains; Stephanie (2003) ’Home from Home: Diasporic Images of Ireland in Film and Tourism’; in Cronin; Michael and Barbara O’Connor (eds); Irish Tourism: Image; Culture and Identity; Clevedon; Buffalo; Toronto; Sydney: Channel View Publications; pp. 196-214.
Rains; Stephanie (2006) ’Irish Roots: Genealogy and the Performance of Irishness’; in Negra; Diane (ed.) The Irish In Us: Irishness; Performativity; and Popular Culture; Durham and London: Duke University Press; pp.130-160.
Rantanen; Terhi (2005) The Media And Globalisation; London: Sage.
Robins; Kevin (1996) Into the Image: Culture and Politics in the Field of Vision; London and New York: Routledge.
Sekula; Allan (1986) ’The Body and the Archive’; October 39; pp. 3-64.
Sontag; Susan (2004) Regarding the Pain of Others; London: Penguin.
Trifonas; Peter Pericles (2001) Barthes and the Empire of Signs; Cambridge: Icon Books.
Urry; John (1996) ’How societies remember the past’ in Macdonald; Sharon and Gordon Fyfe (eds) Theorizing Museums: Representing Identity and Diversity in a Changing World; Oxford: Blackwell; pp.45-68.
Van Dijick; Jose (2004) ’Mediated Memories: Personal Cultural Memory as Object of Cultural Analysis’; Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies; Vol. 18; No. 2; June; pp.261-277.
Williamson; Judith (1984) ’Family; education and photography’; Ten 8; No. 14; pp.19-22.
