The Contested Identities of Ulster Protestants

by Burgess, Thomas Paul; Mulvenna, Gareth

• ISBN13: 9781137453938
• ISBN10: 1137453931
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2015-02-11
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

'Flags', 'Emblems' and 'The Past'; three seemingly insurmountable challenges which continue to hinder the peace process in Northern Ireland. For many, the responsibility for the impasse that scuppered the Haass talks and brought violent protests to the streets of Belfast appears to rest with the perceived intransigence of the Protestant, Unionist and Loyalist communities to embrace change. That this community is itself riven with internal rancour and discord should come as no surprise. Issues of social class, denominational alignment, political aspiration and national identity have historically divided what outsiders have often mistakenly viewed as a collective cultural, religious and socio-political entity.

This study explores the statement by Henry McDonald that this is '…the least fashionable community in Western Europe'. A diverse group of contributors including prominent politicians, academics, journalists and artists investigate the reasons informing public perceptions attaching to the Protestant, Unionist and Loyalist communities in Ulster.

Author Biography

Dr Paul Burgess is from Belfast's Shankill Road and holds degrees from the Universities of Ulster, Cork and Oxford, UK. The main emphasis of his academic research includes education, cultural identity and community work and he has published widely in these and other areas. As a songwriter / performer with his band, Ruefrex, his compositions are critically acclaimed for their political commentary on the Northern Irish conflict, with particular reference to the Protestant/Unionist/Loyalist communities. He is currently a Senior Lecturer at University College Cork, Ireland.

Dr Gareth Mulvenna is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at Queen's University Belfast. He has written on Belfast's Protestant working class for Irish Studies Review and is currently writing a book about Ulster's loyalist 'Tartan' gangs of the early 1970s entitled From Young Citizens to Volunteers (Liverpool, 2016).

Table of Contents

Introduction – Paul Burgess and Gareth Mulvenna
1. Beginning to talk to 'Billy': Revising Southern Stereotypes of Unionism; Eoghan Harris
2. Investigating the Protestant 'Kaleidoscope'; Henry McDonald
3. Lost in Translation: Loyalism and the Media; Malachi O'Doherty
4. Typical Unionists? The Politicians and their People, Past and Present; James Greer
5. 'Doing Their Bit': Gendering the Constitution of Protestant, Unionist and Loyalist Identities; Fidelma Ashe and Caireen McCluskey
6. The Re-invention of the Orange Order: Triumphalism or Orangefest?; Brian Kennaway
7. Loyalism on Film and Out of Context; Stephen Baker
8. This Sporting Life: Anything to Declare? Community Allegiance, Sports and the National Question; Thomas Paul Burgess
9. No-One Likes Us, We Don't Care: What is to be (un) done about Ulster Protestant Identity?; Robbie McVeigh
10. Celebration and Controversy in America: At Home with the Scots-Irish Diaspora; John Wilson and Alister McReynolds
11. Convergence; Graham Reid
12. Labour Aristocracies, Triumphalism and Melancholy: Misconceptions of the Protestant Working Class and Loyalist Community; Gareth Mulvenna
13. To the Beat of a Different Drum; Loyalist Youth and the Culture of Marching Bands; Sam McCready and Neil Symington
14. Blood Sacrifice for Queen and Country: Paramilitarism and Political Manoeuvrings; Billy Hutchinson