Constructing, Embracing and Removing Black Ireland

Fall 2009 Speaker Series

INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL STUDIES CERTIFICATE PROGRAM

“Constructing, Embracing and Removing Black Ireland: A Case of the African Diaspora in Europe and the Modern Problem of Race”

Dr. Elisa Joy White
Dept. Ethnic Studies, UHM

The relatively recent presence of African Diaspora communities in the Republic of Ireland, a nation that is often perceived as being homogeneously White, has forced a de-linking of race and nation. As a result, through popular discourse, media and public policy, Ireland is currently considering whether a new Irish identity is desirable, inevitable or, perhaps, preventable. This presentation will focus on high profile deportation cases involving Nigerian migrants and the related effort to forestall a changing national identity. The deportation cases are an articulation of the underlying tensions in an Irish society that works to maintain a global humanitarian reputation amidst racism, xenophobia and human rights violations. I will particularly address ways in which popular discourse and media representations lend a celebrity status to potential deportees. Their stories reflect the ways in which Ireland both embraces and rejects the changing “face” of Irishness and – as witnessed throughout Europe – grapples with the salience and futility of ethno-racial national identities.

Date: Wednesday, December 2nd
Time: 12 pm – 1:20pm
Place: Burns Hall Room 2118

Sponsored by:
The UHM/EWC International Cultural Studies Program
Telephone: 808-944-7593
Fax: 808-944-7070
Office: Burns Hall #2069
Email:culture@hawaii.edu
Website: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~culture

Event Sponsor
International Cultural Studies Graduate Certificate Program, Manoa Campus

More Information
Program Manager: Patricia Hart, 808-944-7593, culture@hawaii.edu, http://www2.hawaii.edu/~culture/

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