How are the Irish European? An anthropological examination of belonging among the Irish in Belgium

Summary: This work examines the experiences and mobility of the Irish community, an ambiguous catch-all term, in Belgium. The Irish people are thought to be well acquainted with emigration, particularly during the Great Irish Famine (1845-1851), but less is known about where these emigré’s land and of the kinds of lives they lead after their departure from Ireland. This work seeks to redress this imbalance by focussing on the dual manners through which Europe is thought to have been influenced by the emigrénbsp;as well as the manner through which the specific circumstances of their host countries caused their composition to change over time. The often cited success story of the Irish in America, as well as of their 40 million strong diaspora, seems to be the only one written about and observing the manner in which the Irish in Belgium encounter foreign languages, including their own, foreign landscapes and peoples is the presentrsquo;s point of departure. nbsp;nbsp; There are two groups whose experiences are specifically focussed upon; the Irish in Brussels are examined first in order to understand the way that they experience Europe (which is closely aligned with the project of European Union integration). This is aided and abetted by the common association of Brussels with the European institutions housed there. The second group concerns the historically embedded Irish college, founded 1608, and concerns the historical component of Irish identity and how it has oriented itself over time in its new-found landscape. The two are complementary, the latter as a historical touchstone for understandingnbsp;Irish abroad over time and the former for giving insight into the process of Irish Europeanisation since their accession in 1973.nbsp; nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; One unexpected group who featured prominently during the research was the hibernophiles, who identify very strongly with Ireland and many of whom can even speak the language, who live and work in Belgium. Their experiences are invaluable to understanding the ethnic composition of the Irish in Belgium. The final section dealsnbsp;the manner in which we might treat the very concept of Europe in future works- such that any anthropologists might adopt it in order to examine the ways through which different ethnic enclaves encounter and interpret Europeanisation.Table of Contents. vi Preface: xiv 1. Introduction. 1 1.1. The Irish community: An anthropological perspective. 3 1.2. Irish community at home and abroad. 10 1.3. Irishness, Europeanness and anthropological research. 16 1.4. Approaching Irishness and Europeanness methodologically. 18 1.5. The Irish abroad encountering Belgium. 20 1.6. The non-Irish, Irish-speaking community. 23 1.7. Theorising ‘Europe’. 24 1.8. Concluding remarks: The relevance and timeliness of the work. 25 2. Reviewing the literature: An anthropological overview. 27 2.1. European identity; consensus and dissensus. 31 2.1.1. European exteriority: Representations and supplementarity. 40 2.2. Mobility: The necessity of moving away from a fixist model of identity. 43 2.3. Mobilising Europe: Alterity and activity. 46 2.4. ‘Europe’ and/as metaphor. 52 2.5. Europe and Ireland: Conceptual metaphors and good Europeans. 55 2.6. The Irish Diaspora; Continuity, rupture and scattering. 59 2.7. Concluding remarks. 68 3. Methodology. 71 3.1. Methods employed. 74 3.2. Practice and predisposition: Participant observation. 82 3.3. Ethical choices and error: Guidelines and practice. 85 3.3.1 Ethical quandaries in fieldwork. 87 3.4. Etic-becoming-emic: Inside, outside and change 90 3.5. When is the native at home?: Location and belonging. 93 3.6. Writing: Presence and absence in ethnography: 95 3.6.1. Writing in company: Writing and reception. 97 3.7. The limits of mobility: Flux, stasis and paradox. 100 3.8. Method and their application in modish ideas for anthropology: 102 3.8.1. Anatomy of a dispute: Becoming-Deleuzians: 105 3.9. Belonging and becoming; Methodologising becoming in Europeanisation: 108 3.10. Closing remarks on Anthropological Methodology: 111 4. The Irish in Brussels, neither Boston nor Berlin: European integration and solidarity. 113 4.1. Brussels, “far from this we were reared!”: Nearness and distance. 117 4.2. Ireland moves from the shadows into Europe: Approximating sameness. 126 4.3. Euroscepticism, emigration and language; Ireland and Europe at the beginning of the 21st Century. 132 4.4. Solidarity, crisis and non-Europe. 136 4.5. Why Europeanness needs Irishness: In-field investigations. 140 4.6. Irish life in Brussels: Irishness in formation and flux. 143 4.6.1. St. Patrick’s Day. 147 4.6.2. Arthur’s day. 150 4.6.3. Seachtain na Gaeilge. 151 4.6.4. Culture Night. 153 4.6.5. European movement; Ireland and Brussels. 156 4.7. Concluding remarks. 162 5. Leuven, roots and routes: Placing the Irish Diaspora in Europe. 165 5.1. Locating the Irish College of Leuven in time. 169 5.2. Exile, the past and reconnection: Heritage and lines of belonging. 174 5.3. Roots and routes: An anthropological analysis of mobility. 176 5.4. “The Irish are now so used to exile that it is part of their heritage”: The Irish College in Leuven. 181 5.5. Not open to the public: Putting my ‘self’ to good use. 184 5.6. Yu Ming is ainm dom: The Irish language and belonging. 192 5.7. Taste and belonging: Representing Irish culture and its transmission. 196 5.8. Irishfest(ivities): The global Irish diaspora. 197 5.9. “We don’t want it to be too plastic after all”: Performance and anxiety. 200 5.10. The Irish pub in Belgium: Homes-away-from-homes and ‘homing’. 204 5.11. Concluding remarks. 209 6. Plasticity, simulacra and passing among the Irish Diaspora. 213 6.1. “It’s fake- I mean it sounds the same, but it’s fake.” Irish language use among non-Irish people. 216 6.2. Whereabouts in Donegal are you from? Misattribution and pride. 220 6.3. Philosophy and simulacra. 221 6.4. Anthropology and simulacra. 225 6.5. No Irish, no Blacks and no Dogs: Continuity and discontinuity in migration. 229 6.6. The limits of pretence: “You can’t pretend to speak a language!” 233 6.7. The use of Irish at home and abroad: Do something Irish! 235 6.8. Passing, pride and dejection: Simulation and language acquisition: 238 6.9. The Irish and the ‘properly Irish’: He’s not Irish. Just listen to him! 242 6.10. Concluding remarks. 247 7. Europe is not a place: Recovering memory in a non-lieu de memoire 251 7.1. Europe, or whatever that even is: Ethnographic inroads. 254 7.2. Placing objects and objectifying place: Thought and the Universal. 259 7.3. Place, non-place and interplay: (Mis)attribution and (non)place. 264 7.4. Show me the money: European currency and place. 267 7.5. Non-places and non-non-places. 270 7.6. Coming to dwell in what is gone: Memorialising the non-place. 272 7.7. Going places: When does place become connected to other places? 277 7.8. Concluding remarks. 280 8. The Irish abroad and European belonging; avenues for further research. 283 Appendix 1: Figures and Illustrations. 291 Summary: 341 Resumé: 343 Samenvatting: 345Summary: This work examines the experiences and mobility of the Irish community, an ambiguous catch-all term, in Belgium. The Irish people are thought to be well acquainted with emigration, particularly during the Great Irish Famine (1845-1851), but less is known about where these emigré’s land and of the kinds of lives they lead after their departure from Ireland. This work seeks to redress this imbalance by focussing on the dual manners through which Europe is thought to have been influenced by the emigré’s as well as the manner through which the specific circumstances of their host countries caused their composition to change over time. The often cited success story of the Irish in America, as well as of their 40 million strong diaspora, seems to be the only one written about and observing the manner in which the Irish in Belgium encounter foreign languages, including their own, foreign landscapes and peoples is the present work’s point of departure. There are two groups whose experiences are specifically focussed upon; the Irish in Brussels are examined first in order to understand the way that they experience Europe (which is closely aligned with the project of European Union integration). This is aided and abetted by the common association of Brussels with the European institutions housed there. The second group concerns the historically embedded Irish college, founded 1608, and concerns the historical component of Irish identity and how it has oriented itself over time in its new-found landscape. The two are complementary, the latter as a historical touchstone for understanding the Irish abroad over time and the former for giving insight into the process of Irish Europeanisation since their accession in 1973. One unexpected group who featured prominently during the research was the hibernophiles, who identify very strongly with Ireland and many of whom can even speak the language, who live and work in Belgium. Their experiences are invaluable to understanding the ethnic composition of the Irish in Belgium. The final section deals with the manner in which we might treat the very concept of Europe in future works- such that any anthropologists might adopt it in order to examine the ways through which different ethnic enclaves encounter and interpret Europeanisation.nrpages: 363status: publishe