Sectarianism

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura McAtackney
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
Place Identity ◽  
Societal Transformation ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Belfast Agreement ◽  
The Impact

An archaeological study of contemporary Northern Ireland adds a material dimension to debates on the impact-or otherwise-of the recent peace process on lived experiences in the province. This chapter has selected the study of security installations, peace walls, and Long Kesh/Maze prison as three manifestations of the Troubles in order to dissect how they have transitioned to the post-conflict context. Of particular note is how incomplete official attempts to refocus place identity have resulted in some of these sites becoming overly identified with one-sided Troubles narratives whilst others have taken on new, if decidedly sinister, meanings. Whilst it is impossible to be definitive about ongoing societal transformation, at this time it is clear that nearly 15 years after the Belfast Agreement (1998) the peace dividends promised by local and international politicians continue to be contradicted by material realities.

The mental health impact of the Troubles, 1969–1999

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Bolton
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Peace Accord ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
Belfast Agreement ◽  
Good Friday Agreement ◽  
The Impact

This Chapter is the first of two that describe efforts to understand the mental health and related impacts of the conflict in Northern Ireland, often referred to as The Troubles. The Chapter covers the period from the outbreak of violence in the late 1960’s up until the period around the peace accord, the Belfast Agreement (or Good Friday Agreement) of April 1998. The early studies reveal little, if any, major effects on the wellbeing and mental health of the population, but as the years go by, evidence starts to build of the impact of the violence, particularly as the ceasefires of the early and mid 1990’s take hold. The developing understanding of the impact was due in part to the evolution of methods and approaches being used by researchers - which is discussed in more detail at the end of Chapter 5.

The Omagh bombing and the community’s response

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Bolton
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Not For Profit ◽  
Belfast Agreement ◽  
Therapeutic Services ◽  
The Impact

In this Chapter the author describes the circumstances and impact of the Omagh bombing which occurred in Northern Ireland in August 1998, just as the peace process was beginning to see political progress and violence had significantly reduced. The impact on casualties and their families in Omagh, Buncrana in the Irish Republic, and in Madrid, Spain, is described, as are the distress and traumatic consequences for the wider community. The responses of neighbours and friends, the wider Omagh community, its medical, education, not-for-profit and civic services, are described. The contribution of commemorative and arts based events is demonstrated. The risk to the developing peace process and the Belfast Agreement is outlined and how this impacted upon the development of therapeutic services for the local community. The role of politics and politicians in ensuring services were developed, is described.

scholarly journals Island cities: the case of Belfast, Northern Ireland

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-8
Author(s):  
Stephen A. Royle
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
Contested Space ◽  
The Past ◽  
Belfast Agreement ◽  
The Future ◽  
Briefing Document

Abstract The paper considers Belfast as an ‘island city’ with reference to issues of identity and economy and especially in connection with a series of statements from the ‘Futures of Islands’ briefing document prepared for the IGU’s Commission on Islands meeting in Kraków in August 2014. Belfast as a contested space, a hybrid British/Irish city on the island of Ireland, exemplifies well how ‘understandings of the past condition the future’, whilst the Belfast Agreement which brought the Northern Ireland peace process to its culmination after decades of violence known as the ‘Troubles’ speaks to ‘island ways of knowing, of comprehending problems - and their solutions’. Finally, Belfast certainly demonstrates that ‘island peoples shape their contested futures’

‘The Troubles we’ve seen’: film, television drama and the Northern Irish conflict in Britain

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Hill
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
Television Drama ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Relative Scarcity

This chapter examines films and television dramas dealing with the impact of the Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’ in Britain and the controversies that they generated. It begins with a consideration of early TV dramas such as The Vanishing Army (1978) and Chance of a Lifetime (1980) dealing with the experiences of the returning British soldier. This is followed by an examination of the representation of the IRA’s activities on the British ‘mainland’ in productions such as The Patriot Game (1969), Hennessy (1975), Eighteen Months to Balcombe Street (1977) and The Long Good Friday (1979) as well as an analysis of how the miscarriages of justice that emerged in the wake of the IRA’s bombing campaigns were turned into (documentary)-dramas such as Who Bombed Birmingham? (1990) and In the Name of the Father(1993). The chapter then concludes with some consideration of the ‘peace process’ and the relative scarcity of dramas dealing with the divisions and tensions that were a feature of the earlier period.

Punk in Belfast, Northern Ireland: Critical Perspectives on the Troubles and Post-conflict “Peace”

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Donaghey
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Conflict Situation ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Counter Narrative ◽  
Alternative Culture ◽  
Development Agendas ◽  
Critical Perspectives

Punk’s resonance has been felt strongly here. Against the backdrop of the Troubles and the “post-conflict” situation in Northern Ireland, punk has provided an anti-sectarian alternative culture. The overarching conflict of the Troubles left gaps for punk to thrive in, as well as providing the impetus for visions of an “Alternative Ulster,” but the stuttering shift from conflict to post-conflict has changed what oppositional identities and cultures look like. With the advent of “peace” (or a particular version of it at least) in the late 1990s, this space is being squeezed out by “development” agendas while counterculture is co-opted and neutered—and all the while sectarianism is further engrained and perpetuated. This chapter examines punk’s positioning within (and against) the conflict-warped terrain of Belfast, especially highlighting punk’s critical counter-narrative to the sectarian, neoliberal “peace.”

A Troubled Sleep

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Waller
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Violent Conflict ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Risk And Resilience ◽  
Peace Agreement ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
Tour Guides ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Health Practitioners

A Troubled Sleep: Risk and Resilience in Contemporary Northern Ireland revisits one of the world’s most deeply divided societies more than 20 years after a peace agreement brought an end to the Troubles. The book asks if the conflict, while perhaps managed and contained, has been transformed—structurally and relationally—into a win-win situation for both sides. It addresses this question by drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, comparative research, and more than 110 hours of face-to-face interviews with politicians, activists, community workers, former political prisoners, former (and sometimes current) paramilitary members, academics, journalists, mental health practitioners, tour guides, school teachers, museum curators, students, police and military personnel, legal experts, and religious leaders across Northern Ireland. The heart of the book analyzes Northern Ireland’s current vulnerabilities and points of resilience as an allegedly “post-conflict” society. The vulnerabilities are analyzed through a model of risk assessment that examines the longer term and slower moving structures, measures, society-wide conditions, and processes that leave societies vulnerable to violent conflict. Such risk factors include the interpretation of conflict history, how authority in a country is exercised, and the susceptibility to social disharmony, isolation, and fragmentation. Resilience is examined from a survey of the countering influences, both within and outside Northern Ireland, that are working diligently to confirm humanity by reducing or reversing these vulnerabilities. The book concludes by examining the accelerating factors in contemporary Northern Ireland that may lead to an escalation of crisis as well as the triggering factors that could spark the onset of violent conflict itself.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Bolton
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Social Worker ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Conflict Processes ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health And Well Being

In the Introduction, the author describes the background to the book and his personal experiences of violence in Northern Ireland - as a social worker and health and social services manager in Enniskillen and Omagh. He addresses the impact of loss and trauma linked to conflict and the implications for mental health and well-being. The structure of the book is outlined and the author sets the rest of the book in the argument that the mental health of conflict affected communities should be an early and key consideration in peace talks, politics and post-conflict processes.

Building Trust and Goodwill in Northern Ireland and the Border Counties: The Impact of Economic Aid on the Peace Process

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Byrne ◽  
Olga Skarlato ◽  
Eyob Fissuh ◽  
Cynthia Irvin
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
Building Trust ◽  
Economic Aid ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Journeys through the Hidden City: Giving visibility to the Material Events of conflict in Belfast

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 1053-1075 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Coyles
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Inner City ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Conflict Transformation ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Government Documents ◽  
Sectarian Conflict ◽  
Foucauldian Analysis

The ‘peace-walls’ of Belfast represent a widely acknowledged architectural legacy of the Troubles, the period between 1969 and 1994 when sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland was most extreme. This paper reveals a further crucial but unacknowledged architectural legacy. It is a Hidden City of unassuming inner-city architecture where everyday pervasiveness masks a capacity to perpetuate conflict-era forces in a post-conflict city. The first half of the paper presents a Foucauldian analysis of declassified government documents revealing the knowledge created through undisclosed systems of power-relations. Here a problematisation of accepted norms reassesses the Troubles-era urban landscape and exposes the latent significance of its socio-material complexity. The second half of the paper illustrates the material consequences of related hidden policy practices on the contemporary post-conflict community. It borrows from Goffman to offer an exposition of the institutionalisation of movement and meaning at play in the Hidden City. A triangulation of interviews, photography and architectural fieldwork is used to theorise the Material Event, a construction of meaning derived from the interaction between people, architecture and the wider systems of power-relations. The paper concludes by demonstrating the complexity of the systemic challenges posed by the Material Events and how these help constrain conflict-transformation practices.

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