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Papers are Sought for
‘Unmarried Mothers’ in Twentieth-century Ireland: Cultural
Reflections
Department of Languages and Cultural Studies
In collaboration with Women’s Studies at UL
University of Limerick
Ireland
24th-25th June 2004
‘Unmarried Mothers’ in Twentieth-century Ireland: Cultural
Reflections aims to explore the different ways in which the discourse
of femininity has been deployed on Irish women, with a special focus on
the discussion of contemporary cultural attempts at redefining, revising
and questioning this discourse as imposed on single mothers in 20th-century
Ireland.
The discourse used to construct women’s identity in Ireland in the
20th century has been marked by a series of key moments/stages in the
history of the Irish State. With the advent of the Constitution, there
develops a complex postcolonial agenda which, among other things, defines
and imposes a model of femininity highly influenced by the mores taught
and indoctrinated by the Catholic Church. As part of this morality, the
model imposed on Irish women is closely attached to the concept of the
family as the main social unit and to the sanctification of marriage;
hence the term ‘unmarried motherhood.’ Thus single maternity
figured as the epitome of deviance, and women who had conceived their
children out of wedlock were treated as social outcasts, as evidenced
by the Magdalen Asylum system. The effects of this discursive construction
are still visible today and are constantly problematised in cultural artefacts,
both filmic and literary, such as Aisling Walsh’s Sinners, Peter
Mullan’s The Magdalen Sisters, and the work of Patricia Burke Brogan,
Mary Rose Callaghan, Marita Conlon-McKenna, Emma Cooke, Roddy Doyle, Mary
Morrissy, Bernard McLaverty, Edna O’Brien, Maura Richards, and William
Trevor among others.
Papers on the following themes are particularly welcome:
- Single maternity and female deviance in literature and film.
- Representations of the Magdalen Asylums in popular culture.
- Emigration / immigration and ‘unmarried mothers’ in popular culture and the media.
- Single mothers and national discourse in popular culture and the media.
Proposal for twenty minute papers should be submitted in the form of
a 250 word abstract to the conference organiser by 1st March, 2004.
Please send abstracts and queries to:
Dr. Cinta Ramblado-Minero
e-mail: Cinta.Ramblado@ul.ie
Department of Languages and Cultural Studies
University of Limerick
Ireland
http://www.ul.ie/~lcs/