How are the Irish European? An anthropological examination of belonging among the Irish in Belgium

摘要

Summary:This work examines the experiences and mobility of the Irish community, an ambiguous catch-all term, in Belgium. The Irish people are thought to be well acquainted with emigration, particularly during the Great Irish Famine (1845-1851), but less is known about where these emigré’s land and of the kinds of lives they lead after their departure from Ireland. This work seeks to redress this imbalance by focussing on the dual manners through which Europe is thought to have been influenced by the emigré’s as well as the manner through which the specific circumstances of their host countries caused their composition to change over time. The often cited success story of the Irish in America, as well as of their 40 million strong diaspora, seems to be the only one written about and observing the manner in which the Irish in Belgium encounter foreign languages, including their own, foreign landscapes and peoples is the present work’s point of departure. There are two groups whose experiences are specifically focussed upon; the Irish in Brussels are examined first in order to understand the way that they experience Europe (which is closely aligned with the project of European Union integration). This is aided and abetted by the common association of Brussels with the European institutions housed there. The second group concerns the historically embedded Irish college, founded 1608, and concerns the historical component of Irish identity and how it has oriented itself over time in its new-found landscape. The two are complementary, the latter as a historical touchstone for understanding the Irish abroad over time and the former for giving insight into the process of Irish Europeanisation since their accession in 1973. One unexpected group who featured prominently during the research was the hibernophiles, who identify very strongly with Ireland and many of whom can even speak the language, who live and work in Belgium. Their experiences are invaluable to understanding the ethnic composition of the Irish in Belgium. The final section deals with the manner in which we might treat the very concept of Europe in future works- such that any anthropologists might adopt it in order to examine the ways through which different ethnic enclaves encounter and interpret Europeanisation.