Conflict in Colours : A comparative study of republican and loyalist murals in Belfast
(2021)- Abstract
- Conflict in Colours is a book about the role of cultural violence in maintaining and transferring conflict situations by investigating republican and loyalist murals in Belfast during the Troubles and the Northern Irish peace process. During several decades, the people of Northern Ireland have endured warlike situations before the peace agreement in 1998. This doctoral thesis examines the ways/how cultural violence has a crucial part in conveying and sustaining a situation that is characterised as neither an open conflict, nor a harmonic state of affairs. This is the first study in which republican and loyalist traditions of mural are analysed and compared over time and space. The analysis has three levels; how... (More)
- Conflict in Colours is a book about the role of cultural violence in maintaining and transferring conflict situations by investigating republican and loyalist murals in Belfast during the Troubles and the Northern Irish peace process. During several decades, the people of Northern Ireland have endured warlike situations before the peace agreement in 1998. This doctoral thesis examines the ways/how cultural violence has a crucial part in conveying and sustaining a situation that is characterised as neither an open conflict, nor a harmonic state of affairs. This is the first study in which republican and loyalist traditions of mural are analysed and compared over time and space. The analysis has three levels; how competing historical narratives has explained the today and futures outlined through them; how the visual elements of the murals have impacted the explanation presented by the narratives; and, finally, how the cultural violence of the narrative has projected the identity as a victim of the other party and framed violence as defense and protection. The murals’ narratives are compared within and across symbolic landscapes. They show both similarities and differences regarding spaces in Belfast, highlighting differing narrations of Northern Ireland yesterday and today. To the dissident republicans, the Troubles is still ongoing. The mainstream republicans narrate the present as the imminent unification of Ireland. To the loyalists, the Irish occupy Northern Ireland, and the final battle is upon them. Both republican and loyalist murals illustrate how cultural violence is embedded into the fabric of identities and sociocultural structures, thereby giving individuals certain positions in society as heroes. Power within the identities and political power are determined by cultural violence, more often than not as a result of how individuals frame themselves as protectors and defenders of the communities. The thesis also shows how cultural violence impacts today’s narration and the continued narration of the Northern Irish government as untrustworthy. The thesis thereby shows how the cultural violence in the narratives has, and continues to, impede the efforts to build a shared Northern Ireland. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- ”Conflict in Colours” är en avhandling som fokuserar på historiska narrativs roll i att legitimera och bibehålla konflikter, samt hur dessa narrativ påverkar den begynnande fredsprocessen. Genom att studera det inneboende kulturella våldet i dessa narrativ har jag visat hur kulturellt våld är en essentiell del i att legitimera, påverka och bibehålla det antagonistiska förhållandet mellan parterna i konflikten. Avhandlingens empiriska material har varit lojalistiska och republikanska väggmålningar och ett av avhandlingens resultat har varit hur det kulturella våldet har kontinuerligt presenterat Nordirland som hotfullt mot den egna gruppen och därigenom undergrävt möjligheterna till ett gemensamt Nordirland. Genom att studera väggmålningar... (More)
- ”Conflict in Colours” är en avhandling som fokuserar på historiska narrativs roll i att legitimera och bibehålla konflikter, samt hur dessa narrativ påverkar den begynnande fredsprocessen. Genom att studera det inneboende kulturella våldet i dessa narrativ har jag visat hur kulturellt våld är en essentiell del i att legitimera, påverka och bibehålla det antagonistiska förhållandet mellan parterna i konflikten. Avhandlingens empiriska material har varit lojalistiska och republikanska väggmålningar och ett av avhandlingens resultat har varit hur det kulturella våldet har kontinuerligt presenterat Nordirland som hotfullt mot den egna gruppen och därigenom undergrävt möjligheterna till ett gemensamt Nordirland. Genom att studera väggmålningar och historiska narrativ, har avhandlingen visat hur dessa narrativ om offerskap men också behovet av att kunna skydda sig mot den andre parten, som även omfattar Storbritannien och Irland, har fortlevt in till nuet. På detta vis har avhandlingen kunnat presentera varför Brexit har öppnat upp för ett återvändande till konflikt men samtidigt visat att den nordirländska konflikten aldrig har lämnat Nordirland.
Det visuella materialet har möjliggjort att avhandlingen har belyst den andra dimensionen av konflikter, vilket berör vem som är offer och vem som är förövare. Studien visar att omvärlden är därmed en aktiv part i den andra delen av konflikten, därigenom blir dessa väggmålningar vapen i den andra delen av konflikten. Genom visuella tekniker och att använda symboler som betyder offerskap försöker grupperna skapa förföriska och övertygande bilder av offerskap som kommuniceras till omvärlden.
(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3282be28-b77f-4b7e-98fc-fabd69ba1fec
- author
- Larsson, Fredrika LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- lektor Sara Dybris McQuaid, Aarhus universitet
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021-11-05
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Nordirland, Historiska perspektiv, Northern Ireland, the Troubles, Historical Narrative, Cultural violence, Symbolic landscapes, Loyalism, Republicanism, Dissident republicanism, Cultural trauma
- pages
- 559 pages
- publisher
- Lund University (Media-Tryck)
- defense location
- LUX C121
- defense date
- 2021-12-03 13:15:00
- ISBN
- 978-91-89213-94-4
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 3282be28-b77f-4b7e-98fc-fabd69ba1fec
- date added to LUP
- 2021-11-05 10:39:48
- date last changed
- 2024-08-26 20:41:32
@phdthesis{3282be28-b77f-4b7e-98fc-fabd69ba1fec,
abstract = {{Conflict in Colours is a book about the role of cultural violence in maintaining and transferring conflict situations by investigating republican and loyalist murals in Belfast during the Troubles and the Northern Irish peace process. During several decades, the people of Northern Ireland have endured warlike situations before the peace agreement in 1998. This doctoral thesis examines the ways/how cultural violence has a crucial part in conveying and sustaining a situation that is characterised as neither an open conflict, nor a harmonic state of affairs. This is the first study in which republican and loyalist traditions of mural are analysed and compared over time and space. The analysis has three levels; how competing historical narratives has explained the today and futures outlined through them; how the visual elements of the murals have impacted the explanation presented by the narratives; and, finally, how the cultural violence of the narrative has projected the identity as a victim of the other party and framed violence as defense and protection. The murals’ narratives are compared within and across symbolic landscapes. They show both similarities and differences regarding spaces in Belfast, highlighting differing narrations of Northern Ireland yesterday and today. To the dissident republicans, the Troubles is still ongoing. The mainstream republicans narrate the present as the imminent unification of Ireland. To the loyalists, the Irish occupy Northern Ireland, and the final battle is upon them. Both republican and loyalist murals illustrate how cultural violence is embedded into the fabric of identities and sociocultural structures, thereby giving individuals certain positions in society as heroes. Power within the identities and political power are determined by cultural violence, more often than not as a result of how individuals frame themselves as protectors and defenders of the communities. The thesis also shows how cultural violence impacts today’s narration and the continued narration of the Northern Irish government as untrustworthy. The thesis thereby shows how the cultural violence in the narratives has, and continues to, impede the efforts to build a shared Northern Ireland.}},
author = {{Larsson, Fredrika}},
isbn = {{978-91-89213-94-4}},
keywords = {{Nordirland; Historiska perspektiv; Northern Ireland; the Troubles; Historical Narrative; Cultural violence; Symbolic landscapes; Loyalism; Republicanism; Dissident republicanism; Cultural trauma}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{11}},
publisher = {{Lund University (Media-Tryck)}},
school = {{Lund University}},
title = {{Conflict in Colours : A comparative study of republican and loyalist murals in Belfast}},
year = {{2021}},
}