{"id":25,"date":"2026-06-17T01:37:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T01:37:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.chapman.edu\/peacecomm2026\/?p=25"},"modified":"2026-06-17T01:37:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T01:37:37","slug":"afternoon-of-june-6th-derry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.chapman.edu\/peacecomm2026\/2026\/06\/17\/afternoon-of-june-6th-derry\/","title":{"rendered":"Afternoon of June 6th – Derry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Beginning our afternoon with a Tour of the Fountain Estate, our lovely tour guide, Glenn, described the deep social divisions between Loyalist and Republican areas, revealing certain tells of which side you were on. Ranging from the type of clothes you wore to what instrument(s) you played, early memories of Glenn growing up in a Protestant family and in high conflict areas were marked by running into his Grandma\u2019s house with the sound of gunfire in the background, to looking underneath his Dad\u2019s car every morning for a \u201cbox\u201d (aka a bomb, considering his Dad was a member of the UDR and was a common target for the IRA). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although there is only one serious peace wall in the area, gates that would be shut during curfew can still be seen; the walls are entirely open and fully walkable, as contrasted with Belfast\u2019s gates still closing every night. The estate itself is built with a defensive architecture, with houses facing inward in a circular fort, symbolizing the metaphorical idea of \u201cyour backs to the rest of the world\u201d (Glenn, Personal Communication, June 6, 2026). In this sense, there is a safety in ignoring what was going on outside the gates and the peace wall, bringing forth a childhood of gates, fences, and no-go areas. This, combined with the constant British symbols and paintings in Protestant communities (such as the red, white, and blue on sidewalk curbs), represents a claim to the territory.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Following the tour, in an interview with Glenn, topics such as removing the peace wall, politics, music, and Northern Ireland’s representation globally were discussed. However, the discussion on music in particular reminded me of Social Identity Theory (SIT)<\/a>. Social Identity Theory proposes that individuals define themselves partly through the social groups they belong to, using group membership to understand their place in the world and to achieve a positive sense of self (Tajfel and Turner, 1986). Music at the time was a subculture deemed completely separate from the ongoing violent conflict between the two communities, and was a way for individuals to shed a dominant social mask. Music was separate from reality, offered as a distraction that let you be whoever you wanted to be. While the common social identities of being either Protestant or Catholic, Unionist or Loyalist, and British or Irish commonly developed many individuals\u2019 sense of purpose, the actions they took, and the communities they belonged to, music offered a rare space that existed outside of those rigid categories. In a society where identity was so heavily policed, literally and socially, the ability to step outside of your assigned group, even temporarily, was significant. This complicates a straightforward reading of SIT. Rather than simply reinforcing this idea of in-group belonging, music served as a form of resistance to an individual’s dominant social identity when the stakes of that identity felt too heavy to carry. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Taking a look into the Peacebuilder Exhibition<\/a> (housed in the Gasyard Centre<\/a> in the Bogside), this museum traces 30 years of conflict, community resilience, and the long road to peace in Northern Ireland, told largely through the lens of 3 Derry men: John Hume<\/a>, Martin McGuinness, and Mitchel McLaughlin. The story the museum tells begins on August 1, 1972, the day after Operation Motorman, when thousands of British soldiers invaded Free Derry, dismantling the barricades that had turned the Bogside, Creggan, and Brandywell into a self-governing no-go zone since 1969. From there, insight into political conflicts with the British government, the intense hunger strike<\/a> strategy for political prisoner status (March 1981), the development of Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> and its growing political status, the 1994 ceasefire, and the eventual road toward the Good Friday Agreement<\/a> in 1998 was displayed. <\/p>\n\n\n

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*A recreation of what a prison cell would\u2019ve looked like during the \u201cDirty Protest\u201d lasting from 1978-1981 in the Peacebuilder Museum<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After finishing up exploring the exhibit, we then had an insightful conversation with Glenn and his wife, Aiveen, at Gasyard. Being a mixed couple, Glenn from the Protestant community and Aiveen from the Catholic community, their insight into growing up with violence and prejudice established a struggle for identity, the social pressure to remain divided (or be ostracized), and frustrations over how Northern Ireland is represented to others. While the Troubles\/Conflict<\/a> is an important aspect of history to be reviewed and remembered, Glenn and Aiveen shared how hundreds of years of Ireland\u2019s overarching history and culture should be more recognized. Further topics, such as \u201ctrauma tourism\u201d and the exploitation of violence for revenue, showed how identity in Northern Ireland becomes simplified to a 30-year period in time. Additionally, Glenn and Aiveen\u2019s hopes for further investment in the arts and wider accessibility for creation and expression, the idea of reunification and the creation of a \u201cNew Ireland,\u201d as well as paving a new path for their daughter amidst a struggling economy and the region\u2019s \u201cup in the air\u201d future, allowed our group to deeply reflect. If culture is continuous, how will it develop in Northern Ireland? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CAIN Web Service. (n.d.). Conflict and politics in Northern Ireland.<\/em> Ulster University. https:\/\/cain.ulster.ac.uk<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CAIN Web Service. (n.d.). The 1981 hunger strike.<\/em> Ulster University. https:\/\/cain.ulster.ac.uk\/events\/hstrike<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gasyard Centre. (n.d.). Home.<\/em> https:\/\/www.gasyardcentre.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hume, J. (1998). John Hume \u2014 biographical.<\/em> Nobel Prize Organisation. https:\/\/www.nobelprize.org\/prizes\/peace\/1998\/hume\/biographical<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peacemakers Museum Derry. (n.d.). Home.<\/em> https:\/\/www.peacemakersmuseumderry.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sinn F\u00e9in. (n.d.). Home.<\/em> https:\/\/www.sinnfein.ie<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In S. Worchel & W. G. Austin (Eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations<\/em> (pp. 276\u2013293). Nelson-Hall. https:\/\/christosaioannou.com\/Tajfel%20and%20Turner%201986.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

UK Government. (1998). The Belfast Agreement.<\/em> https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/the-belfast-agreement<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beginning our afternoon with a Tour of the Fountain Estate, our lovely tour guide, Glenn, described the deep social divisions between Loyalist and Republican areas, revealing certain tells of which side you were on. Ranging from the type of clothes you wore to what instrument(s) you played, early memories of Glenn growing up in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":223,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.chapman.edu\/peacecomm2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.chapman.edu\/peacecomm2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.chapman.edu\/peacecomm2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.chapman.edu\/peacecomm2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/223"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.chapman.edu\/peacecomm2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.chapman.edu\/peacecomm2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.chapman.edu\/peacecomm2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.chapman.edu\/peacecomm2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.chapman.edu\/peacecomm2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}