This study examines the experiences of post-1980 Irish immigrants in Australia using Greater Melbourne as a case study. It has three main but interrelated objectives. Firstly, it establishes the origins, characteristics, dynamics and outcomes of contemporary Irish migration to Australia. Secondly, it explores informants??? multiple experiences of Irishness in both Ireland and Australia. Thirdly, it examines how migrancy and identity issues were related to informants??? sense of belonging and home. Identity is approached in this study from a constructivist perspective. Accordingly, identity is conceptualised as dynamic, subject to situational stimuli and existing in juxtaposition to a constructed ???other???. Prior to migration, a North/South, Protestant/Catholic ???other??? provided the bases for identity constructions in Ireland. The experiences of immigrants from both Northern and Southern Ireland are examined so that the multiple pre- and post-migration experiences of Irishness can be captured. Face-to-face interviews with 203 immigrants provide the study???s primary data. Migration motivation was found to be multifactorial and contained a strong element of adventure. Informal chain migration, based on relationship linkages in Australia, was important in directing flows and meeting immigrants??? post-arrival accommodation needs. Only 28 percent of the sample initially saw their move as permanent and onethird were category jumpers. A consolidation of Irish identity occurred post-migration. This was most pronounced among Northern Protestants and was largely predicated on informants??? perceptions of how Britishness and Irishness were constructed in Australia. For Northern respondents, the freedom to express Irishness may have masked an enforced Irishness that evolved in response to perceived negative constructions of Britishness, and their experiences of homogenisation with Southern immigrants. Hierarchies within white privilege in Australia, based on origin and accent, were indicated by the study findings. Movement and identity were related through the transnational practices of informants. Separation from familial and friendship networks prompted high levels of return visitation and telephone contact with their homeland, establishing the group as a highly transnational in relational terms. Examining the experiences of this invisible immigrant group through a constructionist lens contributed to the broader understanding of whiteness, transnationalism and the Irish diaspora generally.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/229851 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | O???Connor, Patricia Mary, School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences, UNSW |
| Publisher | Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Patricia Mary O???Connor, http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright |
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