The intersection of nation and gender in the Linguistic Landscape of Ireland’s Eighth Amendment referendum campaign
In May 2018, voters in the Republic of Ireland passed a referendum proposal to repeal the Eighth Amendment of the
Constitution, lifting the Irish state’s near-total ban on abortion. Scholars have argued that Ireland’s abortion ban has
historically played a key role in the construction of Irish national identity along Catholic, traditional, and heteronormative
lines, meaning the lead-up to the vote allowed for key insights into the discursive construction of national identity and gender
in Ireland. Drawing on theoretical discussions in both the nationalism and Linguistic Landscape (LL) literature and adopting a
qualitative, multimodal approach to analyse the referendum campaign’s LL, I argue that there was a dominant understanding of the
relationship between women and Irish national identity, predicated on a positive stance towards Irish identity, while any
dissenting voices which questioned whether advancing gender equality was compatible with nationalist ideology were confined to the
margins of the debate.
Keywords: Ireland, national identity, gender, abortion, referendum campaign, Eighth Amendment, stance, hegemony
Published online: 26 April 2021
https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.20027.str
https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.20027.str
References
References
Aiken, A. R. A., Digol, I., Trussell, J., & Gomperts, R.
(2017) Self reported outcomes and adverse events after medical abortion through online telemedicine: Population based study in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. BMJ (Online), 357, 1–8. 
Anderson, B.
(2006) Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (Revised Ed).
Atkinson, D., & Kelly-Holmes, H.
(2016) Exploring language attitudes and ideologies in university students’ discussion of Irish in a context of increasing language diversity. Language and Intercultural Communication, 16(2), 199–215.
Backhaus, P.
(2007) Linguistic landscapes: a comparative study of urban multilingualism in Tokyo. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Banerjee, S.
(2012) Muscular Nationalism: Gender, Violence, and Empire in India and Ireland, 1914–2004. New York: New York University Press.
Bardon, S.
(2018) Referendum on woman’s place in the home delayed six months. Irish Times. Retrieved from https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/referendum-on-woman-s-place-in-the-home-delayed-six-months-1.3563218
Ben-Rafael, E., Shohamy, E., Hasan Amara, M., & Trumper-Hecht, N.
(2006) Linguistic landscape as symbolic construction of the public space: The case of israel. International Journal of Multilingualism, 3(1), 7–30.
Calkin, S.
(2019) Towards a political geography of abortion. Political Geography, 69(December 2018), 22–29.
Calkin, S., & Browne, K.
(2020) Introduction: research. In After Repeal: Rethinking Abortion Politics (pp. 1–18). London: Zed Books.
Cenoz, J., & Gorter, D.
(2006) Linguistic landscape and minority languages. International Journal of Multilingualism, 3(1), 67–80.
Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes
(2021) Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes. Retrieved from https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/d4b3d-final-report-of-the-commission-of-investigation-into-mother-and-baby-homes/?referrer=http://www.gov.ie/en/campaigns/2f291-final-report-of-the-commission-of-investigation-into-mother-and-baby-homes/
Constitution of Ireland
(1937) Retrieved from https://assets.gov.ie/6523/5d90822b41e94532a63d955ca76fdc72.pdf
De Cillia, R., Reisigl, M., & Wodak, R.
(1999) The discursive construction of national identities. Discourse and Society, 10(2), 149–173.
Electoral Act
Fischer, C.
(2016) Gender, Nation, and the Politics of Shame: Magdalen Laundries and the Institutionalization of Feminine Transgression in Modern Ireland. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 41(4), 821–843.
Fletcher, R.
(2001) Post-Colonial Fragments : Representations of Abortion in Irish Law and Politics. Journal of Law and Society, 28(4), 568–589.
Foucault, M.
(2002) The Archaeology of Knowledge. London: Routledge.
Gal, S., & Woolard, K.
(2001) Constructing Languages and Publics: Authority and Representation. In S. Gal & K. Woolard (Eds.), Languages & Publics: The Making of Authority (pp. 1–12). Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.
Galligan, Y.
(1998) Women and Politics in Contemporary Ireland: From the Margins to the Mainstream. London: Pinter.
Gramsci, A.
(1971) Selections from the Prison Notebooks (Q. Hoare & G. Nowell-Smith, eds.). London: Lawrence and Wishart.
Halpin, H.
(2018) “An attempt to suppress democracy”: Removal of Labour’s referendum posters reported to gardaí. Thejournal.Ie. Retrieved from https://www.thejournal.ie/labour-party-referendum-posters-removed-3973106-Apr2018/
Hickey, S.
(2019) Irish calls to UK abortion lines drop but women still travelling. Irish Times. Retrieved from https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/irish-calls-to-uk-abortion-lines-drop-but-women-still-travelling-1.3799415
Hogan, C.
(2019) Republic of Shame: Stories from Ireland’s Institutions for “Fallen Women.” Dublin: Penguin Ireland.
Holland, K.
(2014) March for choice attracts thousands in Dublin. Irish Times.
Howarth, D.
(2015) Gramsci, Hegemony and Post-Marxism. In M. McNally (Ed.), Antonio Gramsci (pp. 195–213). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
IFPA
n.d.). No Title. Retrieved from https://www.ifpa.ie
Jaffe, A.
(2009) Introduction: The Sociolinguistics of Stance. In A. Jaffe (Ed.), Stance: Sociolinguistic Perspectives (pp. 3–28). New York: Oxford University Press.
Justice for Magdalenes Research
n.d.). About the Magdalene Laundries. Retrieved December 11, 2020, from http://jfmresearch.com/home/preserving-magdalene-history/about-the-magdalene-laundries/
Kallen, J.
(2010) Changing landscapes: language, space and policy in the Dublin linguistic landscape. In A. Jaworski & C. Thurlow (Eds.), Semiotic Landscapes: Language, Image, Space (pp. 41–57). London: Continuum.
Kelly, F.
(2016) 1916 centenary: Remembering the ‘short lives and big dreams.’ Retrieved March 26, 2019, from Irish Times website: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/1916-centenary-remembering-the-short-lives-and-big-dreams-1.2589165?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2F1916-centenary-remembering-the-short-lives-and-big-dreams
Kozlowska, I., Béland, D., & Lecours, A.
(2016) Nationalism, religion, and abortion policy in four Catholic societies. Nations and Nationalism, 22(4), 824–844.
Kress, G., & Van Leeuwen, T.
(2002) Colour as a semiotic mode: notes for a grammar of colour. Visual Communication, 1(3), 343–368.
(2006) Reading images: the grammar of visual design. London: Routledge.
Lentin, R.
(2013) a woman died: abortion and the politics of birth in Ireland. Feminist Review, 105(1), 130–136.
(2015) After Savita: Migrant m/others and the politics of birth in Ireland. In A. Quility, S. Kennedy, & C. Conlon (Eds.), The Abortion Papers Ireland: Volume 2 (pp. 218–222). Cork: Cork University Press.
McAleese, M.
(2013) Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee to establish the facts of State involvement with the Magdalen Laundries. Retrieved from http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/MagdalenRpt2013
McGarry, F.
(2010) The Rising: Ireland: Easter 1916. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
McGreevy, R.
(2020) Citizens’ Assembly backs call for ‘women in the home’ clause to go. Irish Times. Retrieved from https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/citizens-assembly-backs-call-for-women-in-the-home-clause-to-go-1.4175515
Meaney, G.
(1993) Sex and Nation: Women in Irish Culture and Politics. In A. Smyth (Ed.), Irish Women’s Studies Reader (pp. 230–244). Dublin: Attic Press.
MERJ
n.d.). What Does Reproductive Justice Look Like After the Referendum? A Migrant Perspective. Retrieved August 24, 2020, from https://merjireland.org/index.php/2019/02/05/what-does-reproductive-justice-look-like-after-the-referendum-a-migrant-perspective/
Milani, T.
(2014) Sexed signs – Queering the scenery. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 228, 201–225.
Moriarty, M.
(2014a) Contesting language ideologies in the linguistic landscape of an Irish tourist town. International Journal of Bilingualism, 18(5), 464–477.
(2014b) Languages in motion: Multilingualism and mobility in the linguistic landscape. International Journal of Bilingualism, 18(5), 457–463.
Muldowney, M.
(2013) BREAKING THE SILENCE ON ABORTION: the 1983 referendum campaign. History Ireland, 21(2), 42–45.
Nic Ghabhann, N.
(2018) City walls, bathroom stalls and tweeting the Taoiseach: the aesthetics of protest and the campaign for abortion rights in the Republic of Ireland. Continuum, 32(5), 553–568.
Özkırımlı, U.
(2010) Theories of Nationalism: A Critical Introduction (2nd ed.). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Pütz, M., & Mundt, N.
(2019) Multilingualism, Multimodality and Methodology: Linguistic Landscape Research in the Context of Assemblages, Ideologies and (In)visibility: An Introduction. In M. Pütz & N. Mundt (Eds.), Expanding the Linguistic Landscape: Linguistic Diversity, Multimodality and the Use of Space as a Semiotic Resource. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Quinn, D.
(2017) Abortion Looming in Ireland. The Human Life Review, Spring, 5–12.
Reershemius, G.
(2019) Lamppost networks: stickers as a genre in urban semiotic landscapes. Social Semiotics, 29(5), 622–644.
Referendum Commission
(2018) Referendum on the Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018. Retrieved from http://www.referendum.ie/
Reh, M.
(2004) Multilingual writing: A reader-oriented typology – with examples from Lira Municipality (Uganda). International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2004(170), 1–41.
RTÉ
(2017a) Tens of thousands take part in March for Choice rally. Retrieved from https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2017/0930/908737-march-for-choice/
(2017b) Vote on abortion laws among seven planned referendums. Retrieved from RTÉ website: https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0926/907522-cabinet_referendums/
RTÉ & Behaviour & Attitudes Exit Poll
(2018) Thirty-sixth Amendment to the Constitution Exit Poll. Retrieved from https://static.rasset.ie/documents/news/2018/05/rte-exit-poll-final-11pm.pdf
Scally, G.
(2018) Scoping Inquiry into the CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Final Report, September 2018. Retrieved from https://health.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Scoping-Inquiry-into-CervicalCheck-Final_Report.pdf
Scollon, R., & Scollon, S. W.
(2003) Discourses in Place: Language in the Material World. London: Routledge.
Scriven, R.
(2020) Placing the Catholic Church: the moral landscape of repealing the 8th. In K. Browne & S. Calkin (Eds.), After Repeal: Rethinking Abortion Politics (pp. 191–204). London: Zed Books.
Smyth, A.
(2015) Telling the truth about women’s lives. Estudios Irlandeses, 10, 115–118.
Smyth, L.
(2005) Abortion and Nation: The Politics of Reproduction in Contemporary Ireland. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Thistlethwaite, J., & Sebba, M.
(2015) The Passive Exclusion of Irish in the Linguistic Landscape : A Nexus Analysis. In R. Rubdy & S. Ben Said (Eds.), Conflict, Exclusion and Dissent in the Linguistic Landscape (pp. 27–51). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Towey, N.
(2018) Cancer controversy: director of CervicalCheck stands down. Irish Times. Retrieved from https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/cancer-controversy-director-of-cervicalcheck-stands-down-1.3477975
Yuval-Davis, N.
(1997) Gender & Nation. London: SAGE Publications.