Life History and the Irish Migrant Experience in Post-War England

Barry Hazley is Derby Fellow in the Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool and AHRC Research Fellow in History at the University of Manchester

• Introduction: Myth, memory and emotional adaption: the Irish in post-war England and the ‘composure’ of migrant subjectivities1 Narratives of exit: the public meanings of emigration and the shaping of emigrant selves in post-war Ireland, 1945-692 In-between places: liminality and the dis/composure of migrant femininities in the post-war English city3 Lives in re/construction: myth, memory and masculinity in Irish men’s narratives of work in the British construction industry4 Falling away from the Church? Negotiating religious selfhoods in post-1945 England5 Nothing but the same old story? Otherness, belonging and the processes of migrant memoryConclusion: Myth, memory and minority historyAppendix: InterviewsSelect bibliographyIndex

'This work is a refreshing analysis of the Irish in England that keeps the Irish people themselves in the foreground. [...] an original piece of work that sheds new light on the emotional and psychological aspects of Irish migrant life in England during this period. Hazley deserves credit for keeping the individual at the centre of an analysis where broad themes such as emigration, assimilation, and gender are explored, while also managing to emphasize wider patterns experienced by the Irish migrant community as a whole.'Twentieth Century British History