ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on two types of maternal activism: mothers engaging with indirect forms of resistance and nonconformity and mothers building support networks. Maternal activism in its various forms was most visibly present in Republican/Nationalist communities and played a critical role in building and shaping community support for mainstream Republicanism. These two types of maternal activism brought the counterpublic into the private sphere where women were able to engage with informal politics and make sense of their own experiences. This chapter argues that maternal activism provided women with a way to engage with community politics and build their own understanding of Republicanism and of their relationship to the state. Women were involved in the peaceful protests that occurred during the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Movement (NICRM), but their tactics changed with the outbreak of conflict. This receives limited attention in the extant literature as the focus falls primarily on men and the resurgence of paramilitary violence, but this shift in women's action is similarly indicative of the emerging counterpublic. The growth of maternal activism during the Troubles allowed women to be more actively involved in the construction of Irish nationalism and laid the groundwork for an emerging Republican feminism.
