Health and identity of second generation Irish people living in Britain
We met up with a members of the community in 18 October 2017 to discuss the health and identity of second generation Irish in Britain with key speakers.
Article by Policy Officer, Sean Hutton
The most recent of Irish in Britain’s information and developments events took place on 18 October in Mary Sumner House, Westminster, home of the Mother’s Union. We were curious about the 4 stained glass windows showing the Four Provinces of Ireland in the room where the event took place, until we learned that these were provided by the Irish Mothers’ Union to help repair World War II damage to the building.
Our event focused on 2 main themes, the health and identity of second generation Irish people in England. The event also included launch of a key IiB publication, the 2017 edition of The Irish Community in Britain: A research review and annotated bibliography. (Link to newer edition)
To speak on the health of the Irish in Britain we had Dr Jayati Das–Munshi, Clinician Scientist Fellow, Consultant Psychiatrist, Kings College London, South London & Maudsley Trust. She gave a context for her lecture by quoting from an article in the British Medical Journal in 1996 which stated, “We believe that it would be wrong to direct excessive time and effort to [Irish people]”. She continued by referring to her own research “to access the impact of life–course adversity on health inequalities in 2nd generation Irish cohort members” – referring also to the work of other researchers.
Overall, her lecture challenged the outlook of the BMJ article. Her presentation concluded with a quote from Professor Louise Ryan which serves as a summation of the lecturer’s own research: “What this research shows is not that the Irish have some kind of predisposition to physical and psychological health problems, but that childhood poverty haunts people for the rest of their lives”.
The speaker on second–generation Irish identities in England was Professor Bronwen Walter, Emerita Professor of Irish Diaspora Studies, Anglia Ruskin University. She has worked very widely in areas such as Irish representation in the British Censuses, and also on the Irish 2 Project. Her presentation shows the complexity of lived Irish identities. To give just a few examples: among the 2nd generation Irish, whether one had 2 parents born in the Irish republic, as opposed to 1 parent born there and 1 elsewhere, had a significant impact on the percentages ticking the ‘Irish box’ in the 2001 Census; her slide ‘One Irish–born parent: birthplace of other parent’ indicates a relatively high level of exogamy in the Irish population; another, ‘Irish2 Family Trees: Mixed Identities’, showed the multitude of ways in which in which participants sought to identify themselves.
The closing presentation came from Dr Mary Tilki, who was present to launch a publication with which she has been closely associated: the new and extended 2017 edition of The Irish Community in Britain: A research review and annotated bibliography. (Link to newer edition)
Our event drew an engaged audience which included not only our own members but also a pleasing number of new faces. After a good Q&A/discussion, people lingered on to exchange opinions and to network.
Each of the components of this event had a degree of bearing on our planning of representational activities.