Abstract
This paper examines the role that framing and visual communications played in the mobili... more Abstract This paper examines the role that framing and visual communications played in the mobilising of contentious politics, with particular reference to the Repeal the 8th referendum in Ireland in 2018. We analyse how framing an unpopular argument through both text and visual imagery galvanized the abortion debate on the Yes side (in particular) and created alliances and solidarity through public displays of sentiment towards the issue. Using frame analysis, we examine the visual imagery and messaging employed by both sides of the ‘Repeal the 8th’ debate and conclude that the careful framing of unpopular arguments or positions can open up the space for dialogue and personal stories that were previously shrouded in shame and mystery. This new willingness to discuss the topic of abortion ultimately led to an outpouring of compassion and empathy that had previously not existed due to the religious and misogynistic influence on women’s reproductive health in Ireland up to that point. The ultimate ‘Yes’ vote resulted in one of the biggest social and health reforms for Irish women in the 21st century, one that, five years later however, we still wait to see the full implementation of. Keywords: Repeal the 8th; abortion; frame analysis; social movement; reproductive politics
The 1918 Spanish flu altered the course of my grandfather’s life dramatically. My grandfather’s f... more The 1918 Spanish flu altered the course of my grandfather’s life dramatically. My grandfather’s father and his baby sister died from the flu just before Christmas 1918, leaving his mother, my great-grandmother, alone to bring up a large family on a rural farm in the Southwest of Ireland. Loss wrought by that pandemic would beget many more losses and absences in his life. Even 100 years later, in the midst of a different pandemic, the constellations of loss brought about by the 1918 Spanish flu, still linger, shaping my familial memory. My attempt to retrace and re-inherit some of my grandfather’s past through paper and file is an effort to gather up the splinters, to scaffold the lineaments of half-lit memory and story.
The Irish taxi industry was deregulated in 2000 during an era of neoliberal reform and record eco... more The Irish taxi industry was deregulated in 2000 during an era of neoliberal reform and record economic growth. Driving a taxi became a popular occupation for new immigrants, and the industry came to be associated with racial tensions. Today, the taxi industry is undergoing a process of re-regulation that includes a variety of security and identification measures. This article explores contested trends in governance, contemporary interventions that make use of new technologies and processes of subjectification such as racialization. We draw on several years of ethnographic research on the integration of African migrants in Ireland, which includes an exploration of labour integration, and extend this work here. We retrace the political rationalities behind deregulation and re-regulation and show the specific ways in which security interventions manifest themselves. We also look to the ways in which racialization processes operate within the industry and are nested in the modes of gove...
ACM SIGGRAPH 99 Electronic art and animation catalog on - SIGGRAPH '99, 1999
No cultural project from, by or about Palestine escapes questions of its nationhood and self-dete... more No cultural project from, by or about Palestine escapes questions of its nationhood and self-determination. The formulation of a Palestinian cinema is no exception. Whilst the Golden Globe award for Best Foreign Language Film, and Oscar nomination, for Paradise Now (Hany ...
Objectives: In recent years, Northern Ireland has seen an increase in the numbers of asylum seeke... more Objectives: In recent years, Northern Ireland has seen an increase in the numbers of asylum seekers and refugees. Given its status as a post-conflict region, this is a relatively new phenomenon for the area. Northern Ireland is also the only part of the United Kingdom (UK) without a refugee integration strategy. In 2016, we conducted an extensive study for the racial equality unit of the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister in Stormont on the everyday life experience of asylum seekers and refugees in Northern Ireland with view to understanding how service delivery and notions of integration/inclusion impact. Methods: This was a mixed methods study using quantitative survey methods and in-depth semi-structured interviews with service providers, asylum seekers, refugees and new UK citizens. We examined a range of service provision such as education, labour, legal provision, housing and health. Results: This article examines the issue of mental health with respect to asylum se...
Abstract
This paper examines the role that framing and visual communications played in the mobili... more Abstract This paper examines the role that framing and visual communications played in the mobilising of contentious politics, with particular reference to the Repeal the 8th referendum in Ireland in 2018. We analyse how framing an unpopular argument through both text and visual imagery galvanized the abortion debate on the Yes side (in particular) and created alliances and solidarity through public displays of sentiment towards the issue. Using frame analysis, we examine the visual imagery and messaging employed by both sides of the ‘Repeal the 8th’ debate and conclude that the careful framing of unpopular arguments or positions can open up the space for dialogue and personal stories that were previously shrouded in shame and mystery. This new willingness to discuss the topic of abortion ultimately led to an outpouring of compassion and empathy that had previously not existed due to the religious and misogynistic influence on women’s reproductive health in Ireland up to that point. The ultimate ‘Yes’ vote resulted in one of the biggest social and health reforms for Irish women in the 21st century, one that, five years later however, we still wait to see the full implementation of. Keywords: Repeal the 8th; abortion; frame analysis; social movement; reproductive politics
The 1918 Spanish flu altered the course of my grandfather’s life dramatically. My grandfather’s f... more The 1918 Spanish flu altered the course of my grandfather’s life dramatically. My grandfather’s father and his baby sister died from the flu just before Christmas 1918, leaving his mother, my great-grandmother, alone to bring up a large family on a rural farm in the Southwest of Ireland. Loss wrought by that pandemic would beget many more losses and absences in his life. Even 100 years later, in the midst of a different pandemic, the constellations of loss brought about by the 1918 Spanish flu, still linger, shaping my familial memory. My attempt to retrace and re-inherit some of my grandfather’s past through paper and file is an effort to gather up the splinters, to scaffold the lineaments of half-lit memory and story.
The Irish taxi industry was deregulated in 2000 during an era of neoliberal reform and record eco... more The Irish taxi industry was deregulated in 2000 during an era of neoliberal reform and record economic growth. Driving a taxi became a popular occupation for new immigrants, and the industry came to be associated with racial tensions. Today, the taxi industry is undergoing a process of re-regulation that includes a variety of security and identification measures. This article explores contested trends in governance, contemporary interventions that make use of new technologies and processes of subjectification such as racialization. We draw on several years of ethnographic research on the integration of African migrants in Ireland, which includes an exploration of labour integration, and extend this work here. We retrace the political rationalities behind deregulation and re-regulation and show the specific ways in which security interventions manifest themselves. We also look to the ways in which racialization processes operate within the industry and are nested in the modes of gove...
ACM SIGGRAPH 99 Electronic art and animation catalog on - SIGGRAPH '99, 1999
No cultural project from, by or about Palestine escapes questions of its nationhood and self-dete... more No cultural project from, by or about Palestine escapes questions of its nationhood and self-determination. The formulation of a Palestinian cinema is no exception. Whilst the Golden Globe award for Best Foreign Language Film, and Oscar nomination, for Paradise Now (Hany ...
Objectives: In recent years, Northern Ireland has seen an increase in the numbers of asylum seeke... more Objectives: In recent years, Northern Ireland has seen an increase in the numbers of asylum seekers and refugees. Given its status as a post-conflict region, this is a relatively new phenomenon for the area. Northern Ireland is also the only part of the United Kingdom (UK) without a refugee integration strategy. In 2016, we conducted an extensive study for the racial equality unit of the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister in Stormont on the everyday life experience of asylum seekers and refugees in Northern Ireland with view to understanding how service delivery and notions of integration/inclusion impact. Methods: This was a mixed methods study using quantitative survey methods and in-depth semi-structured interviews with service providers, asylum seekers, refugees and new UK citizens. We examined a range of service provision such as education, labour, legal provision, housing and health. Results: This article examines the issue of mental health with respect to asylum se...
In this article, I discuss whether austerity measures have an impact on individual consumers’ ori... more In this article, I discuss whether austerity measures have an impact on individual consumers’ orientations towards sustainability. Through an ethnographic examination of second-hand markets, in particular flea markets and second-hand baby goods markets, I examine whether economic crisis has changed people’s consumption habits in Irish society. While the study of sustainability has a long, interdisciplinary history, little is known about the relationship between austerity and sustainable consumption patterns, particularly in an Irish context. Thus, this study questions whether reduced spending and consumption patterns may serve the interests of sustainability politics.
What dreams may come is a piece of ethnofiction that tells the story of a young girl and her gran... more What dreams may come is a piece of ethnofiction that tells the story of a young girl and her grandmother, displaced by the climate crisis and conflict. The story centres on the strong, abiding relationship between the girl and her grandmother. Their relationship is the anchor point for their survival in the new unhappy world that they find themselves in. As an anthropologist of displacement, this short story is an attempt to tell the story of climate crisis, displacement and conflict through a fictional lens, a place where fable and reality coincide and collide.
This article considers the impact of COVID-19 on international protection applicants in the Irish... more This article considers the impact of COVID-19 on international protection applicants in the Irish asylum system. It presents a critical reflection on the failings of direct provision and how the experience of COVID-19 has further heightened the issues at stake for asylum seekers and refugees living in Ireland. In Ireland, international protection applicants are detained in a system of institutionalized living called direct provision where they must remain until they receive status. Direct provision centres offer substandard accommodation and are often overcrowded. During the pandemic, many asylum seekers could not effectively socially isolate, so many centres experienced COVID-19 outbreaks. This article examines these experiences and joins a community of scholars calling for the urgent end to the system of direct provision.
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This paper examines the role that framing and visual communications played in the mobilising of contentious politics, with particular reference to the Repeal the 8th referendum in Ireland in 2018. We analyse how framing an unpopular argument through both text and visual imagery galvanized the abortion debate on the Yes side (in particular) and created alliances and solidarity through public displays of sentiment towards the issue. Using frame analysis, we examine the visual imagery and messaging employed by both sides of the ‘Repeal the 8th’ debate and conclude that the careful framing of unpopular arguments or positions can open up the space for dialogue and personal stories that were previously shrouded in shame and mystery. This new willingness to discuss the topic of abortion ultimately led to an outpouring of compassion and empathy that had previously not existed due to the religious and misogynistic influence on women’s reproductive health in Ireland up to that point. The ultimate ‘Yes’ vote resulted in one of the biggest social and health reforms for Irish women in the 21st century, one that, five years later however, we still wait to see the full implementation of.
Keywords: Repeal the 8th; abortion; frame analysis; social movement; reproductive politics
This paper examines the role that framing and visual communications played in the mobilising of contentious politics, with particular reference to the Repeal the 8th referendum in Ireland in 2018. We analyse how framing an unpopular argument through both text and visual imagery galvanized the abortion debate on the Yes side (in particular) and created alliances and solidarity through public displays of sentiment towards the issue. Using frame analysis, we examine the visual imagery and messaging employed by both sides of the ‘Repeal the 8th’ debate and conclude that the careful framing of unpopular arguments or positions can open up the space for dialogue and personal stories that were previously shrouded in shame and mystery. This new willingness to discuss the topic of abortion ultimately led to an outpouring of compassion and empathy that had previously not existed due to the religious and misogynistic influence on women’s reproductive health in Ireland up to that point. The ultimate ‘Yes’ vote resulted in one of the biggest social and health reforms for Irish women in the 21st century, one that, five years later however, we still wait to see the full implementation of.
Keywords: Repeal the 8th; abortion; frame analysis; social movement; reproductive politics