ABSTRACT
The openly acknowledged, if not widely studied, place of Irish women as strong mothers and independent, upwardly mobile daughters in the United States of America contrasts strikingly with that of their sisters, aunts and cousins who settled in Britain. Members of the same family, with similar childhood experiences, levels of education and cultural backgrounds, entered societies where they were represented and positioned very differently. In the following chapters I examine Irish women’s place in Britain from a range of discursive and material perspectives which are brought more sharply into focus by juxtaposition with the United States experience.
