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 →
By Amanda Hall- Eleventh Night bonfires have been growing in controversy in recent years: reaching new heights, gaining new imagery, and intensifying the disconnect between loyalist communities and the state – especially between services such as the fire brigade and the police. This year’s bonfires, roaring back after they were largely curtailed by the pandemic... Continue Reading →
By Giada Lagana- The division between Protestants/loyalists/unionists and Catholic/republicans/nationalists in Northern Ireland, regarding the nature and meaning of the conflict, encompasses all levels of society and all generations. For nationalists, their relationship to the British and Irish states remains primary, whereas for loyalists, the conflict with the other community is acknowledged as being of greater... Continue Reading →
By Tony Novosel - In the 1978 comedy Animal House, a group of students embark on a drunken road trip in a fellow student’s car. The result? A totalled car and a very distraught student. Seemingly to comfort him, one of the older students puts his arm around him and then calmly says, “C’mon Flounder. You can’t... Continue Reading →
By Martin Duffy- Queen’s University recently hosted a lively Forum discussing the question, “Do we need a Museum of the Troubles and Peace?”[1] Devotees of this blog may well have read Dr Katie McClurkin’s thoughtful article, “A Sacred Mission: Envisioning a Troubles Museum” which deftly crystallizes the symbolic burden such a facility inherits in a... Continue Reading →
By Kathryn McClurkin The very notion of a museum devoted to ‘the Troubles’ sparks many questions. Where would it be located? How would it frame the history of the conflict? Who would the museum be for? Would it be an all-Ireland institution or a determinedly Northern Ireland institution? How would it be funded? Is this... Continue Reading →
By Katherine Side - When 27-year-old, Robert (“Bobby”) Gerard Sands died on May 5, 1981, after 66 days on hunger strike, he was already recognizable to many. A single colour photograph of Sands circulated widely as a commodity throughout the republican movement and its international coverage. This image still endures. It has been painted successively... Continue Reading →
Writing the 'Troubles' 