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Parthas Caillte: The Politics of Resistance and the Role of the Gendered Incarcerated Body

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Ex-Combatants, Gender and Peace in Northern Ireland

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Compromise after Conflict ((PSCAC))

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Abstract

This chapter and Chap. 9 draw on events that became a focus of political protest both within and beyond the walls of Armagh Prison: the no-wash protest, the hunger strike and the use of strip-searching. These two chapters examine the pivotal position of resistance and the significance of gendered identity as the violence of incarceration intensified (Coady 1986), foregrounding the testimonies of the women which, to date, have been conspicuously absent in many of the accounts and popular iconography of prison resistance.

Parthas Caillte is Irish for Paradise Lost.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The term ‘Blocks’ was the colloquial term referring to the H Blocks. See Chp 3, f.n 30 and 31.

  2. 2.

    Northern Ireland Office.

  3. 3.

    Mairéad Farrell was the IRA OC in Armagh Prison from December 1979–1986.

  4. 4.

    Colloquial term for members of the Provisional IRA.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

    Azrini Wahidin

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  1. Azrini Wahidin
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Wahidin, A. (2016). Parthas Caillte: The Politics of Resistance and the Role of the Gendered Incarcerated Body. In: Ex-Combatants, Gender and Peace in Northern Ireland. Palgrave Studies in Compromise after Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-36330-5_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-36330-5_8

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-36329-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-36330-5

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