Glasgow’s Two Famine Memorials and the Rising Prevalence of the Issue of Anti-Irish Racism in Scotland
Until very recently, Glasgow remained the only city in the world with a significant Irish diaspora but without a Great Famine memorial; and yet today, it is home to not one, but two such memorials: an Irish and Scottish Highland memorial inaugurated in June 2018 and funded by the City Council, and a...
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| Pubblicato in: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/etudesecossaises, |
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| Natura: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Lingua: | Anglais |
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Études écossaises
2026
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| Accesso online: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:etudesecossaises_7185 |
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| record_format |
openedition |
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OpenEdition Journal |
| language |
Anglais |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
Hautes Terres mémorial Glasgow Irlande Grande Famine sectarisme racisme anti-irlandais Glasgow Ireland memorials Great Famine sectarianism anti-Irish racism Scottish Highlands |
| spellingShingle |
Hautes Terres mémorial Glasgow Irlande Grande Famine sectarisme racisme anti-irlandais Glasgow Ireland memorials Great Famine sectarianism anti-Irish racism Scottish Highlands Duclos, Nathalie Glasgow’s Two Famine Memorials and the Rising Prevalence of the Issue of Anti-Irish Racism in Scotland |
| description |
Until very recently, Glasgow remained the only city in the world with a significant Irish diaspora but without a Great Famine memorial; and yet today, it is home to not one, but two such memorials: an Irish and Scottish Highland memorial inaugurated in June 2018 and funded by the City Council, and a privately-funded Irish—only memorial unveiled in July 2021. This paper examines some of the issues raised by these memorials within the wider context of an ongoing national discussion over the nature and persistence of what has been commonly termed “sectarianism” in Scotland. It seeks to shed light on the extent to which disputes over their erection, which have given birth to conflicting messages concerning the place accorded to Irish descendants in modern‑day Glasgow, have mirrored the ways in which discussion of sectarianism has evolved since it became a topic of wide-ranging public debate at the onset of devolution in 1999. The paper argues that, since the 2010s in particular, debates on the nature of sectarianism have moved away from a focus on intra-Christian religious discrimination and bigotry, as well as on the link between sectarianism and football, to also include (and increasingly so) an ethnic or racial dimension. More specifically, it discusses the extent to which various groups, including elected representatives, saw the erection of the two famine memorials as an opportunity to make the point that the term “sectarianism” is a misnomer for anti-Irish racism, and that anti-Irish racism is still a problem in modern‑day Scotland and especially Glasgow. |
| author |
Duclos, Nathalie |
| author_facet |
Duclos, Nathalie |
| author_sort |
Duclos, Nathalie |
| title |
Glasgow’s Two Famine Memorials and the Rising Prevalence of the Issue of Anti-Irish Racism in Scotland |
| title_short |
Glasgow’s Two Famine Memorials and the Rising Prevalence of the Issue of Anti-Irish Racism in Scotland |
| title_full |
Glasgow’s Two Famine Memorials and the Rising Prevalence of the Issue of Anti-Irish Racism in Scotland |
| title_fullStr |
Glasgow’s Two Famine Memorials and the Rising Prevalence of the Issue of Anti-Irish Racism in Scotland |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Glasgow’s Two Famine Memorials and the Rising Prevalence of the Issue of Anti-Irish Racism in Scotland |
| title_sort |
glasgow’s two famine memorials and the rising prevalence of the issue of anti-irish racism in scotland |
| publisher |
Études écossaises |
| publishDate |
2026 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/etudesecossaises |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/161ml https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/etudesecossaises/7185 |
| _version_ |
1877291734051848192 |
| spelling |
openedition-oai:revues.org:etudesecossaises_7185 https://doi.org/10.4000/161ml urn:doi:10.4000/161ml en https://journals.openedition.org/etudesecossaises/7185 2026-04-09T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/161ml https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Glasgow’s Two Famine Memorials and the Rising Prevalence of the Issue of Anti-Irish Racism in Scotland Études écossaises UGA Éditions - Université Grenoble Alpes info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/1969-6337 info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/1240-1439 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/etudesecossaises Duclos, Nathalie Hautes Terres mémorial Glasgow Irlande Grande Famine sectarisme racisme anti-irlandais Glasgow Ireland memorials Great Famine sectarianism anti-Irish racism Scottish Highlands Until very recently, Glasgow remained the only city in the world with a significant Irish diaspora but without a Great Famine memorial; and yet today, it is home to not one, but two such memorials: an Irish and Scottish Highland memorial inaugurated in June 2018 and funded by the City Council, and a privately-funded Irish—only memorial unveiled in July 2021. This paper examines some of the issues raised by these memorials within the wider context of an ongoing national discussion over the nature and persistence of what has been commonly termed “sectarianism” in Scotland. It seeks to shed light on the extent to which disputes over their erection, which have given birth to conflicting messages concerning the place accorded to Irish descendants in modern‑day Glasgow, have mirrored the ways in which discussion of sectarianism has evolved since it became a topic of wide-ranging public debate at the onset of devolution in 1999. The paper argues that, since the 2010s in particular, debates on the nature of sectarianism have moved away from a focus on intra-Christian religious discrimination and bigotry, as well as on the link between sectarianism and football, to also include (and increasingly so) an ethnic or racial dimension. More specifically, it discusses the extent to which various groups, including elected representatives, saw the erection of the two famine memorials as an opportunity to make the point that the term “sectarianism” is a misnomer for anti-Irish racism, and that anti-Irish racism is still a problem in modern‑day Scotland and especially Glasgow. Jusqu’à très récemment, Glasgow demeurait la seule ville au monde à compter une importante diaspora irlandaise sans posséder de mémorial dédié à la Grande Famine. Aujourd’hui, elle abrite non pas un, mais deux mémoriaux : un mémorial irlandais et écossais inauguré en juin 2018 et financé par le conseil municipal, et un mémorial privé dédié uniquement à la famine en Irlande, dévoilé en juillet 2021. Cet article étudie les questions soulevées par ces mémoriaux dans le contexte plus large d’un débat national en cours sur la nature et la persistance de ce que l’on appelle communément le « sectarisme » en Écosse. Il met en lumière comment les controverses autour de leur érection, qui ont donné lieu à des messages contradictoires concernant la place accordée aux descendants irlandais dans le Glasgow moderne, ont reflété l’évolution de la conversation nationale sur le sectarisme depuis que celui‑ci est devenu un sujet de débat public avec la mise en œuvre de la dévolution en 1999. L’article avance que, depuis les années 2010 en particulier, les débats sur la nature du sectarisme se sont de moins en moins focalisés sur les questions liées à la discrimination et à l’intolérance religieuse entre chrétiens, ou sur les liens entre sectarisme et football, et de plus en plus sur des questions d’ordre ethnique ou racial. Plus précisément, il examine dans quelle mesure divers groupes, y compris des élus, ont vu dans l’érection des deux monuments commémoratifs de la Grande Famine une occasion de souligner que le terme « sectarisme » est un terme impropre pour désigner le racisme anti-irlandais, et que celui‑ci reste un problème dans l’Écosse moderne, en particulier à Glasgow. |