Module 2

Belonging and Becoming

“When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, religion. I shall try to fly by those nets.”

~ James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Many of us may feel aware that there is a richness and depth to being Irish, but also, often, a quality of undertow, a sense of being hindered, of there being a cost.

This module invites each of us to explore freshly how we have experienced the richness and tensions of ‘belonging’ to Ireland and/or Irishness. We will look at this in a way that invites each of us to clarify our specific and unique experiences of belonging and not belonging. We will identify those things that have helped us to feel and claim our Irishness; and look also at what has othered, alienated or oppressed us, creating a sense of distance or even exile.

Approaching our experience of being Irish from this angle enables us to look at how we have negotiated the tension between our need to belong, and our desire to become - to grow and emerge in our uniqueness and full expression. Many of us, as the quote by Joyce suggests, may have experienced being Irish as a threat to our right to become. We may have had to ‘go away’ from Ireland or the Irish, withdraw into solitary or lonely worlds, or seek out environments elsewhere in order to unfold more freely and receive genuine encouragement and support to become ourselves.

How has it been for us to ‘belong’ - Do we feel ambivalent, passionate, ashamed of being Irish – perhaps all of these?

Have we felt seen and supported in our ‘becoming’ -in the momentum of our own unique evolution and unfoldment, or have we been held back, encouraged not to leave the tribe.