Northern Ireland in Transition
HC 434/CRES 410 - Winter 2010
M/W 10:00-11:20
Earl 1
Prof. Shaul Cohen
scohen@uoregon.edu
Condon 107G Tel 6-4500
This course will use Northern Ireland as a primary case to focus on social conflict, territorial disputes, and options for moving toward political accommodations. It will touch upon a range of issues that reflect the broad impact of zero sum conflicts, and examine the ways in which they have been changing in recent years. The course will explore structural elements that are part of the Catholic-Protestant/Republican-Nationalist-Unionist-Loyalist struggle, as well as the narratives that stem from and contribute to the encompassing dispute. In lecture and discussion we will move among several different scales as we incorporate the experience of the individual, the community, and the nation(s) and attempt to identify strategies that help mitigate or transform the zero sum situation that has characterized much of Northern Ireland through the period of the Troubles.
Requirements:
Regular attendance and participation in discussions is
essential for the success of the course. Reading material should be
prepared in advance of our meetings. You will be graded on a quiz
demonstrating familiarity with Northern Ireland's parties and players for 10% of the final grade, a "position
paper," an in-class simulation (as part of a working group) weeks 9 and 10 of
the term, and a final summary. Each of these will be worth 30% of
the grade. I am happy to
accommodate students with special-ed needs, please contact me at the beginning
of the term to make the necessary arrangements.
Readings:
Much of our reading material has been collated on the CAIN
website(Conflict Archive on the INternet) which can be found at
cain.ulster.ac.uk , and has an enormous
collection of original and secondary sources relating to the conflict in
Northern Ireland. For an ongoing discussion
of current events in Northern Ireland, plus commentary on various bits and
pieces, you can browse the Slugger
O'Toole blog. Additional weekly readings will be available through
Blackboard.
Week 1
Read John Darby's introduction to the conflict on the CAIN website,
http://cain.ulster.ac.uk/events/peace/darby03.htm . Darby is a former
director of INCORE, the center for conflict resolution at the University of
Ulster - Magee in Derry/Londonderry.
Week 2
Read Claire Mitchell's 2003 "Protestant Identification and Political Change
in Northern Ireland," Ethnic and Racial Studies 26(4):612-631, and
her 2005 piece "Catholicism and the Construction of Communal Identity in
Northern Ireland" in Irish Journal of Sociology 14(1):110-130.
Week 3
Read
Peter Shirlow's 2003 "Ethno-sectarianism and the Reproduction of Fear in
Belfast" in Capital and Class #80:77-93, Nagle's "Divided
Belfast," and Eureka Street.
Please note, Eureka Street will only be available after Tuesday of this week. Terms Test on
Wednesday!
Week 4
Read Sheena McGrellis' "Pure and bitter spaces: Gender, identity and
territory in Northern Irish youth transitions," in Gender and Education
17(5), and Graham & Whelan, "The legacies of the dead: Commemorating the
Troubles in Northern Ireland".
Week 5
Read Fealty
et al.'s 2003 A Long Peace: The Future of Unionism in Northern Ireland
(not nearly as long as it looks!), and Graham and Shirlow, "An Elusive Agenda".
Week 6
Graham and Nash 2006 "A Shared Future: Territoriality, Pluralism, and
Public Policy in Northern Ireland," Political Geography 25:253-278.
Week 7
Read Cohen's "Winning while losing: The Apprentice Boys of
Derry walk their beat" in Political Geography 26(8) and de Vries and de
Paor, "Healing and Reconciliation in the L.I.V.E. Program in Ireland".
Week 8
Douglas, "The politics of accommodation, social change, and conflict
resolution in Northern Ireland," Political Geography 17(2): 209-229,
1998.
Week 9
Negotiations
Week 10
Negotiations continue