scholarly journals And this is what we sing – what do we sing? Exploring the football fan songs of the Northern Irish ‘Green and White Army’

2020 ◽  
pp. 101269022097971
Author(s):  
John Bell ◽  
Paul Bell
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Musical Instruments ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
Underlying Structure ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
Football Fans ◽  
European Football ◽  
Current Context ◽  
Football Stadium

This paper draws upon digital recordings of Northern Ireland football fans singing in the stadium during all 10 qualifying matches for the 2016 UEFA European Football Championship. Supplemented by participant observation and interview data with 21 supporters themselves, the paper challenges assertions within the literature which focus upon the predominance of sectarian singing amongst a section of Northern Ireland football supporters. Although vocal manifestations of football fandom may initially appear to be randomly driven by irrational emotions, on the contrary, there is an underlying structure and sequence to fandom in the stadium in which certain factors promote collective singing at particular times. The paper identifies four key themes in particular: the timing in a match; whether or not a goal has been scored; if there is a lull or a break in play; and the use of musical instruments to encourage the wider collective to sing. We argue that it is important to understand the process by which collective singing occurs in the football stadium rather than fixating upon the alleged racist or sectarian psychopathology of the individuals involved. Such knowledge may assist in supporting those fan organisations that seek to challenge discriminatory behaviour in the stadium, particularly in the current context of the European (UEFA) and World football governing bodies (FIFA) punishing fans collectively, regardless of whether or not the majority in the stadium are opposed to what is being sung in their name.

Re-engaging with community work as a method of practice in social work: A view from Northern Ireland

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 375-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaitali Das ◽  
Martin O’Neill ◽  
John Pinkerton
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Community Development ◽  
Contemporary Literature ◽  
User Involvement ◽  
The State ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
Community Work ◽  
Current Context ◽  
Community Sector

Summary This article investigates community work as a method in social work in Northern Ireland. It traces the processes that have led to the marginalisation of community work within social work practices and the complex relationship between community development and social work. Nonetheless, the welfare state is undergoing change, wherein new agendas of personalisation, service user involvement, community engagement and partnership are emerging, which are changing the occupational space of social work. We argue that this change can be an opportunity through which social work can and must re-engage with community development, particularly within the existing political arrangements and sectarian context of Northern Ireland. However, social work’s engagement in the community presents risks given its current relationship with the state and loss of trust within the Northern Irish community. We discuss these risks and further possibilities. Findings The article draws from contemporary literature on the current context of community development and service provision in Northern Ireland social work’s involvement. The possibilities for community social work are explored through recent policy initiatives and the current situation of the community sector. Risks that stem from social work’s relationship with the state, and with community organisations as well as the contradiction between discourses of partnership in service delivery and the ground reality are considered. Applications Our analysis suggests the need for (a) collective action by social workers through collective representation, (b) a new conceptualisation of professionalism that incorporates partnerships with other workers in the care sector and (c) education that has contemporary resonance.

scholarly journals Richard Bean’s The Big Fellah (2010) and Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman (2017): two plays about the Northern Troubles from outside of Northern Ireland

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroko Mikami
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
Good Friday Agreement

During the three decades of the Troubles of Northern Ireland (1969-1998), a remarkable amount of plays about the Troubles was written and almost of them, it seems, had been ‘monopolised’ by (Northern) Irish playwrights. Recently, however, certain changes about this monopoly have been witnessed and those who do not claim themselves as Irish descendants have begun to choose the Northern Troubles as their themes. Also, there have been growing concerns about violence worldwide since 9.11. This article deals with two plays, Richard Bean’s The Big Fellah and Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman, neither of which was written by an Irish playwright and examines whether and to what extent it is possible to say that they can transcend regional boundaries and become part of global memories in the context of the post-Good Friday Agreement and the post 9.11.

“The Dusky Doughboys”: Interaction between African American Soldiers and the Population of Northern Ireland during the Second World War

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 1131-1154 ◽  
Author(s):  
SIMON TOPPING
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Jim Crow ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
Black Soldiers ◽  
American Military ◽  
The People ◽  
Second World

This article will examine the ways in which the people of Northern Ireland and African American troops stationed there during the Second World War reacted to each other. It will also consider the effect of institutional racism in the American military on this relationship, concluding that, for the most part, the population welcomed black soldiers and refused to endorse American racial attitudes or enforce Jim Crow segregation. This piece argues that, bearing in mind the latent racism of the time, the response of the Northern Irish to African Americans was essentially colour-blind, and this was true in both the Protestant and Catholic communities.

Debates over Irish unification will gain traction

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Status ◽  
Scottish Independence ◽  
The Uk

Significance The differing perspectives of unionists and nationalists on the creation of Northern Ireland as a political entity within the United Kingdom, together with Brexit and tensions over the Northern Ireland Protocol (NIP), have brought the contentious issue of Irish reunification onto the political agenda in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. Impacts Scottish independence would likely increase momentum for a referendum on Irish unity. Successful implementation of the NIP, giving firms access to EU and UK markets, may support arguments for maintaining the status quo. If the UK government abandons the NIP, the adverse trade impact on Northern Irish firms could increase support for unification.

A Shared Future? Exclusion, Stigmatization, and Mental Health of Same-Sex-Attracted Young People in Northern Ireland

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 488-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Schubotz ◽  
Malachai O'Hara
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Young People ◽  
Sex Education ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
School Bullying ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
Young Life

For more than a decade the Peace Process has fundamentally changed Northern Irish society. However, although socioreligious integration and ethnic mixing are high on the political agenda in Northern Ireland, the Peace Process has so far failed to address the needs of some of the most vulnerable young people, for example, those who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. Public debates in Northern Ireland remain hostile to same-sex-attracted people. Empirical evidence from the annual Young Life and Times (YLT) survey of 16-year-olds undertaken by ARK shows that same-sex-attracted young people report worse experiences in the education sector (e.g., sex education, school bullying), suffer from poorer mental health, experience higher social pressures to engage in health-adverse behavior, and are more likely to say that they will leave Northern Ireland and not return. Equality legislation and peace process have done little to address the heteronormativity in Northern Ireland.

‘Britain's Irish Question: Britain's European Question?’ British-Irish relations in the context of European Union and The Belfast Agreement

2000 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELIZABETH MEEHAN
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Irish Question ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Eu

If students of world politics can be reasonably accused of ignoring the Troubles in Northern Ireland—in part because they seemed to have little to do with the larger East-West confrontation and partly because they were so obviously about something distinctly national in character—then by the same token specialists on Northern Ireland can justly be accused of a certain intellectual parochialism and of failing to situate the long war within a broader global perspective. The quite unexpected outbreak of peace however only emphasizes the need for a wider understanding of the rise and fall of the Northern Irish conflict. This article explores the relationship between the partial resolution of the Irish Question—as expressed in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998—and the changing character of the European landscape. Its central thesis is that while there were many reasons for the outbreak of peace in the 1990s, including war weariness, it is difficult to understand what happened without situating it in a larger European framework and the new definition of sovereignty to which the EU has given birth.

New terrains: ‘Northern Irish art’ in the wider world

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Declan Long
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Art World ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
Departure Point ◽  
Economic Forces ◽  
Global Art ◽  
Venice Biennale ◽  
Irish Art

Chapter two asks how ‘Northern Irish art’ of the post-Troubles era might be critically approached and appraised in light of broader contemporary conditions. The relation of shifts in Northern Ireland’s art to wider developments in the global art world are addressed and the chapter discusses the ways in which artists from Northern Ireland have been positioned and presented internationally in the post-Troubles years. This chapter takes the 2005 exhibition of art from Northern Ireland at the Venice Biennale as the departure point for an extended examination of how the representation of ‘local’ concerns is shaped in relation to wider cultural and economic forces.

Commemorating bonds of Union: remembering the Ulster Special Constabulary at the National Memorial Arboretum

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. J. Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Active Role ◽  
The Other ◽  
Remote Site ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
Local Service ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
Grant Scheme

In 2006, two acts of commemoration took place to the memory of the Ulster Special Constabulary (USC). One was staged in a public site of national commemoration at the National Memorial Arboretum (NMA) in Lichfield, Staffordshire and the other was a very local service in the remote site of Mullaghfad Church, Co.Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Both of these events were state-funded under the terms of the ‘Victims and Survivors Befriending Grant Scheme’, but engaged in very different modes of remembrance. This chapter focuses on the USC memorial at the NMA as a strategic site of memory for the Ulster unionist community. Drawing upon interviews with members of the Ulster Special Constabulary Association (USCA) present at the commemoration, it explores the active role Britain plays as a physical and symbolic site of ‘respite’ for Ulster unionists. In contrast to the private, divisive nature of memorials to the USC in Northern Ireland, the NMA site enables the USCA to locate its role in the Troubles in terms of British heroism and sacrifice, alongside memorials to other UK police units. The chapter suggests that historians should look more closely at the active role Britain plays in commemorating the Northern Irish Troubles.

George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Post-Conflict Northern Ireland

2019 ◽  
pp. 259-276
Author(s):  
Andrew Sanders
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Barack Obama ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Hillary Clinton ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
2008 Presidential Election ◽  
Post Conflict

After Clinton’s second term in office ended, President George W Bush moved the Special Envoy to Northern Ireland to the State Department, but his Envoys, led by Richard Haass and Mitchell Reiss, were no less engaged in Northern Irish affairs as the political figures there sought to create a functional government at Stormont Parliament Buildings. A series of significant obstacles emerged, but the Northern Ireland Assembly finally formed in 2007 before Bush left office. He was succeeded by President Barack Obama who had little interest in Northern Ireland but Obama’s initial Secretary of State, former Senator Hillary Clinton, was well-versed in Northern Irish issues. This chapter also examines the role of Northern Ireland in the 2008 Democratic Primary contest and, to a lesser extent, the 2008 Presidential Election.

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