Notes

The diverse chapters in this collection illustrate a multiplicity of ways in which migration in the developed world is highly gendered. Something of the legacy of such patterning is expressed in chapter 18, which employs the integrating style of ‘cultures of migration’ (Boyle, Halfacree and Robinson 1998) to provide a fitting conclusion to the book. In this chapter, Bronwen Walter explores some aspects of the often quite contrasting experiences of Irish women in Britain and the United States. As in Ní Laoire’s contribution, these women are regarded as a vital yet often largely hidden half of an Irish diaspora. Moreover, concentration on just the migration process itself is strongly masculinist and neglects the importance of women in producing the diasporic identity. Hence, Walter shows the central role played by women in maintaining the ties with the homeland (Ireland) which help to define a diaspora, but also their central role in creating new ‘roots’. Yet, from written evidence and other representations, these women and their roles are often absent or gratuitously stereotyped. Invisibility is particularly acute in Britain, with its much stronger legacy of anti-Irish racism. However, as Walter makes clear in this example-but which is of more general significance-the stories the women have to tell-whether through statistics, surveys, literary sources, narratives, and so on-add so much vital cultural richness to any understanding of the biographies of migration within the developed world.