Violent Loyalties

Being an Irish man was a consistent, contentious issue in the Canadas. The aim of this book is to provide the firstgendered examination of male Irish migration to Upper and Lower Canada withinthe broader contexts of negative stereotypes about Irish violence and Irishmen’squestionable loyalty to the British Empire. Through examinations of key violent episodes and (in)famous individuals,Violent Loyalties argues that beingan Irishman in the Canadas meant daily negotiations with discrimination, ethnicrivalries, the pressure to become more ‘British’, and having to base one’ssense of manliness on being the most visible ‘other’ in the colonies. Irish Catholics faced the burden of beingdual minorities – the ‘other’ religion within the Anglophone world andEnglish-speaking in the Catholic sphere already established byFrench-Canadians. Irish Protestants alsohad difficulties adapting to their new communities, as the problematicassociation with violent Orangeism and rivalries with Scottish and Englishimmigrants, many of whom were United Empire Loyalists, created obstacles in thequest for upward social mobility. BothCanadian and Irish historiographies are sorely lacking in examinations ofmasculinity compared with those investigating American, French, Australian, orBritish manliness. This gap in theliterature becomes even more apparent outside of a twentieth-centuryfocus. Violent Loyalties aims to fill these lacunae in thehistories of colonial Canada and the Irish diaspora.