ABSTRACT
Although identities of displacement and placement have been separated for analytical purposes, it is central to the concept of diaspora that these are simultaneous, ‘both/and’, forms of identification for individuals. In this chapter I explore the ways in which these doubled identities are experienced in the everyday lives of ten Irish-born women interviewed in Bolton in 1994. Detailed examination of their experiences throws light on the commonalities of shared places of origin and destination, but also the rich range of variations according to age, generation, class, religion and motherhood. While clear themes can be identified in the collective experiences of diasporic groups, these cannot simply be ‘read off’ as applying to individuals. As Brah (1996: 124) points out:
Each ‘I’ is a unique constellation of shared collective meanings. Thus the relationship between personal biography and collective history is complex and contradictory. While personal identities always articulate with the collective experience of a group, the specificity of a person’s life experience etched in the daily minutiae of lived social relations produces trajectories that do not simply mirror group experience.
