Short description:

Women, Violence and Twentieth Century Warfare explores the unspoken and hidden impact of war and violent conflict on women, focusing on the case study of Ireland within a broader framework of ethical remembrance.

Long description:

Women, Violence and Twentieth Century Warfare explores the unspoken and hidden impact of war and violent conflict on women, focusing on the case study of Ireland within a broader framework of ethical remembrance.

The violence experienced in the decades after the Irish revolution (1919-23), up to the period encompassing the later “Troubles” in Northern Ireland (1968-98) left enduring social and psychological impacts on society, both in and outside of Ireland. Linda Connolly clearly and systematically synthesises these experiences into a narrative picture which incorporates in-depth research conducted across multiple sources and documents. The book explores the wider relationship between war, gender and violence in twentieth century conflicts, using examples such as forced hair taking, sexual violence, psychological trauma, and migration. Coming up to the end of the twentieth century, the volume sheds light not only on what happened to women during revolution, but also long after, as well as addressing questions around why women experienced violence in the way they did.

Bringing together ideas from feminist theories of war, women’s history, and trauma-informed research, this book will be of interest to students and a scholars of Gender Studies and Irish Studies internationally.

 "As we commemorate the foundational period in our State's history, it is so important that we seek to do so with an ethical recall. We must, for example, include, as a priority, an examination of under-researched or avoided areas. Linda Connolly's book is an important reminder of what we must confront, acknowledge, and come to terms with. This includes difficult aspects of what were the informing elements of context of the independence struggle. It includes a consideration of the forms and sources of violence that emerged, were given expression, including the gradations of violence that were inflicted on women." 

 Dr. Michael D. Higgins, Former President of Ireland

“Linda Connolly is that rare breed of writer - she marries intellectual rigour with moral clarity to produce truly compelling work. A writer of great courage who evokes those written out of the grand narratives.”

Fergal Keane, former BBC News Foreign Correspondent and Author

“Linda Connolly has done so, so much keeping forgotten women somehow alive and so relevant in our lives. The voice of survivors must be placed at the centre of sexual violence research. It is also important that history is cemented in truth and it is fitting that this book is giving a voice to women who have been forgotten.”

Lavinia Kerwick, Advocate and Survivor

"This important and profound book systematically documents widespread and often unknown sexual violence in Ireland during a series of military conflicts in 1919-1923. By locating Irish gendered violence within multi-disciplinay and global scholarship, Connolly thoroughly demolishes any sense of 'Irish exceptionalism' that allowed earlier historians to argue that Ireland had somehow escaped this most troubling aspect of warfare."

Dr. John Borgonovo, Professor of History, University College Cork

Table of Contents:

1.  Gender, War and Violence in Ireland’s Revolution: Context, Concepts, Denial and Reopening the Past,  2.  Violence and Trauma in the Archive: A Review of Ethical-Methodological Questions,  3.  Hair: “Scissor Outrages”,  4.  Imperial Violence and the War of Independence: “Taken out and ill-treated”,  5.  Loyalist Women: “Unspeakable Indignity and Humiliation”,  6.  The Irish Civil War: “Brother Against Sister”,  7.  Women in Ulster and on the Border 1919-98: “Revolting Treatment”,  8.  After the Revolution: Trauma, Mental Health and Hidden Injuries,  9.  Conclusion: A Tapestry of Violence