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From Irish media to group membership: uncovering migrant identity construction in modern Ireland

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Date
2025-12
Abstract
The present doctoral thesis investigates the formation and negotiation of migrant identities in Ireland using a multidisciplinary framework that combines social psychology and applied sociolinguistics. By concentrating on three specific critical cases through a constructivist-critical lens, the research delves into the ways in which media representations, social movements, and personal narratives converge to influence the identities of first- and second-generation migrants within modern Irish society. The first critical case utilises corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis to analyse the discursive representations of Ellie Kisyombe during the 2019 local elections in Ireland. It underscores how exclusionary narratives in the media establish boundaries for belonging, placing particular emphasis on racialised and gendered portrayals. The second critical case investigates the influence of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement on the construction of migrant identities in Ireland. Through thematic analysis, it highlights the challenges of reconciling global narratives of racial justice with local experiences, revealing the obstacles to collective mobilisation within the Irish context. The third critical case focuses on bicultural young adults with roots from African, Asian, and Eastern European backgrounds. By applying theories of social representation, acculturation, and proculturation, it reveals how typical constructions of Irishness, and media portrayals shape their identities. The dissertation highlights the intricate relationship among media, social dynamics, and personal experiences in forming migrant identities, presenting essential implications for policy development, educational frameworks, and intercultural dialogue to foster inclusion and fair representation in Ireland's changing multicultural landscape.
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Publisher
University of Limerick
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Doctoral
School of Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics
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Ogoro_2025_Irish.pdf
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Keywords
migrant identities, multidisciplinary framework, social psychology, applied sociolinguistics
ULRR Identifiers
https://hdl.handle.net/10344/32012
 https://doi.org/10.34961/19615
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Funding Information
Sustainable Development Goals
(10) Reduced Inequalities
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Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
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