The Stained and Bloodied Cloths of Ireland: A Material Culture View of Irish Shame, Oppression, Morality...

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Professor Catherine Harper (British University in Egypt) Professor Catherine Harper (British University in Egypt)

The Stained and Bloodied Cloths of Ireland

A Material Culture View of Irish Shame, Oppression, Morality and Repression

Professor Catherine Harper (British University in Egypt), Professor Catherine Harper (British University in Egypt)

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English

Bloomsbury Visual Arts
11 December 2025

Textile design & theory; Religion & politics; Material culture; Textile & fibre technology

The Stained and Bloodied Cloths of Ireland presents a textiles and material culture view of Irish shame, oppression, morality and repression.

Ireland – North and South – has sustained significant change in the last 100 years, accelerating at the end of the 20th century with the legalization of contraception, divorce, gay marriage, the end of the ‘Troubles’, and freedom to choose abortion and reproductive autonomy. In parallel to this, troubling instances of abuse, repression and cruelty have come to light through a series of scandals. These included the exploitation of unmarried mothers as unpaid labour in laundries, the deaths of women and babies in mishandled miscarriages, the unhealthy entanglement of Church and State, and the intolerance shown to 'visible Irish and immigrant minorities' in the so-called ‘land of a thousand welcomes’.

This collection of specially commissioned essays tells the stories of cloth, clothing, textiles and materials that have been actually or symbolically stained by blood or other bodily fluids in Ireland’s last 100 years. By focusing on the role of these materials in the events and experiences of shame, oppression, morality and repression, the book ‘lances the boil’ of Irish social history, celebrating the movement of the island of Ireland into post-Church, post-conflict, post-nostalgia modernity that, while a painful transition, is a vital part of coming to terms with its past and looking to its future.

By: Professor Catherine Harper (British University in Egypt)
Edited by: Professor Catherine Harper (British University in Egypt)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 236mm, Width: 160mm, Spine: 22mm
Weight: 720g
ISBN: 9781350445703
ISBN 10: 1350445703
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 11 December 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Catherine Harper is the inaugural Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student Journey) at The British University in Egypt. She is a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor of two UK Universities (Chichester and UCA) and was previously Dean at two UK Universities (Portsmouth and East London). She is Editor-in-Chief of ‘Textile: Cloth & Culture’ (Taylor & Francis), author of Intersex (Berg, 2007), and editor of Textiles: Critical and Primary Sources (Berg, 2012).