By Roisín Higgins It was Christmas 1973 and a little girl drew a picture of the nativity. When her teacher asked ‘if the spiky shape above the stable was a star’, the girl replied, ‘Oh no, Miss – that’s the helicopter’. The child lived in the Creggan in Derry and her school was beside a... Continue Reading →
By Adam Fusco Five years after the United Kingdom voted to withdraw from the European Union, Brexit continues to shape the political imagination, particularly in places where the majority voted to Remain. In Northern Ireland its unintended offspring, the Northern Ireland Protocol, has come to dominate the political outlook, particularly within Unionism. For many Unionists,... Continue Reading →
By Aoife Duffy - Truth seeking when researching, investigating, and writing about the ‘Troubles’ presents many obstacles. In my book, Torture & Human Rights in Northern Ireland, about the 1971 security services operation that used torture on the ‘Hooded Men’, I argue that denial of security force abuses was the default UK government position.[i] Here,... Continue Reading →
By Megan Henvey The early medieval high crosses of Ireland may seem an unusual topic for a blog about the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland, but exploration of their scholarly and civic treatment highlights the wide-ranging impact of the conflict and the religio-political divisions in the region, as well as indicating how far we’ve come, and... Continue Reading →
By Seán Brennan The ‘fallout’ from Michael D. Higgins’ refusal to attend a ‘reconciliation’ event, organised by ‘the four main churches’ in Armagh, in September 2021, appears to have created a ‘moment’ when it has become possible to openly critique the ‘peace process’ for the public good. With Northern Ireland lauded internationally as an exemplar... Continue Reading →
By Samantha Renee Haddad- On March 12, 1996, Gerry Adams spoke at a “Rally for Peace” in New York. The event was sponsored by influential Irish American organizations such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) and Irish Northern Aid (Noraid). While at the rally, Adams was confronted by a member of the Irish Lesbian... Continue Reading →
By Ciara McAllister- In April this year, as tensions rose in unionist communities over Brexit and policing, images of violence in Belfast flooded our newsfeeds. I was struck by a number of views and responses that I saw repeated by various political, academic and community commentators. On Twitter, the unrest was presented in three ways:... Continue Reading →
By Rory Allen- Memoirs and autobiographies have enormous potential to contribute to the wider understanding of the ‘Troubles’. In capturing the narratives of those who were involved in or lived through the Northern Ireland conflict, we gain an insight into the real, lived experience of Ulster’s contested past. While Irish nationalists and republicans have long... Continue Reading →
By Kevin Henry - ‘While almost every petrol bomb thrown, every bullet fired around the Shankill, Falls and Ardoyne has been recorded, analysed and reanalysed, the stinting endeavours of working class people in East Belfast, North and West Belfast and many other areas to physically halt the bigots have gone unrecorded and largely ignored by... Continue Reading →
By Sara Dybris McQuaid- Whenever we write articles and chapters about Northern Ireland, we usually have to preface them with the “context section”: some historical background, some sketching of Northern Ireland as a case of conflict. Those few sentences that begin to frame the ‘Troubles’ are probably amongst the most tortuous, least loved sentences that... Continue Reading →
Writing the 'Troubles' 