Cartographies of Conflict: Belfast, 1969-1994

All Cartographies of Conflict project posts.

I am part of a new project called "Cartographies of Conflict: Belfast, 1969-1994". The project, funded by the AHRC and running from May 2015 for three years, assesses the impact that the Troubles had on the architecture of Belfast’s residential communities. There are many visible architectural remnants of the Troubles in Belfast, most notably the ‘peace-walls’ between a number of Protestant and Catholic communities. However, looking beyond the immediately visible we can see examples of divisive architecture within individual communities in Belfast. Housing developments, roads, landscaping and other structures completed during the period of the Troubles continue to divide and fragment communities. For example, streets that once provided pedestrian and vehicular access to services were closed off or restricted through the erection of barriers, landscaping or the placement of new housing. Many of the open terraced streets that formed the fabric of the inner city were redeveloped in the form of inward looking cul-de-sacs. These changes to the architecture of Belfast have changed the city’s appearance and have had an impact on how people move around their immediate areas.

The main aims of the project:

• Identify the relevant architecture throughout the city.
• Engage communities to attain detailed information on how people interact with this architecture.
• Use the research and engagement to inform policy discussions nationally and internationally.

The project consists of a city-wide study of Belfast’s relevant Troubles era architecture in order to gauge the extent and impact of the changes to the built environment that occurred in the period, and that continue to have an impact on the daily lives of the people who live in the areas. Firstly, the relevant architecture was identified through research and consultation with the local communities in six case study areas. These residents were engaged in order to find out what people actually think about this ‘divisive architecture’ (or what we now call "hidden barriers") and how it affects their daily lives, if at all. The research will then be used to help inform policy discussions relevant to the areas and the issues they face. Finally, the lessons for other communities nationally and internationally are being considered from the research and engagement carried out as part of this project.

Project Team: David Coyles (PI), Donovan Wylie (CI), Brandon Hamber (CI), Greg Lloyd (CI) and partners at the London School of Economics (LSE, Ann Power), as well as researchers Adrian Grant (Ulster) and Laura Lane (LSE).

See all the posts and activities about Cartographies of Conflict project.

Dealing with Painful Memories and Violent Pasts

My article "Dealing with Painful Memories and Violent Pasts. Towards a Framework for Contextual Understanding" has now been published in the Berghof Handbook Dialogue Series No.11.

The article reflects on the role of different approaches for dealing with painful memories and violent pasts. In it I explore how different dimensions – interpersonal and intergroup relations, memories and identities at the individual and collective level – relate to one another. I also address how one can constructively address victim identities and cultures of victimhood that may stem from painful or traumatic experiences in light of my work in South Africa and Northern Ireland, among other locales.

You can download the paper by clicking here.

Together: Building a United Community Strategy

In May 2013 the Northern Ireland Executive published 'Together: Building a United Community' Strategy which it stated signalled the "Executive’s commitment to improving community relations and continuing the journey towards a more united and shared society".

In autumn 2014, The Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister (OFMdFM) launched an Inquiry into the Building a United Community Strategy (TBUC) and called for submissions. Some 70 organisations responded to the call.

On 21 January 2014 I was asked to give evidence to the Committee about the Strategy. Here are my opening comments to the Committee.

Key Documents

Input by Professor Brandon Hamber to the Committee of OFMdFM

Terms of Reference of the Committee

'Together: Building a United Community' Strategy

Responses to the Consultation

OFMdFM Updates on Together: Building a United Community

Stormont House Agreement

After 11 weeks of talks at Stormont, this agreement was reached with Northern Ireland’s political leaders, providing a new approach to some of the most difficult issues left over from Northern Ireland’s past. It offers a new start and a far more hopeful future, but will need continued hard work to ensure it fulfils its promise.

• The Stormont House Agreement
• The Stormont House Agreement - Financial Annex

Psychosocial, Peacebuilding and Social Change

Hamber, Brandon, Gallagher, Elizabeth and Ventevogel, Peter (2014) Narrowing the gap between psychosocial practice, peacebuilding and wider social change: an introduction to the Special Section in this issue. Intervention: Journal of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Conflict Affected Area, 12 (1), 7-15 [Download]

Reconciliation

Duncan Morrow in the US Institute of Peace Insight Newsletter (Fall 2014) noted “Reconciliation,” according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, means “to make friendly again after an estrangement” and “to make acquiescent or contentedly submissive to something previously disagreeable”….. Classical peacemaking focuses on the first definition, with its emphasis on mutual friendship and the making of new relationships on all sides. Politics … has often seen reconciliation in the second sense, as something the loser in a conflict must do to come to terms with reality.”

There is a view, as outlined by Morrow above, that reconciliation aims at rebuilding fractured relationships after a conflict. This objective is pursued through dialogue, sharing stories, mediation, or other peacebuilding activities that convene individuals, groups, or communities. The purpose of such activity is to foster those deep and lasting connections across the society considered essential to sustainable peace.

It is challenging to think of political entities engaging in such work, as the Morrow quotation indirectly implies. In politics, claims Morrow, reconciliation has a harder edge and reconciliation is more about the loser becoming “contentedly submissive” with the victor after a conflict ends.

Relationships at all levels matter following political conflict, as they determine whether and how the progress to peace and stability will be made. In a divided society, building a new road is never simply a technical task—it invariably requires negotiation and discussion about the benefits for each actor. Inevitably, harms due to past violence, even in the most mundane of policy decisions, will surface during that process.

Reconciliation is not about a simple decision to cooperate, or designing processes so former adversaries can work together with the long-term aspiration that deeper connections will follow. This could result in a forgive-and-forget mentality or, if Morrow is right, an approach akin to getting on with “negative peace” in a resigned manner. This approach is not conducive to long-term stability or what I understand reconciliation to be.

In the short-term, coexistence and cooperation might be all that is possible. However, if lasting peace is to be guaranteed, we cannot avoid addressing relationships in a deliberate and strategic way. Justice, apology, reparations, acknowledgement, and healing are part of this process— issues that are not separate from reconciliation but central to it.

Published by Brandon Hamber in US Institute of Peace Insight Newsletter (Fall 2014), click the link to also see  alerie Rosoux's Response to my comments and other articles on reconciliation in the edition.