Discourses of gender and nationalism in early twentieth-century Germany and Ireland: an analysis of four nationalist women's texts

Abstract

ABSTRACT Horan presents a linguistic analysis of four texts by leading women nationalists in Germany and Ireland in the early twentieth century, and argues that women instrumentalize gender to construct their own nationalist narratives and establish their legitimacy within dominant discourses. Drawing on critical discourse analysis, particularly the discourse historical approach devised by Ruth Wodak and her colleagues, she identifies discursive strategies common to all four texts, including constructive strategies, strategies of justification, and dismantling or destructive strategies. In particular, the analysis focuses on the way in which German and Irish women nationalists both drew on and challenged dominant gendered stereotypes and symbols, creating positive ‘in-groups’ and stigmatized ‘out-groups’ around which concepts of nationhood and national identity cohered.