Introduction:
Second-generation Irish migrants in post-WWII England took up a variety of noteworthy hybrid-identities. This particular study of displacement is significant in the context of WWII, which produced twenty-seven million displaced persons and furthermore, is relevant in a present day context because of the continually increasing number of refugees worldwide. This essay compares the way that the two popular music bands made up of second-generation Irish migrants, The Pogues and The Smiths, performed hybrid-identities. The comparison reveals a postmodern uncertainty about the value for and meaning of authenticity when notions of ethnic purity break down. More broadly, these negotiated identities indicate a common tension in intergenerational …show more content…
Britain encouraged Irish migration because of a drastic labor shortage immediately after the war, which resulted in the movement of approximately 60,000 Irish men and women between 1945-62. Britain encouraged the migration of white people from Commonwealth countries over black or Asian people because of lingering racist colonial attitudes. This indicates a hierarchy of racial discrimination based on skin color. British colonial attitudes, however, still affected Irish people who the British viewed as lesser based on perceived ethnic differences. This can be seen, for example, in the 1948 British Act, which stated that Irish people were neither British subjects nor aliens but were Irish citizens with British legal rights. Racism towards Irish people living in England intensified in the context of Irish Republican Army (IRA) Bombings in England during the 70s and …show more content…
Their work indicates new development in the understanding of authenticity as ethnic boundaries are blurred through mass displacement. The Pogues and The Smiths were both musically skilled groups and were commercially successful. They both expressed a second-generation sentiment of ambivalence to forming a hybrid identity as Irish descendants living in England. The Pogues continually referenced the history of the Irish diaspora within a contemporary English context, while The Smiths’ works bared far fewer traces of their cultural history. This essay showed how the two bands responded to being in England from an Irish standpoint. Their respective responses, however, also show how their geography specifically within England effected their musical production. Their works are indicative of north vs. south English musical groups’ claims to authenticity during the 1970s and 1980s. Characteristically, the groups from the North achieved the status of authenticity through their ties to working class culture. Thus, The Smiths achieved authenticity through their geography in the north. Groups from London, like The Pogues, had to connect themselves to an anti-institutional or marginalized group in order to gain this same authentic status. This shows that while the projects of the two groups bare traces of their Irish past, they are also suggestive of their particular geographic
Second-generation Irish migrants in post-WWII England took up a variety of noteworthy hybrid-identities. This particular study of displacement is significant in the context of WWII, which produced twenty-seven million displaced persons and furthermore, is relevant in a present day context because of the continually increasing number of refugees worldwide. This essay compares the way that the two popular music bands made up of second-generation Irish migrants, The Pogues and The Smiths, performed hybrid-identities. The comparison reveals a postmodern uncertainty about the value for and meaning of authenticity when notions of ethnic purity break down. More broadly, these negotiated identities indicate a common tension in intergenerational …show more content…
Britain encouraged Irish migration because of a drastic labor shortage immediately after the war, which resulted in the movement of approximately 60,000 Irish men and women between 1945-62. Britain encouraged the migration of white people from Commonwealth countries over black or Asian people because of lingering racist colonial attitudes. This indicates a hierarchy of racial discrimination based on skin color. British colonial attitudes, however, still affected Irish people who the British viewed as lesser based on perceived ethnic differences. This can be seen, for example, in the 1948 British Act, which stated that Irish people were neither British subjects nor aliens but were Irish citizens with British legal rights. Racism towards Irish people living in England intensified in the context of Irish Republican Army (IRA) Bombings in England during the 70s and …show more content…
Their work indicates new development in the understanding of authenticity as ethnic boundaries are blurred through mass displacement. The Pogues and The Smiths were both musically skilled groups and were commercially successful. They both expressed a second-generation sentiment of ambivalence to forming a hybrid identity as Irish descendants living in England. The Pogues continually referenced the history of the Irish diaspora within a contemporary English context, while The Smiths’ works bared far fewer traces of their cultural history. This essay showed how the two bands responded to being in England from an Irish standpoint. Their respective responses, however, also show how their geography specifically within England effected their musical production. Their works are indicative of north vs. south English musical groups’ claims to authenticity during the 1970s and 1980s. Characteristically, the groups from the North achieved the status of authenticity through their ties to working class culture. Thus, The Smiths achieved authenticity through their geography in the north. Groups from London, like The Pogues, had to connect themselves to an anti-institutional or marginalized group in order to gain this same authentic status. This shows that while the projects of the two groups bare traces of their Irish past, they are also suggestive of their particular geographic