Walsh, Tony (2015) Learning from Minority: Exploring Irish Protestant Experience. Journal of the Irish Society for the Academic Study of Religions, 2 (1). pp. 73-93. ISSN 2009-7409

Preview

Download (415kB) | Preview

Abstract

This paper, based on a narrative research inquiry, presents and explores a number of stories relating to the experience and identity of members of the small Irish Protestant minority. Drawing on these stories it uses Foucault‟s conceptualisation of power and discourse to consider community, social withdrawal, and two different but linked expressions of silence as acts of resistance. These were simultaneously utilised to preserve a culture and ethos diametrically opposed to the religious and political hegemony of the Irish Catholic state and to combat the threat of extinction. The article concludes that an exploration of Ireland‟s traditional religious minority not only raises awareness concerning a specific group‟s experience but extends an understanding of the issues with which minorities (in more general terms) may have to cope in order to survive.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Irish Protestant experience; narrative; power; resistance; community; silence;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Adult and Community Education
Item ID:	7835
Depositing User:	Tony Walsh
Date Deposited:	01 Feb 2017 09:22
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of the Irish Society for the Academic Study of Religions
Publisher:	Irish Society of the Academic Study of Religions
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

Repository Staff Only(login required)

Item control page

Downloads

Origin of downloads