'The Troubles':Northern Ireland 1968-1998 - theme 9
Cultural Representations
We will look particularly at wall murals and parades, and one fictional account from the period.
Murals
See http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/images/posters/index.html for examples of posters 1968-1999.
See http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/images/posters/nationalist/index.html for examples of nationalist posters.
See http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/images/posters/internment/index.html for examples of anti-internment posters.
See http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/images/posters/republican/rm1970s.htm for examples of republican posters 1970s.
See http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/images/posters/republican/rm1980s.htm for examples of republican posters 1980s.
See http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/images/posters/republican/rm1990s.htm for examples of republican posters 1990s.
See http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/images/posters/ira/index.html for examples of I R A posters.
See http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/images/posters/unionist/index.html for examples of unionist posters.
See http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/images/posters/loyalist/index.html for examples of loyalist posters.
See http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/images/posters/election/iindex.html for examples of election posters.
See http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/images/posters/security/index.html for examples of security posters.
The following books have colour images of murals:
Rolston, B., Drawing Support: Murals in the North of Ireland (Belfast, 1992).
Drawing Support 2: Murals of War and Peace (Belfast, 1995).
Drawing Support 3: Murals and Transition in the North of Ireland (Belfast, 2003).
Parades:
Bryson, L. and C. McCartney, Clashing Symbols: A Report on the Use of Flags, Anthems and Other Symbols in Northern Ireland (Belfast, 1994). Chapter 5.
Jarman, N. and D. Bryan, From Riots to Rights: Nationalist Parades in the North of Ireland (Belfast, 19980. Chapters 7, 8 and 9.
Jarman, Neil, Material Conflicts: Parades and Visual Displays in Northern
Ireland (Oxford, 1997). Pages 143-158, 209-212. Chapters 11, 12.
Questions:
What is the function and purpose of wall murals?
What international political links are revealed by a study of murals?
What differences exist between republican and loyalist murals?
What issues of class are raised in a study of wall murals?
Are parades necessary?
Should all parading in Northern Ireland be banned?
Why has there been such an increase in the numbers of parades in the last ten years?
Are parades merely a show of triumphalism?
How are parades policed?
Reading:
Jarman, N. and D. Bryan (1998), From Riots to Rights: Nationalist Parades in the North of Ireland, Belfast.
Rolston, B and D. Miller (eds.), (1996), War and Words: The Northern Ireland Media Reader, Belfast. Chapter 23.
Novel:
Eoin MacNamee, Resurrection Man (London, 2004 edition)
Questions:
Can fictionalised accounts of historical events be credible?
Are historical novels based on ‘the troubles’ tools for preserving old hatreds? Are these novels, as Edna Longley writes, to ‘erase the Other’s historical narrative, culture, territorial presence’.