ARCHAEOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO GENDERED INSTITUTIONS: Tracing continuities in pre- and post-independence Ireland

This chapter explores the relationship between institutions and organised religion in Ireland as a colonial and post-colonial continuity. It argues that while Ireland became partially independent in the early 1920s, the role of the Catholic Church in dealing with ‘social issues’, in particular, was established under the British colonial regime in the 19th century and became enhanced on independence. This colonial continuity was to the greatest detriment to the experiences of women and children in post-independence Ireland. Two case studies are employed to implement a material culture-focused approach to studying this phenomenon: female political imprisonment during the Irish Civil War (1922-1923) at Kilmaimham Gaol and women’s experiences of Magdalene laundries up to the late 1990s.