Racism and xenophobia : the crisis of black asylum seekers in donald o'kelly's Asylum! Asylum!

Abstract EN

The Celtic Tiger Period altered the ethnic landscape of Irish society which suddenly became a destination for immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees.

The socioeconomic and political transformations since the mid-1990s have given rise to experiences of racism by new racialised minorities, i.

e.

immigrant communities and refugees.

This research paper highlights the racialisation of the government's immigration policies, its reasons and consequences through examining Donald O'Kelly's Asylum! Asylum! (1994).

The play deals almost entirely with the painful experience of a desperate Ugandan asylum seeker during the boom.

As an early scene in the play depicts, the black asylum seeker Joseph Omara is framed as a victim of societal and State racism.

He is subject to unjust discrimination, pain and suffering.

Throughout the play, he is incarcerated, humiliated and finally deported to his home country for no other reason except his blackness.