Women of the Borderlands: A Walking Biographical Study of Women's Everyday Life on UK/Irish Border

This research will offer the first feminist sociological account of border life on the island of Ireland to investigate the everyday life of women living in the border communities. To date, most research on the border has been state-centric and devoid of gender analysis. Using Walking as a Biographical Method, 25 in-depth ‘walking interviews’ will be conducted to explore women’s relationship with the border during the Troubles and since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. These biographical interviews are mobile and will see participants take the researcher on journey that mimics their routine border crossings taken for work, to visit or care for family, for leisure, to run errands, or other ordinary journeys taken as part of everyday life. The interviews will be captured through audio recordings and photographs of the scenery and landmarks of significance highlighted by participants. Given the rural locality of much of the border area, walking is operationalised to include either walking an entire route or a mixture of walking and driving depending on the mobilities of participants and distance involved. Whether walking the journey wholly or in part, the interviews will include stopping at locations of significance to walk, talk, reflect and recall. Quota sampling will be used to ensure research participants reflect the diversity of border life and ensure representation from Catholic and Protestant traditions, as well as migrant women originally from outside Ireland and those who do not identity with either of the ‘two dominant traditions’ Upon completion of data collection, an archive will be created with the Digital Repository of Ireland consisting of transcripts, audio recordings and photographs to document women’s shared history of the border. This archive will be the first of its kind and will be a significant contribution to documenting women’s lived experience on the island of Ireland.