African immigrant mobilisation in Ireland: organisations as agents of social and policy change

Abstract

Historical and religious connections between Ireland and sub-Saharan Africa somewhat stimulate current African translocations to Ireland. Inspired by the hope of a smooth regularisation of residency and the myth perpetuated in Africa by Irish missionaries, who idealised Ireland as a convivial society, many prospective African immigrants choose the country as their favoured destination. But soon after arrival they find themselves struggling with structures of inequality and discrimination, an experience that forces them to engage various associational practices to negotiate Irish exclusionary institutional structures and create subaltern spaces of belonging through which they redefine citizenship and belonging. This article looks at how these organisations mediate their people's struggles for equality, social change and relationships with wider society, in addition to attempts to build structures for the emergence of a viable African political community in the country.

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