Table Of ContentLanguageandGlobalization
Series Editors: Sue Wright, University of Portsmouth, UK and Helen
Kelly-Holmes,UniversityofLimerick,Ireland.
Inthecontextofcurrentpoliticalandsocialdevelopments,wherethenational
groupisnotsoclearlydefinedanddelineated,thestatelanguagenotsoclearly
dominant in every domain, and cross-border flows and transfers affect more
than a small elite, new patterns of language use will develop. The series aims
toprovideaframeworkforreportingonandanalysingthelinguisticoutcomesof
globalizationandlocalization.
Titlesinclude:
DavidBlock
MULTILINGUALIDENTITIESINAGLOBALCITY
LondonStories
JennyCarlandPatrickStevenson(editors)
LANGUAGE,DISCOURSEANDIDENTITYINCENTRALEUROPE
TheGermanLanguageinaMultilingualSpace
DiarmaitMacGiollaChrióst
LANGUAGEANDTHECITY
JulianEdge(editor)
(RE)LOCATINGTESOLINANAGEOFEMPIRE
JohnEdwards
CHALLENGESINTHESOCIALLIFEOFLANGUAGE
AleksandraGalasin´skaandMichałKrzyz˙anowski(editors)
DISCOURSEANDTRANSFORMATIONINCENTRALANDEASTERNEUROPE
RoxyHarris
NEWETHNICITIESANDLANGUAGEUSE
JaneJackson
INTERCULTURALJOURNEYS
FromStudytoResidenceAbroad
HelenKelly-HolmesandGerlindeMautner(editors)
LANGUAGEANDTHEMARKET
ClareMar-MolineroandPatrickStevenson(editors)
LANGUAGEIDEOLOGIES,POLICIESANDPRACTICES
LanguageandtheFutureofEurope
ClareMar-MolineroandMirandaStewart(editors)
GLOBALIZATIONANDLANGUAGEINTHESPANISH-SPEAKINGWORLD
MacroandMicroPerspectives
UlrikeHannaMeinhofandDariuszGalasinski
THELANGUAGEOFBELONGING
10.1057/9780230355514 - Narratives of Place, Belonging and Language, Máiréad Nic Craith
RichardC.M.Mole(editor)
DISCURSIVECONSTRUCTIONSOFIDENTITYINEUROPEANPOLITICS
MáiréadNicCraith
NARRATIVESOFPLACE,BELONGINGANDLANGUAGE
AnInterculturalPerspective
LeighOakesandJaneWarren
LANGUAGE,CITIZENSHIPANDIDENTITYINQUEBEC
MarioSaraceni
THERELOCATIONOFENGLISH
ChristinaSladeandMartinaMollering(editors)
FROMMIGRANTTOCITIZEN:TESTINGLANGUAGE,TESTINGCULTURE
ColinWilliams
LINGUISTICMINORITIESINDEMOCRATICCONTEXT
Forthcomingtitles:
RobertBlackwoodandStefaniTufi
THELINGUISTICLANDSCAPEOFTHEMEDITERRANEAN
AStudyofFrenchandItalianCoastalCities
GritLiebscherandJenniferDailey-O’Cain
LANGUAGE,SPACEANDIDENTITYINMIGRATION
LanguageandGlobalization
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10.1057/9780230355514 - Narratives of Place, Belonging and Language, Máiréad Nic Craith
Narratives of Place,
Belonging and Language
An Intercultural Perspective
Máiréad Nic Craith
UniversityofUlster
10.1057/9780230355514 - Narratives of Place, Belonging and Language, Máiréad Nic Craith
©MáiréadNicCraith2012
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10.1057/9780230355514 - Narratives of Place, Belonging and Language, Máiréad Nic Craith
Contents
Acknowledgements vi
Preface ix
1 OutofPlace? 1
2 NarrativeJourneys 26
3 WordandWorld 49
4 TheWebofFamilyRelationships 75
5 SelfandOtherinDialogue 105
6 CulturalPatternsandBelonging 126
7 InterculturalityandCreativity 149
SelectBibliography 175
Index 195
v
10.1057/9780230355514 - Narratives of Place, Belonging and Language, Máiréad Nic Craith
Acknowledgements
This book has been a pleasure to reflect on and research since its
beginnings a number of years ago. The catalyst for much of that joy
hasbeentheexperienceofinteractingwitheminentauthorswhohave
thoughtaboutandtoldstoriesoftheirexperiencesoflanguagechange
in different cultural settings. Despite very busy schedules, all of the
following authors have made time available to talk to me about their
wrestleswithlanguage:MaricaBodrožic´ (Berlin)LiamCarson(Dublin),
Camine Chiellino (Augsburg), Ota Filip (Murnau), Hugo Hamilton
(Dublin), Lorcán Ó Treasaigh (Dublin), Natascha Wodin (Berlin) and
NualaNíDhomhnaill(Dublin).Imaintainedcontactwithanumberof
others via e-mail, including Andrew Riemer (Sydney) and Ilan Stavans
(YaleUniversity).
Several academics were very encouraging and insightful on vari-
ous points during the preparation of this book. They include Mary
Besemeres(AustralianNationalUniversity),JamesColeman(TheOpen
University),IsabelleDeCourtivron(MIT),AliceKaplan(YaleUniversity),
Steven G. Kellman (University of Texas) and Helen O’Sullivan (Trinity
College,Dublin).QueriesaddressedtomanyattheUniversityofUlster
were efficiently addressed. In this regard, I would particularly like to
mentionMaximFomin,JanJedrzejewski,JaneMcKee,AilbhéÓCorráin,
VictoriaRíosCastañoandFrankSewell.Iwouldalsoliketoacknowledge
the support of the librarians at the University of Ulster, who located
manysourcesofmaterialforme.
Thisbookdrawsprimarilyontextswritteninfourlanguages:English,
French, German and Irish. As it is a book about language experience,
Ithoughtitcrucialtoprovide,asfaraspossible,quotationsintheorigi-
nallanguageinwhichtheywerewritten,butthesearealwaysaccompa-
niedbyanapproximatetranslationintoEnglish.Anumberofindividu-
als helped with these indicative translations. They include Christoph
Bock and Patricia Yazigi (University of Göttingen), Sean Ferguson
(Flex Language Services Ltd, University of Ulster), Philip Hendrick and
Christian Ritter (University of Ulster). There are a number of different
waystoapproachtranslationsandithasnotalwaysprovedpossibleto
render all potential meanings into the English language. My attitude
duringthisbookhasbeentoencouragethetranslationofthesentiment
vi
10.1057/9780230355514 - Narratives of Place, Belonging and Language, Máiréad Nic Craith
Acknowledgements vii
rather than the exact words. Responsibility for any errors is mine
entirely.
I would like to acknowledge the support of the University of Ulster
while I pursued this research. I also had support from two other insti-
tutions: I would wish to mention the encouragement of Philip Payton
(Institute of Cornish Studies) at the University of Exeter, where I held
an honorary visiting professorship; and during the project I was also
privileged to be awarded a DAAD Guest Professorship at the Insti-
tute of European Ethnology/Cultural Anthropology at the University
of Göttingen. There I enjoyed the warmth, inspiration and collegial-
ity of many academic colleagues including Regina Bendix, Michaela
Fenske and Ulrich Marzolph. It was also good to make contact with
GabrielRosenthalthere.MysemesterinGöttingenprovedaninvaluable
opportunitytonetworkwithmigrantsinaGermancity.
Financial support is critical to the successful completion of any
research and I am particularly thankful to the Leverhulme Trust in the
UK who generously provided fellowship funding to pay for teaching
supportandtravelexpenses.Thissupportenabledmetotakesometime
outandfocusonthematerialduringaconcentratedperiod.Duringthis
time, Philip McDermott undertook many of my teaching duties at the
UniversityofUlster.Hisprofessionalismensuredthatmystudentswere
inverycapablehands.
Someofthematerialrelevanttothisbookhasbeenpresentedatinter-
national conferences: the 16th Mediterranean Ethnological Summer
SchoolatNovaGorica(2009),theDeutscheGesellschaftfürVolkskunde,
UniversitätTübingen(2009),apublicDAADlectureattheUniversityof
Göttingen(2010)and the EuropeanAssociation for Social Anthropolo-
gists,NationalUniversityofIreland,Maynooth(2010).Theseoccasions
sparked many an interesting discussion on the material, and probing
questionsdrewmyattentiontopotentialpointsforfurtherresearchand
criticalreflection.
PalgraveMacmillanhavebeenentirelysupportiveofthisprojectfrom
the very beginning. Jill Lake, the original commissioning editor, has
consistently encouraged my work. I would also like to acknowledge
the help and support of Melanie Blair, Priyanka Gibbons and Olivia
Middleton,whohelpedbringthebooktofruition.
I would like to thank those members of my family and friends who
have reinforced my interest in cultural and linguistic diversity and
would like to mention four in particular. Seán Ó Coiléain at Uni-
versity College, Cork, supervised and encouraged my early research
on An tÓiléanach (The Islandman), an Irish-language memoir from the
10.1057/9780230355514 - Narratives of Place, Belonging and Language, Máiréad Nic Craith
viii Acknowledgements
Blasket Islands, off the coast of Kerry. My parents, Tom and Máiréad
McGrath,haveconsistentlypromotedmyforaysintoreading,research
and writing. Finally, I would like to thank my husband Ullrich Kockel,
who is a source of great imagination and inspiration. This book is
dedicatedtothefourofthemwithmuchlove.
MáiréadNicCraith
10.1057/9780230355514 - Narratives of Place, Belonging and Language, Máiréad Nic Craith
Preface
IgrewupinabilingualfamilyinthesouthofIrelandinthelatterhalfof
thetwentiethcentury.Thelanguageofmychildhoodhomewasprimar-
ily English but my mother would frequently engage with me in Irish.
At the time I perceived this as primarily an effort to improve my lin-
guisticskillsinalanguagewhichwasimportantforstableemployment
inthestatesector.Withhindsight,Ialsoappreciateitasanexpression
of my mother’s love for the language in which she was educated and
in which she communicates very successfully – probably more effec-
tively than in English. My sister and three brothers frequently and
affectionatelyteasedusaboutspeakinginIrish–abanterwhichserved
toencourageratherthandiscourageour‘private’conversations.
BilingualismwithinhouseholdsisnotunusualinIrelandandhistori-
callyitisveryeasytofindevidenceofthis.Considerthecircumstances
of many Irish families in the mid nineteenth century. Following the
Great Famine of the 1850s, many were desperate to improve their eco-
nomic circumstances. Irish was usually spoken to the eldest son, as he
was expected to remain at home on the family farm which would not
besub-dividedamongthesiblings.Englishwasthelanguagespokento
other members of the family, who were likely to emigrate – usually to
the‘nextparishinAmerica’.Ifonebrowsesthroughthecensusrecords
of1901and1911itisnotunusualtoseebrothersandsisterswithinthe
samefamily,somewith,butotherswithoutIrish(NicCraith,1993).
Bilingualism has been a lifelong experience for me. At Christmas
1992, I met my future German mother-in-law for the first time.
Although she had some proficiency in English, she was far too shy
to speak it, while I at that time spoke little German. Communicating
through gestures and body-language is quite difficult and can be more
thanalittlestressfulforallpartiesinvolved.Moreover,Iquicklyrealised
thatalthoughwewerebothEuropeans,wehadmanydifferentcustoms
which can easily be misinterpreted or misunderstood without a good
mediator.
Thesepersonalexperiencesfurtherfuelledmypassiontounderstand
the cultural context of language. As noted in an earlier book of mine,
I highly respect academic colleagues in the field of linguistics, but
I, myself, am personally not interested in grammar or syntax. Instead,
ix
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