Transnational Populations Research Articles

Beyond a Black—White Dualism: Racialisation and Racism in the Republic of Ireland and the Irish Diaspora Experience

Race, ethnicity and racism are currently of major significance to Western societies. Recent social and cultural changes, associated with the crisis in modernity, involving global economic restructuring, mass migrations and increasing cultural exchange have highlighted a wide range of processes of social exclusion and marginalisation. These changes have challenged older conceptual frameworks of racism and anti-racism based on a black-white dualism. This paper focuses upon the question of the racialisation of the Irish within the Republic of Ireland and the argument for a specific rather than generalised American-based analysis of racism. This is an under-developed area of Irish sociology that requires a socio-historical perspective. However, the Irish – both in Ireland and as emigrants – have played a central role in the formation of race and racism in early and late modernity. The monocultural Irish state is often elided with the travelling ‘multi-coloured’, Irish people – one of the world's most transnational populations. There is a particular concern here with the experiences of the Irish diaspora in Britain, which may be of value as a conceptual resource, at a time when there is much confusion around the issue of race and politics in the Republic of Ireland. Sociology has a specific role to play in making public space for explanations that produce more inclusive accounts of Ireland and Irishness, as a territorially based national identity is in the process of being re-configured in the South.

‘Globalisation’, Governance and social work: Some implications for theory and practice

This article focuses cautiously on the implications of ‘globalisation’ for social work theory and practice. In drawing on recent debates it is argued that, despite its contested meaning, ‘globalisation’ points to a range of rapid and fundamental socioeconomic and political transformations that have impacted upon entire regions of the work. Some of these transformations are identified and analysed in terms of their consequences for transnational, national and local populations. It is proposed that the prevailing consequences of globalisation in terms of social inequality and allied modalities of governance are negative, and that this has important implications for the profession of social work. Effective strategies for confronting the challenges posed by ‘turbo capitalism’ may be found in alliances across global social movements and professional groups, including social workers. The challenges are profound.