Prison clothes and the struggle in Maze/Long Kesh in Northern Ireland

This paper explores the role of clothing in the hunger strikes in Northern Irish prisons in the 1970s/80s.One of the five demands of prisoners made was the right to wear their own clothes. As the body became a site of struggle, clothing was given a central focus in political debate, media coverage and public discourse. I explore the refusal to wear prison clothes and the adoption of the blanket, which created compelling images of abjection and drew attention to the harsh realities of the conflict in Northern Ireland at the time.