Troubled Spaces Territoriality and the Troubles in Northern
Troubled Spaces: Territoriality and the Troubles in Northern Ireland Niall Cunningham (Lancaster) RA Ian Gregory (Lancaster) PI Paul Ell (QUB) Chris Lloyd (QUB) Ian Shuttleworth (QUB)
A spatial conflict • Space has played a critical role in the conflict in Northern Ireland an appreciation of this is crucial in our efforts to achieve a better understanding of the dynamics behind the recent Troubles * • Actual and notional boundaries have been central to the formation of identity in Northern Ireland historically • Spatial conflicts endure and still lie at the heart of many inter-communal antagonisms • The Troubles have had a profound effect on the (re)development of the built environment Photographs courtesy of CAIN, *Brixton Gunner@Flickr
The reality: increased detail, increased polarisation
Legend peacelines wards Catholics (%) % Cath. pop. by 100 m GS 75. 0 to 94. 9 95. 0 or more Protestants (%) % Prot. pop by 100 m GS 75. 0 to 94. 9 95. 0 or more Ardoyne/ Glenbryn New Barnsley Belfast: A divided city
A population in flux Highfield (Protestant) Vere Foster BA Base New Barnsley Henry Taggart Memorial BA Base Police Station and peaceline Ballymurphy (Catholic)
Deaths during the Troubles • This study utilises data on all Troubles-related deaths collated by Malcolm Sutton and hosted by Dr. Martin Melaugh at the University of Ulster’s CAIN archive • Search facility enables the user to identify incidents using a diverse range of criteria • An ongoing and constantly revised process with regular input from the wider, non-academic community • ‘Troubled Geographies’ analyses 3, 524 deaths from January 1969 to December 2001 http: //www. cain. ulst. ac. uk/sutton/
Georeferencing the Sutton database
Cartographic Analysis I - Deaths by status group
Cartographic Analysis II - Crosstabs • Extremely detailed statistical and spatial data • Powerful physical and notional demarcation of space • Not just one conflict, but many
Statistical Analysis – Cluster hunting • Statistical analysis of the data is at an early stage • ‘Moran’s I’ technique looks at the level of spatial autocorrelation between data points by measuring how far variables at those points differ from their mean • OSNI 1 km grid square provide useful quadrats upon which to base the analysis • ‘High-high’ grid squares are those where they and surrounding squares tend to have higher rates of killing, and are hence, ‘clusters’ • ‘High-high’ areas are characterised as disproportionately Catholic and above average on some measures of deprivation Table 1: Summary statistics for all cells n min median max Households in social rented accomm. (%) 6072 0. 09 6. 67 85. 71 Economically active unemployed (%) 6072 0. 56 9. 52 54. 55 Catholic (%) 6072 0. 18 31. 07 94. 95 Table 2: Summary statistics for ‘High-high’ grid cells n min median max Households in social rented accomm. (%) 56 0. 25 11. 11 68. 44 Economically active unemployed (%) 56 2. 53 14. 29 40. 00 Catholic (%) 56 0. 53 71. 88 90. 53
History, economy and space Girls’ Primary School Glenbryn Ardoyne
War by other means: The Holy Cross Dispute, Ardoyne, Autumn 2001 Holy Cross Girls’ Catholic Primary School Glenbryn (Protestant) Going to school, Ardoyne 2001 • Was not a source of conflict during the Troubles • Glenbryn residents said the protests were the result of years of intimidation from Catholic neighbours • Catholic encroachment? Ardoyne (Catholic)
Conclusions & further work • Geographical approach has never been attempted before and it offers new possibilities in understanding religious change and religious conflict • Very clear geographies of killings developed during the course of the Troubles and different types of killing vary markedly • This preliminary research opens the way for a deeper analysis of deaths in relation to a wide range of other factors such as poverty, housing and education • A deeper analysis of the spatial patterns in the Troubles dataset and to relate these to broader socio-economic factors • To disseminate these findings to a broader audience by the creation of an online atlas of Irish Religion and Society • To do so with the intention of going beyond simple binary definitions to explore the varied concurrent conflicts and changing intercommunal relationships which together constituted the modern Troubles
- Slides: 13