Pushing the boundaries in Northern Ireland: young people, violence and sectarianism

Abstract

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgements The research reported in this study was made possible by grants from the Economic and Social Research Council on the Children 5–16: Growing up in the 21st Century programme (L129251020) and the Youth Citizenship and Social Change programme (L134251008) and from the Families and Social Capital ESRC Research Group at London South Bank University. Further information on the ongoing longitudinal analysis is available at http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/fhss/ff. The research team include Sheila Henderson, Janet Holland, Sue Sharpe and Rachel Thomson, whose comments on earlier versions of this paper are acknowledged. Notes 1. Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), 1998, available at: www.nisra.gov.uk>. 2. B. O'Leary and J. McGarry, The Politics of Antagonism: Understanding Northern Ireland, London, Athlone Press, 1993. 3. The Cost of the Troubles Study, Final Report, Belfast, 1999. 4. M. Smyth and J. Hamilton, ‘The human cost of the Troubles’, in O. Hargie and D. Dickson, eds, Researching the Troubles: Social Science Perspectives on the Northern Ireland Conflict. Edinburgh and London, Mainstream Publishing, 2003. 5. M. F. Fay, M. Morrissey, M. Smyth and T. Wong, The Cost of the Troubles Study. Report on the Northern Ireland Survey: The Experience and Impact of the Troubles. INCORE University of Ulster and The United Nations University, 1999. 6. O. T. Muldoon and K. Trew, ‘Children's experience and adjustment to political conflict in Northern Ireland’, Journal of Management and Governance, Vol. 6, pp. 157–76, 2000. 7. J. Darby, ‘Conflict in Northern Ireland: A Background Essay’, in S. Dunn, ed., Facets of the Conflict in Northern Ireland, Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1995. 8. F. O'Connor, In Search of a State: Catholic in Northern Ireland, Belfast, Blackstaff, 1993. 9. Police Service of Northern Ireland Statistics (PSNI), September 2004, available at: www.psni.com>. 10. M. Smyth, Half the Battle: Understanding the Impact of the Troubles on Children and Young People, Derry/Londonderry, INCORE, University of Ulster, 1998. 11. Youth values: identity, diversity and social change (1997–99); Inventing adulthoods: young people's strategies for transition (1999–2001); and Youth transitions and social change (2002–6). 12. Seventeen hundred young people across the five research sites took part in a questionnaire in 1997; 847 of these were in Northern Ireland (476 males, 371 females); 121 young people in the Northern Ireland site took part in twenty-four focus group interviews and twenty-two in individual interviews. The Inventing adulthoods project continued to interview up to forty of these young people over three rounds. Thirty young people from Northern Ireland are currently involved in the project. 13. R. Thomson and J. Holland, ‘Hindsight, foresight and insight: the challenges of longitudinal qualitative research’, International Journal of Social Research Methods—Special Issue on Longitudinal Qualitative Methods, Vol. 6, pp. 233–44, 2003. 14. R. Thomson and J. Holland, ‘“Thanks for the memory”: memory books as a methodological resource in biographical research’, Qualitative Research, Vol. 5, pp. 201–219, 2005. 15. R. Edwards, J. Franklin and J. Holland, Families and Social Capital: Exploring the Issues, Working Paper No. 1, London: Families & Social Capital ESRC Research Group, 2003. 16. R. D. Putnam, ‘Foreword’, Housing Policy Debate, Vol. 9, pp. v–viii, 1998. 17. J. Reilly, C. Byrne and O. T. Muldoon, ‘Young men as victims and perpetrators of violence in Northern Ireland: a qualitative analysis’, Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 60, pp. 469–85, 2004. 18. M. Crozier, Young Men and Violence: From Theory to Practice, Young Men and Violence Project, Youth Action Northern Ireland, 2001. 19. S. McGrellis, S. Henderson, J. Holland, S. Sharpe and R. Thomson, Through the Moral Maze: A Quantitative Study of Young People's Values, London, The Tufnell Press, 2000. 20. Quotations are identified by the project (Youth Values or Fast Forward (ff), date and round). 21. S. McGrellis, ‘Pure and bitter spaces: gender, identity and territory in Northern Irish youth transitions’, Gender and Education, forthcoming. 22. P. Routledge, Critical geopolitics and terrains of resistance, Political Geography, Vol. 15, pp. 509–31, 1996. 23. K. Evans, “It's alright round here if you're a local”: community in the inner city’, in P. Hoggett, ed., Contested Communities: Experiences, Struggles, Policies, Cambridge, Polity Press, 1997. 24. A. Silke, ‘The impact of paramilitary vigilantism on victims and communities in Northern Ireland’, International Journal of Human Rights, Vol. 4, Spring, pp. 1–24, 2000. 25. J. Reilly, C. Byrne and O.T. Muldoon, ‘Young men as victims and perpetrators of violence in Northern Ireland: a qualitative analysis’, Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 60, pp. 469–85, 2004. 26. S. McGrellis, S. Henderson, J. Holland, S. Sharpe and R. Thomson, Through the Moral Maze: A Quantitative Study of Young People's Values, London, The Tufnell Press, 2000. 27. M. Smyth and M. Scott, ‘The YouthQuest 2000 Survey: a report on young people's views and experiences in Northern Ireland’, Derry/Londonderry, INCORE, University of Ulster, 2000. 28. He was subsequently cleared by the courts of any wrongdoing. 29. R. Thomson, R. Bell, J. Holland, S. Henderson, S. McGrellis and S. Sharpe, ‘Critical Moments: Choice, Chance and Opportunity in Young People's Narratives of Transition’, Sociology, Vol. 36, pp. 335–54, 2002. 30. R. J. Smith and T. Maughan, ‘Youth culture and the making of the post-fordist economy: dance music in contemporary Britain’, Journal of Youth Studies, Vol. 1, pp. 211–28, 1998. 31. S. McGrellis, ‘Pure and bitter spaces: gender, identity and territory in Northern Irish youth transitions’, Gender and Education, forthcoming. 32. R. Thomson, S. Henderson and J. Holland, ‘Making the most of what you've got? Resources, values and inequalities in young women's transition to adulthood’, Educational Review, Vol. 55, pp. 33–46, 2003. 33. The reported increase in racist attacks in Northern Ireland over the past few years suggests that the position of ethnic minority groups within this third space has become less secure (Jarman, 2003). 34. I. Shuttleworth, J. Anderson, R. Kitchin, K. Lysaght, A. Basten and D. McKinstry, Mapping the spaces of fear: socio-spatial causes and effects of violence in Northern Ireland, ESRC Violence Research Programme, Research Briefing, 2000. 35. M. deCertau, The Practice of Everyday Life, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1984. 36. M. Smyth, Borders Within Borders: Material and Ideological Segregation as Forms of Resistance and Strategies of Control, Templegrove Action Research Limited and University of Ulster Magee, 1996. 37. A. Feldman, Formations of Violence: The Narrative of the Body and Political Terror in Northern Ireland, London, University of Chicago Press, 1991. 38. M. Smyth, Borders Within Borders: Material and Ideological Segregation as Forms of Resistance and Strategies of Control, Templegrove Action Research Limited and University of Ulster Magee, 1996. 39. R. J. Brown and J. C. Turner, ‘Interpersonal and intergroup behaviour’, in J. Turner and H. Giles, eds, Intergroup Behaviour, Blackwell, Oxford, 1981. 40. M. R. Jackman and M. Crane, ‘“Some of my best friends are black”: interracial friendship and whites’ racial attitudes', Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 50, pp. 459–86, 1986. 41. P. Connolly with P. McGinn, ‘Sectarianism, children and community relations in Northern Ireland’, University of Ulster, Centre for Study of Conflict, 1999. 42. K. Trew, ‘Evaluating the impact of contact schemes for Catholic and Protestant children’, in J. Harbison, ed., Growing up in Northern Ireland, Belfast, Stranmillis College, 1989. 43. A. M. Gallagher, The Majority Minority Review No. 1: Education and Religion in Northern Ireland, Coleraine, Centre for the Study of Conflict, 1989. 44. E. Cairns and T. Cairns, ‘Children and conflict: a psychological perspective’, in S. Dunn, ed., Facets of the Conflict in Northern Ireland, Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1995. 45. E. Cairns, Children and Political Violence, Blackwell, Oxford, 1996. 46. P. Carmichael and J. Hughes, ‘Community relations in Northern Ireland: attitudes to contact and integration’, in G. Robinson et al., Social Attitudes in Northern Ireland: The Seventh Report, Hants, Ashgate, 1998. 47. J. Hughes, ‘Resolving community relations problems in Northern Ireland: an intra-community approach’, Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, Vol. 24, pp. 257–82, 2003. 48. M. Stringer, Can Intergroup Contact Change Children's Attitudes? Professorial Address, University of Ulster, 21 October, 2003. 49. A. Smith, Education and the conflict in Northern Ireland, in S. Dunn, ed., Facets of the Conflict in Northern Ireland, London, Macmillan, 1995. 50. Department of Education Northern Ireland (DENI), ‘Towards a culture of tolerance: education for diversity’, Report of the working group on the strategic promotion of Education for Mutual Understanding, Belfast, DENI, 1999, available at: www.deni.gov.uk>. 51. K. Heskin, Northern Ireland: A Psychological Analysis, Dublin, Gill and Macmillan, 1980. 52. K. Higgins, A. Percy and P. McCrystal, ‘Secular Trends in Substance Use: The Conflict and Young People in Northern Ireland’, Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 60, pp. 485–506, 2004. 53. N. Jarman and C. O'Halloran, ‘Recreational rioting: young people interface areas and violence’, Child Care in Practice, Vol. 7, pp. 2–16, 2001. 54. J. S. Coleman, ‘Prologue: constructed social organisation’, in P. Bourdieu and J. S. Colema, eds, Social Theory for a Changing Society, Oxford, Westview Press, 1991. 55. P. Connolly, ‘Race’ and Racism in Northern Ireland: A Review of the Research Evidence, Belfast, Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, 2002. 56. N. Jarman, ‘Victims and perpetrators, racism and young people in Northern Ireland’, Child Care in Practice, Vol. 9, pp. 129–39, 2003. 57. Community Relations Unit, A Shared Future: Improving Relations in Northern Ireland, Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, 2003, available at: asharedfutureni.gov.uk>