Suffering and Self-Sacrifice in Ireland’s Collective Memory: The Hunger Strikes of Terrence MacSwiney and Bobby Sands
Abstract:
Ireland’s collective memory of suffering and self-sacrifice can be traced back to the island’s foundation mythology and folklore, pre-Christian laws, and Catholic traditions. The 1920 Irish hunger strikes, specifically the mental attitude of the participants and Irish public’s reactions to the strikes, drew from and demonstrated that collective memory of suffering and self-sacrifice. My thesis moves a step beyond tracing the influence of collective memory in the first Irish hunger strikes, however. I suggest that the first generation of hunger strikers, specifically Terence MacSwiney, was fully incorporated into the collective memory and martyr mythology that had influenced them. MacSwiney joined the ranks of Irish mythological heroes and ultimately inspired the second generation of Irish hunger strikers in 1981.