MPHIL IN ETHNIC AND RACIAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY - TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
RACISM AND IMMIGRATION IN IRELAND: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
Marshall Tracy
Preface by John A. Jackson, Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology, University of Dublin, Trinity College
Dublin, 2000
PREFACE
This is a most timely analysis of the complexities of Irish policy in relation to immigration. The long history of emigration out of Ireland has tended to take attention away from the steady and constant pattern of settlement by foreigners on Irish soil – a pattern as old as Ireland itself. Nationalism and the development of the independent state with its emphasis on Ireland for the Irish created a myth of a pure Irish people unsullied by foreign blow-ins, dropins and conquerors. Consequently the country has been ill prepared for the growth in numbers of refugees and asylum seekers who have come to Ireland in recent years. The state has also been deficient in its preparation of appropriate legislation and regulations to deal adequately with the complex of issues involved with immigration. Part of the problem has been lack of information and Marshall Tracy shows the weakness of the statistical data available and the failure to use it to put the present ‘refugee’ crisis in proportion. In answer to his own rhetorical question, he finds Irish immigration policy to be discriminatory and having strong strands of racism. Its roots lie in legislation produced in Britain at the end of the last century in face of the influx of European Jews, and it has not been much modified since then. Although his survey of legislation is very adequate, the strength of this text for me lies in the very elegant WHISC model of the quintessential Irish stereotype. Sean Citizen turns out to be WHITE, HETEROSEXUAL, IRISH-BORN, SETTLED and CATHOLIC. These characteristics amount to the core values of the sense of belonging rightly to Ireland and Irishness. His WHISC is modelled on the extremely useful defining stereotype for the USA of the WASP (WHITE, ANGLO-SAXON, PROTESTANT) which helped to distinguish the dominant ethnic group from divergent immigrant and, indeed, native groups. Such prototypical designations, even though they represent extreme characteristics, serve as valuable tools for analysis. They also raise important questions regarding the components of the dominant hegemonic culture to which the immigrant is exposed as the ‘other’ failing in significant ways to conform to the prescribed type. This is a very important analysis triggered in part by Marshall’s own experience as an immigrant to the land of his roots which elegantly and calmly sets out both the contradictions and the confusions in recent developments of policy. The xenophobia and potential for racism that he exposes should cause concern and may illustrate another component in the hollow shell of complacency that has sheltered modern Irish society from some of its harsher realities. John A. Jackson Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology University of Dublin, Trinity College
MPHIL IN ETHNIC AND RACIAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY, TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
PUBLICATION LIST
The Expanding Nation: Towards a Multi-ethnic Ireland. Proceedings of a conference held at Trinity College Dublin, September 1998, in association with the Refugee Agency. Editor: Ronit Lentin. Dublin 1999. Contributors: John Rex, Paul Gillespie, Robbie McVeigh, Shalini Sinha, Angela Leahy, Katrina Goldstone, Tariq Modood, Éilis Ward, Jason King, Vera Sheridan, Breda Gray, Patrick McCaughey
Price: £5.00
Emerging Irish Identities. Proceedings of a seminar held at Trinity College Dublin, November 1999, in association with The National Federation of Campaigns against Racism. Editor: Ronit Lentin. Dublin 2000. Contributors: Fintan O’Toole, Philip Watt, Robbie McVeigh, Andrew R. Finlay, Máirtín Mac an Ghaill, Eithne Luibhéid, Ronit Lentin, Fardus Sultan-Prnjavorac, Martin Collins, Rabia al Najjair, Paul Cullen, Thomas McCann, Kensika Monshengwo, Deepa Mann-Kler, Katrina Goldstone Price: £7.00
Racism and Immigration in Ireland: A Comparative Analysis. By: Marshall Tracy. Preface: Prof. John A. Jackson. Dublin 2000.
Price: £5.00
Ethnic and Racial Studies
Department of Sociology, Trinity College, Dublin 2. Tel. 353 1 6082766. Email. rlentin@tcd.ie