Threats, curses, common assaults, and communal actions involving Irish-Newfoundland women provide intriguing insights into gender, ethnicity, and class relations in Newfoundland fishing communities during early settlement.
For a variety of motives — self-defense; defense of reputation, property, or family business; employment disputes; enforcement of community standards; and maintenance of ethnic boundaries—these women deployed power in ways that did not fit hegemonic discourses on femininity. Yet these women also saw themselves as individuals with rights that should be protected by the legal system and were also not reluctant to take their adversaries to court.
Dr. Keough will share her extensive research of archival records and oral history to demonstrate that Irish-Newfoundland women maneuvered easily within and between both formal and informal systems of justice to resolve conflicts in their new communities.
Thursday – April 24th, 2025 @ 7:30 pm (NT) / 7:00 (AT)
In-Person: Memorial University, A1043
Free Parking in Lot 15B
Online: https://bit.ly/4i9Inca