Those the Empire Washed Ashore: Uncovering Ireland’s Multiracial Past

Abstract

On the Twelfth of July 2004, I watched two young men standing on Belfast’s Lisburn Road during the return march of an Orange parade. One appeared to be South Asian, the other African. They were decked out in the commercial paraphernalia of Ulster loyalism—white scarves and caps with red crosses and red hands, cheap plastic Union Jacks, the flotsam and jetsam of every Twelfth celebration—and they seemed to be having a good time, laughing and cheering as the weary Orangemen wobbled by. I wondered if they were celebrating in earnest or just scoffing good-humouredly at the whole thing. Did they have any idea what this was about? Could they? I had similar thoughts about the bemused South Asian family I saw standing across the street, huddled within arm’s length of a policeman. What did they think was happening here? It was quite clear what some of the Orangemen thought of them: I witnessed more than a few expressions of shock, not all of them politely phrased, as the loyal sons of Ulster spotted these unexpected brown faces. Was there room, I wondered, for such diversity in the ‘new’ Northern Ireland?