Description
Bodies of academic literature dealing with the politics of scandal, secrecy and modes of accountability have for some time been treated as largely disparate despite their addressing of common themes. However, recent contributions have challenged this fragmentation, suggesting that modes of responding to scandal or outrage must be considered in conversation with one another, as well as in reference to the seemingly oppositional states of order/secrecy (Johnson et.al., 2022; Jester and Dolan, forthcoming). Prevailing interpretations of state accountability for gender-based harms in particular have tended to emphasise the normative importance of public expressions of accountability such as apologies and public inquiries, leaving the gendered and affective process of revelation largely unexamined. This paper aims to contribute conceptually to scholarly attempts to trouble the boundaries between denial/accountability, obscurity/transparency by positioning these unstable binaries alongside inherently gendered categories of public/private, rational/emotional. The paper traces the implications of such a conceptual framing in relation to the Republic of Ireland’s various governmental responses (including apology, public inquiry and commemoration) to public outrage over gender-based harms typified by the Magdalene Laundries.
