Ann Flood, Mairéad Farrell, and the Representation of Armed Femininity in Irish Republican Ballads

Abstract

This article critically considers the representation of armed femininity within the attendant song tradition of Irish physical-force Republicanism, with specific focus on the personal and cultural consequences for two prominent female Republican activists, both of whom successfully traverse the gender demarcation lines of war. While noting the didactic, often misogynistic, trajectory of works narrating “transgressive” females within the broader ballad tradition, this article seeks to determine whether or not the interwoven essentialist tropes of death, martyrdom, and resurrection—all deeply embedded ideological constructs within the framework of Irish Republicanism—successfully supersede calcified patriarchal mores and, in so doing, facilitate an alternative narrative landscape for the cultural documentation of militant Irish Republican women via the popular ballad. Tugann an t-alt seo faoi anailís chriticiúil ar léiriú na bandachta armtha i dtraidisiún amhránaíocht Phoblachtach na hÉireann. Dírítear sa saothar seo ar dhá shampla ar leith de bheirt bhan Phoblachtacha agus ar na himpleachtaí cultúrtha agus sóisialta a éiríonn dóibh mar mhná a sháraíonn deighilt inscne na cogaíochta. Tugtar faoi deara san alt seo an t-ábhar teagascach, frithbhanda a shonraítear go rialta i leith mná sáraitheacha i gcorpas na hamhránaíochta traidisiúnta. Chuige seo, is í sprioc an tsaothair reatha ná deimhniú an sáraítear na gnásanna sioctha patrarcacha seo ag bunphrionsabail eisintiúlacha idé-eolaíochta an Phoblachtachais mhíleata agus más amhlaidh, an soláthraítear deiseanna reacaireachta éagsúla dá bharr, chun gníomhaíochtaí mná Poblachtacha míleata a thaifeadadh trí mheán an bhailéid traidisiúnta.