Month: July 2025

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Day 6: Derry/Londonderry – Dealing with the Past (Part 3)

Part 3: Free Derry Museum

Lastly, we visited the Free Derry Museum, which outlines Derry’s history in The Troubles, specifically highlighting Bloody Sunday when a British soldier opened fire on a peaceful anti-internment protest. The exhibit brought about themes of framing, both applicable to communications and peace and justice studies, as the British claimed that the protestors were violent gunmen, only to admit the truth in 2010. This also reflected the withholding of information by the British government, as we also saw at the Pat Finucane Centre in the cases that they encounter. The British are seen as framing this conflict in specific ways that undercut the violence and wrongdoings they inflicted upon people during this time. Framing is a powerful tool in both fields as it can encourage beliefs and biases that can be based on untrue or incomplete information. As Smith and Petty explain about framing in communications, “the extent to which messages are elaborated can be increased by employing message framing that is unexpected… a negative frame will induce greater processing when people expect positive framing, and vice versa” (1996, p. 267). This supports that the British government’s initial framing of Bloody Sunday may have limited public scrutiny until decades later, when the truth was finally revealed. As Benford and Snow note regarding framing in peace studies, “social movements are not viewed merely as carriers of extant ideas and meanings… Rather, movement actors are viewed as signifying agents actively engaged in the production and maintenance of meaning for constituents, antagonists, and bystanders or observers” (2000, p. 613). The Free Derry Museum, in this sense, acts as a counter-framing institution; it restores agency to the people of Derry, whose stories were once suppressed and bulldozed by Britain. 

Learn more about The Free Derry Museum: https://museumoffreederry.org/ 

At the museum, we had the honor of speaking with Caitlin Askin of the Bloody Sunday Trust about her experience as a first- and second-generation child of conflict in Derry. She spoke mainly about the transgenerational trauma that exists in Derry and how a lack of conversation leads to never reconciling with the horrors that the conflict created for this community. She said that the culture of “saying nothing” causes children to have to educate themselves as their parents do not deal with the traumas they have experienced as a result of The Troubles. Kids are left with unanswered questions and passed-down biases and beliefs. This is echoed in research which found that “the children of survivors interviewed expressed that their parents’ attempts to shield them from the conflict and from the parents’ experience of it were not successful. These children knew that something was happening with their parents, but did not know what” (Hanna et al., 2012, p. 73). Caitlin feels that while addressing the past must be done in order to move forward within communities, the reproduction of issues is an international challenge, as similar conflicts exist in other parts of the world, too. The report supports this view, noting that “the socio-psychological processes that have been implicated in the transmission of ‘trauma’ from one generation to the next are equally likely to apply in the Northern Ireland context as in any other conflict situation where the research has taken place” (Hanna et al., 2012, p. 21). If discussion, reconciliation, restorative justice, and peacebuilding can exist within Northern Ireland, the rest of the world may be better off for it as well. 

Learn more about Catitlin and the Bloody Sunday Trust: https://museumoffreederry.org/bloody-sunday-trust/ 

References

Benford, R. D., & Snow, D. A. (2000). Framing processes and social movements: An overview and assessment. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 611–639. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.26.1.611

Hanna, D., Dempster, M., Dyer, K., Lyons, E., & Devaney, L. (2012). Young people’s transgenerational issues in Northern Ireland. Commission for Victims and Survivors. https://www.cvsni.org

Smith, S. M., & Petty, R. E. (1996). Message framing and persuasion: A message processing analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22(3), 257–268. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167296223004

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Day 6: Derry/Londonderry – Dealing with the Past (Part 2)

Part 2: The Pat Finucane Centre

Our second host was the Pat Finucane Centre, “a non-party political, anti-sectarian human rights group advocating a non-violent resolution of the conflict on the island of Ireland” (Home, n.d.) We met Paul O’Connor, who spoke to us about the advocacy support the center provides for families whose relatives were harmed during The Troubles. He shared multiple cases with us, like 15-year-old Paul Whitter, who was shot by a rubber bullet in 1981. The file regarding this case had been closed by the Government Minister until 2058, but upon public pushback, it was opened to reveal that the bullets and guns fired by police and military during the conflict were faulty. He explained that families like Whitter’s do not come to the Pat Finucane Centre for compensation or justice, but more for information and official recognition by the legal system. As Zehr writes, “Victims need answers to questions they have about the offense—why it happened and what has happened since. They need real information, not speculation or the legally constrained information that comes from a trial or plea agreement” (Zehr, 2002, p. 22). This acknowledgement, though, as Mr. O’Connor made clear, requires information to be shared, a challenge that the centre encounters more often than not. Public Interest Immunity allows the British government to redact information without question, often leaving out vital information for families to understand what occurred, and The Legacy Bill has posed new challenges as it limits new cases from being opened. Zehr writes that “restorative justice requires, at minimum, that we address victims’ harms and needs, hold offenders accountable to put right those harms, and involve victims, offenders, and communities in this process” (Zehr, 2002, p. 40). The conversation with Mr. O’Connor demonstrated that reconciliation must include acknowledgement of the past and that justice is about dignity that can only be achieved through truth. 

 

Learn more the Pat Finucane Centre: https://www.patfinucanecentre.org/
Learn more about Public Interest Immunity: https://www.lexisnexis.co.uk/legal/guidance/public-interest-immunity
Learn more about The Legacy Bill: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-66648806#:~:text=Brandon%20Lewis%20said%20the%20legislation,on%20to%20families%20and%20victims%22. 

 

References

BBC News. (2023, September 5). What is the Northern Ireland Legacy Bill? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-66648806

Home. (n.d.). Pat Finucane Centre. https://www.patfinucanecentre.org/

LexisNexis. (n.d.). Justice and Security Act 2013 (c. 18). https://www.lexisnexis.co.uk/legal/legislation/uk-parliament-acts/justice-and-security-act-2013-c18

Zehr, H. (2002). The little book of restorative justice (Revised and updated ed.). Good Books.

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Day 6: Derry/Londonderry – Dealing with the Past (Part 1)

Part 1: New Gate Arts and Cultural Center

Today we woke up in Derry and had the privilege of visiting three different organizations, all of which spoke to us about their work and the personal experiences of the individuals who hosted us.

We began the day at New Gate Arts and Cultural Center, where we met three self-described loyalists who were a part of the origins of the organization and remain active today. Brian, the CEO, explained that the center came from grassroots loyalist activism in the community of Derry. He described that loyalists here felt isolated and unwelcome in their republican majority communities. Even after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, segregation and social exclusion persisted, especially among young people. In these communities, bands became a haven for youth to create connections and express themselves. This sparked the beginnings of the center.

Learn more about the New Gate Arts and Cultural Center: https://www.newgatearts.com/ 

Photos from https://www.newgatearts.com/about 

The most striking conversation that took place at the center was about the lack of support the protestant community felt after the Good Friday Agreement. While most reconciliation conversations on our trip have focused on justice for republicans, this was the first from a loyalist perspective. Brad explained that the loyalist community in Derry realized that the British government would not provide them with the necessary resources to rebuild their communities. Even though loyalist communities had committed their lives, and some of them lost, to the cause, they felt abandoned by the British government to rebuild on their own. Howard Zehr writes in Restorative Justice that “[w]hether we have victimized or have been victimized, the journey from brokenness and isolation to transcendence and belonging requires us to re-narrate our stories so that they are no longer just about shame and humiliation but ultimately about dignity and triumph” (2002, p. 35). The community turned to NGOs, non-governmental organizations, and private fundraising to provide sources, like the New Gate Arts and Cultural Center, to do their own reconciliation.

The center uses art as a way of reaching people and responding to a need, as music is so popular in this community. Band members look out for each other’s mental health and well-being and build bridges between different identities through a common connection. Older band members can mentor to younger ones, passing down history and legacy. By speaking about these issues, band members mitigate passing down trauma, a theme that became more prevalent as the day went on. As one therapist in a study on intergenerational trauma in Northern Ireland recounted, “I had a client recently who was an ex-paramilitary in his 60s saying that he was out with a few of his ex-comrades and they all realised after discussing it that they had all been experiencing the same symptoms but they just hadn’t been talking to each other about it … and that was very powerful for him to realise he wasn’t just mad or weak” (Day & Shloim, 2021, p. 9). Community spaces like New Gate foster connections that can break cycles of silence and shame.

 

References

About, New Gate Arts & Culture Centre, Londonderry. (2023). Newgatearts. https://www.newgatearts.com/about

Day, N., & Shloim, N. (2021). Therapists’ experiences of working with the intergenerational impact of Troubles-related trauma. Psychotherapy and Politics International, 19(2), e1585. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppi.1585

Zehr, H. (2014). The little book of restorative justice (Revised and updated ed.). Good Books.

Day 5 – Visiting the Border Region
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Day 5 – Visiting the Border Region

Today, June 5th, our Peace Communication class had the privilege of being guided by two knowledgeable people who have different connections to the conflict: Lee Lavis, a former British soldier, and Declan Murphy, councilor of the Camlough Community Association. We started the day off by driving to an unassuming, walled off part of Camlough, which we learned was where some British military and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) were stationed with helicopters and watch points. We continued our travels, making stops at a monument for the Irish who died in 1916, a cemetery, and the Garden of Remembrance, a dedication to volunteers of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the people of South Armagh who were a part of the struggle for a united and independent Ireland.

As Declan spoke in front of the wall, his telling of the past made it clear that propaganda was a huge driving force in the conflict and the British forces’ ability to have leverage over their objectors– particularly by controlling the narrative through popular media sources such as the BBC and The Sun. Declan remarked that the BBC was a major driving force in spreading propaganda about the actions of the British and that they often directly took the statements of the RUC in the aftermath of violent incidents and put their narrative forward as the truth. The actions by the BBC, especially when it came to portraying the British military and government in relation to the North of Ireland, connect to Cultivation Theory– that media, particularly television, largely shapes our perceptions of reality. In application, the BBC’s presenting of the RUC’s statements as fact, even though statements released by paramilitaries defied their narratives or showed concrete proof of falsities, directly influenced the way that viewers of the BBC came to understand The Troubles.

On a similar note, Lee added that the language that each side chose to use was intentional and that through the years, he had made a mindful decision to exclude words like “terrorist” from his vocabulary. He said, “Terrorism is a way of naming something to stop questions.” When listening to members of the RUC on Day 3, they often utilized “terrorist” to describe resistance forces and did not do further investigation of who the supposed terrorists were. The difference in language and conscious choice in labeling leans into Message Framing Theory– that even slight changes to the presentation of information can create different perceptions. The RUC’s blanket labeling of IRA volunteers as terrorists can lead to an uncritical condemnation of them on the basis of an adjective being applied. When considering the Republicans’ description of their own actions as “freedom-fighting”, there is much more of a positive connotation applied, even if it does not address their actions. The terms that each side chooses to apply to themselves and others shapes the way that their audiences receive their actions, especially if they are only hearing the message framing from one side.

Ultimately, there is a lot to be reflected on when considering propaganda and the role it played, and continues to play in the perception of The Troubles. Without recognizing these important communication theories, audiences who trust media like the BBC can be swayed without receiving the full breadth of the truth. This complicates the idea that people, especially young people, should look beyond online media and rely largely on news networks, seeing that they can have an agenda in the defense of governments and institutions, instead of providing unfiltered narratives.

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Dublin Blog Post

Today, our study abroad group ventured into Dublin, which is in the Republic of Ireland. This was our first time heading outside of Northern Ireland (also known as North of Ireland) and it was interesting to technically be in a different country for the day. We went to see the General Post Office, which is a post office – turned museum in the heart of Dublin. It commemorates the Easter Rising of 1916, a turning point in Irish history. 

As we approached the museum we got our first look into what took place during the Easter Rising: bullet holes, still scarring the outside of the building. Once inside, we went on a solo auditory tour to look at the timeline of the Easter Rising. During the early 1900s, the area around the General Post Office was suffering from intense poverty and was classified as one of the worst places to live in the United Kingdom. The infant mortality rate was incredibly high – 147 out of 1,000 infants did not survive past one year old – and British occupation was suffocating. This led to the forming of nationalist groups, which were made up of Irish people who wanted Ireland to have home rule or to be completely free of British rule. As we walked through the museum, we learned about the planning, execution, and results of the Easter Rising. The headquarters of the nationalists leaders was in the General Post Office, which is where they planned out their revolt against British rule. 

This was a fascinating era to focus on, as it is a good demonstration of the longevity of liberation movements. The Easter Rising was not actually successful right away; the British army beat the nationalists after many casualties. That being said, we learned that this was just the beginning of the modern Irish movement for independence. A timeline in the museum laid out events from the end of the Easter Rising to 2016. This is also a good example of the theory of transgenerational trauma. Transgenerational trauma is trauma – the response to something awful happening – that is passed down through generations. This can be through genetics, experiences, or both. In any violent revolt, trauma is inevitable, but when the fight for independence is ongoing, transgenerational trauma is likely to occur. The fight for Irish independence has spanned generations, from the Easter Rising in 1916 to The Troubles starting in 1968 and ending in 1998. The constant violence and threat of violence combined with many different sides experiencing loss and looming British rule would result in biological effects on the families involved. This is passed down through generations and as generations keep experiencing trauma, the cycle will continue. 

While this is an upsetting reality, visiting the General Post Office (and other lessons we’ve learned throughout our time here) has taught us something else: that peace and justice is possible and the process has already started. After this educational visit to the museum, our group got to explore the surrounding areas and see Dublin city life.

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Blog Post Day 2

Today, our group visited two key locations that reflect the ongoing journey of peacebuilding in Northern Ireland: the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) headquarters and an integrated school. These visits helped us understand how institutions and communities have had to communicate and reconnect within their own cultural context. The experience provided a powerful lens through which we could examine the importance of intracultural communication in post-conflict reconciliation.

At the PSNI headquarters, we learned about the historical and emotional significance of policing in Northern Ireland. Over 400 police officers lost their lives during the Troubles, and that legacy still shapes public memory. The PSNI was created following the Good Friday Agreement, and much of its structure was influenced by the Patten Report, which laid out many recommendations for police reform. These recommendations aimed to create a police force that would be accepted by both Protestant and Catholic communities. What stood out most was how policing was often a family tradition, deeply rooted in identity. Officers were not just serving a professional role but also embodying a cultural narrative passed down through generations.

This highlighted how the police force had to engage in a form of internal cultural negotiation. Officers and community members alike had to rethink what policing meant and how it could evolve to serve everyone fairly. That required conversations that were deeply personal and often difficult. Intracultural communication became essential for this transformation. It involved individuals from different parts of the same society confronting their histories, values, and assumptions. The shift away from a militarized model of policing to one focused on human rights and community trust was not only structural but also emotional. The PSNI had to reach out to communities that had long viewed them with suspicion and fear, and this effort depended on honest, patient dialogue within the society itself.

In the afternoon, we visited an integrated school where Catholic and Protestant children are educated together. The school began with only a few students and mobile classrooms, created by parents who wanted a different future for their children. Today, it stands as a symbol of hope and unity. The goal of the school is not to ignore cultural and religious differences but to provide a space where those differences can be acknowledged without conflict. This was another clear example of intracultural communication in action. The school facilitates an environment where children can grow up learning how to live alongside others from different backgrounds within their own society.

The success of the integrated school model reflects the power of everyday interactions in shaping broader societal change. Children who attend these schools are more likely to see each other as equals, to form friendships across religious lines, and to challenge inherited prejudices. In both the PSNI and the school, we saw how deep, sustained intracultural communication helps a society heal from division. Reconciliation in Northern Ireland is not just about political agreements; it is about how people within the same cultural group learn to trust, understand, and move forward together.

 

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Monday Afternoon

The Northern Ireland conflict(the troubles) is often considered to have been a clash between the protestants and catholic communities within the 6 counties of northern Ireland, with the third party being the British army, which was seen from both sides as the keeper of peace and protection in the 70s when violence had erupted, it is with this context that we recognize each of the individuals on either sides had a different experience and role at the time, we then delved into understanding what the status quo today is post the good friday agreement.

In a powerful afternoon panel discussion comprised of a former Irish republican prisoner who grew up as a Catholic in a Protestant neighborhood, a former loyalist prisoner from North Belfast, and a former British soldier posted in the region at the time of the troubles shared their lived experiences and present day experiences, moving the discourse from the concept of “them versus us” to “we as a community” in Northern Ireland. They each acknowledged that the conflict went beyond religion and was more of a constitutional issue, recognizing that there were no significant differences between Catholics and Protestants at the core. They spoke about the power of collaboration with each other today in understanding their roles in the Troubles and taking accountability for the flaws of all sides in the story, telling these stories to help young people understand what they can do differently today, especially since they had all joined these entities before turning 18. They emphasized how young people can engage in bridging the gaps across communities and move away from the absolutist mindsets and ideologies that had taken root in Belfast during the Troubles. 

Reconciliation is an overarching process that includes the search for truth, justice, forgiveness, healing, and so on; therefore, both a goal and a process (Bloomfield et al, 2003). reports highlight that despite significant peacebuilding efforts segregation in education, economic deprivation and structural inequalities still hinders its success(Watt,2023), on the aspect of reconciliation the panelists explained that reconciliation is not about forgiving and forgetting or memory revision, but about accepting the past and looking forward, aware of the deep-seated trauma of division and advocating for more dialogue and social integration between the different sides of the communities as the path to healing while also recognising that there is new aspects in the community like immigrants.

The panelists ended the discusion sharing some of their regrets, which included ending contact with friends and family, harming many people, including their own neighbors, and the impact of the unresolved trauma on their loved ones.with an expression of gratitude for the interconnected era of social media, which has made young people more aware of the present circumstances, histories, and empowered them to advocate for peace, both within their communities and internationally,they hope that collaborative discussions such as this will resonate with young people within and outside of Northern Ireland to be active participants of dialogues that foster peace. 

Resources. 

Bloomfield, D., Callaghan, N., Chea, V., Freeman, M., Hamber, B., Hayner, P. B., Huyse, L., Uvin, P., Vandeginste, S., & White, I. (2003). Reconciliation After Violent Conflict: A handbook (D. Bloomfield, T. Barnes, & L. Huyse, Eds.). International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. https://www.idea.int/sites/default/files/publications/reconciliation-after-violent-conflict-handbook.pdf 

Ann Watt.Reconciliation and deprivation – twin challenges for Northern Ireland. (2023, May 25). Pivotal Public Policy Forum.Reconciliation and deprivation – twin challenges for Northern Ireland | Pivotal Public Policy Forum  

a group picture with the panelists and participants of the trip

The tree in the background represents branches of collaborative peace built through the shared space.

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Second day!

This morning, we met with Professor Bill Rolston, who introduced us to the Murals and the Peace Walls by sharing the history and context to understand the complexity behind Northern Ireland and Ireland’s issues today. We later went on a mural and Peace Wall tour. We took a tour with former combatants from each side of the wall, where they had an opportunity to explain their perspective of the conflict. On one side, the former combatant met us on Conor’s Corner. Then, they took us down Shankill Road, where we stopped at different memorial sites as they explained some history behind each place. During the walk, we passed by a building where the Shankill Road bombing took place during the Troubles. I had a moment when I was able to look at the building for a bit, and I noticed a clock on the building. I saw the people around me, and I couldn’t help but reflect that I was standing in the same place where people had felt so much pain, trauma, and suffering, where people at one point in time were screaming, crying, and essentially dying. I was introduced to something new by having that moment of self-reflection that complicated my thinking that “people should just move forward and bring down the peace walls.” These deeply traumatic experiences can’t just be erased. For the first time, I started to understand how moments like those can cause people to feel unsafe living so close to the other group. The trauma they carry is so deep that telling them to “just bring the peace wall down” feels unrealistic and inconsiderate. Seeing firsthand made me realize how experiences like that can shape a person’s life for a long time after the violence has ended, especially if they live within walking distance of the community that was responsible.

The separation of the Protestant and Catholic communities and the walking tours reminded me of Social Identity Theory (SIT). Social identity theory explains that people are motivated to have a positive self-image (Rodriguez, 2024). Creating a positive self-image is influenced by personal and social identity (Rodriguez, 2024). Personal identity refers to individual traits, values, qualities, and choices, such as a personal experience that explains what shaped their belief in their identity (Rodriguez, 2024). An example of personal identity displayed was when one tour guide disclosed why they joined a group at a young age. They mentioned they were thinking that they were “fighting terrorists, not freedom fighters” as a means to maintain that positive self-image and avoid mental discomfort.

In contrast, social identity is an individual’s self-perception of a shared identity with a group or group membership, such as identifying as a Catholic or Protestant. An example of social identity we could observe was the presence of flags. We walked past over a hundred different types of flags in just three hours. The flags had a symbolic meaning that tied them to their identity. One side of Belfast had flags of Britain, Israel, or Ukraine, and the other had Ireland or Palestinian flags. The flags could be seen outside windows, on poles, all over the streets, and on people’s shirts.

During the process of individuals categorizing themselves to perceive themselves in a positive light, they create in-groups and out-groups. For example, the tour guide would identify with whichever group they see in a positive light. Similarly, the flags are a symbolic way of creating pride when people look out and see everyone around them with the same flags, and by displaying one, they identify with that in-group.

Furthermore, the theory claims that when individuals perceive themselves as part of an out-group, they try to find ways to improve their self-image (Rodriguez, 2024). During this process, they engage in one of the three strategies: exit, pass, and voice (Rodriguez, 2024). “Exit” is when people leave that group identity (Rodriguez, 2024). An example was when our first tour guide identified as an ex-Loyalist. This gives us the idea that the person wants to separate themselves from that identity and no longer wishes to be part of that out-group. The second strategy, “pass,” is when people hide their identity to blend in. (Rodriguez, 2024). The same ex-Loyalist also displayed “pass” and downplaying his group identity by not mentioning they were Protestant. He just mentioned that he was an ex-Loyalist, which can be seen as the passing of an ex-Loyalist identity and avoiding religion’s identity’s role in the conflict. The third strategy is “voice,” when people try to elevate and change the group’s meaning (Rodriguez, 2024). We saw this done by both ex-combatants; they conducted educational walks that gave more context to things and acknowledged their traumas and pains so that we could understand their group on a deeper level.

In all, identifying and learning about the layers behind the experiences and lived traumas gives us a better understanding of the complexity behind issues like taking down the peace wall.

 

Reference:

Rodriguez, J. (2024). Social identity theory. Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health.