Travelling through the Troubles: An Oral History of Irish Migration during the Northern Ireland Conflict

This essay relates the theories presented in Pamela Ballinger’s text ‘Borders and the Rhythms of Displacement, Emplacement and Mobility’ to the context of Irish migration using an interview conducted with Joe Brazilan Irish citizen who migrated from the Republic of Ireland to England in 1981, the height of the Northern Ireland Conflict (or ‘the Troubles’). This context confirms aspects of Ballinger’s writing such as her emphasis on the use of rhythmanalysis and the benefits of using such an analytical method, but also presents interesting challenges to her ideas surrounding the impact of ‘stayees’ due to the fact that, as Joe states, ‘the whole Irish experience has been about migration.’ The essay concludes with a reiteration of Ballinger’s emphasis on ‘the potential for rhythmanalysis to raise new questions in the study of displacement.’