Troubled Silences: Political Conflict and Everyday Nationalism in Northern Ireland
Project Description
This project explores what is a relatively under-researched area in the study of post-war Irish nationalism – namely, the changing nature of Northern Irish constitutional nationalists’ identity. In particular, it looks at the influence that the eruption of the conflict had on grassroots nationalists’ political self-understandings.
The research will approach the area of changing national identity by asking, firstly, how differences in generational and geographical location provided lenses through which nationalists made sense of the escalating violence. Secondly, it explores the question of to what extent early interpretations of the conflict shaped and constrained later narrative understandings – particularly, nationalists’ interpretations of key ideological concepts such as national reunification and equality of opportunity.
The project builds on previous research conducted in IBIS concerning the close connections between the constitution of communal identity and historical narratives and intersects with emerging debates regarding how governments and civil society works with the legacies of violent conflict.
People (Troubled Silences)
Researchers
- Director IBIS and Principal Investigator: Professor Jennifer Todd
- Research Fellow: Dr Cillian McGrattan
Publications from the project
Books
Cillian McGrattan, The Northern Ireland Conflict: A Beginner’s Guide. Oneworld Publications: 2010. Co-authored with Dr Aaron Edwards
Cillian McGrattan, Northern Ireland 1968-2008. The Politics of Entrenchment. Palgrave Macmillan, March 2010
Book Chapters
Cillian McGrattan, “Nationalists and Equality” in The Anglo-Irish Agreement: Re-thinking its Legacy, edited by Arthur Aughey and Cathy Gormley-Heenan, Manchester: Manchester University Press, commissioned chapter, forthcoming, January 2011.
Cillian McGrattan, “Modern Irish Nationalism: Ideology, Policymaking, and Path-Dependent Change”, in The Challenges of Ethno-Nationalism: Case Studies in Identity Politics, edited by Adrian Guelke, Basingstoke: Palgrave, commissioned chapter, forthcoming, 2011.
Articles
Cillian McGrattan, ‘“Order out of Chaos:” The Politics of Transitional Justice’, Politics, 2009, Vol.29 (3): 164-72.
Cillian McGrattan, “Learning from the Past or Laundering History? Consociational Narratives and State Intervention in Northern Ireland”, British Politics, 2010, Vol.5 (1): 92-113.
Cillian McGrattan, ‘“Explaining Northern Ireland?” The Limitations of the Ethnic Conflict Model’, National Identities, May 2010, Vol.12 (2): 181-97.
Cillian McGrattan, “Community Restorative Justice in Northern Ireland: A Neo-Traditionalist Paradigm?”, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, article accepted for publication and selected for and published under early view publication, February 2010.
Cillian McGrattan, “The Politics of Transitional Justice or All’s Well that Ends Well, A Response to Brown”, Politics, 2010, Vol.30 (2): 125-30.
Cillian McGrattan, “Historians and Conflict Transformation: Truth and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland”, with History & Policy, article accepted for publication, 2010.