In this paper I address the position of Northern Irish Protestants within (or without) discourses... more In this paper I address the position of Northern Irish Protestants within (or without) discourses of colonialism and postcolonialism on the island of Ireland. I contend that this position is a problematic one, which calls into question certain assumptions about the colonial or postcolonial nature of Ireland historically and in the present day. Further, I suggest much theory on the subject neglects the complexities of the relationship between contemporary Northern Irish Protestants and the seventeenth-century colonisation of Ulster. This is a pity, because it limits understanding of the historical and ongoing conflict in Northern Ireland, as well as concepts of identity and place. I use an autobiographical methodology as a means of reflecting on the multiplicity of individual stories, and the role they might play in opening out discussion of colonial legacies and postcolonial contexts in Northern Ireland and Ireland today.
Imaginings and uses of place in Northern Ireland are characterised frequently by sectarianism, le... more Imaginings and uses of place in Northern Ireland are characterised frequently by sectarianism, leading to the strict territorialisation of space along cultural, political and religious dividing lines. It is argued that such geographies underpin the six counties' ongoing intercommunal conflict. Extrapolating from the work of feminist economic geographers J. K. Gibson-Graham, this paper suggests that in order to fracture the
The concept of belonging in place acquires particular intricacy in the context of Northern Irelan... more The concept of belonging in place acquires particular intricacy in the context of Northern Ireland, where strong territorial imperatives come into intimate conflict. This paper aims to unfold some of the complexities of imagining the province as a place, and the difficulties involved in claiming belonging there, drawing attention to the apparently ongoing refusal to share the ownership of spaces.
This article examines imaginings and uses of place in the city of Belfast which challenge the con... more This article examines imaginings and uses of place in the city of Belfast which challenge the conventionally gendered and sectarian place discourses dominating politics and society in Northern Ireland. These alternative imaginings are articulated in two artworks, ‘Home’, by Mary McIntyre, and ‘Street Signs’, by Aisling O'Beirn. I present readings of these pieces with reference to concepts of public and private which signify through socio-political, geographical and psychological orderings of space. Focusing on the construction of public and private space allows me to approach the issue of sectarian territorialisation in Belfast obliquely, while recognising its physical and psychological potency and the complexity of its operations; further, it facilitates the exploration of how gender and memory are made to matter spatially, in general and specifically in Belfast. This analytical perspective clarifies certain exclusions and oppressions inherent in the framing of space, but also offers understandings of how these may be destabilised, allowing unorthodox or marginal identities and practices to emerge as co-constituents of space.
Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 2007
This paper examines the meanings and imaginings of the home as a site of identity and belonging, ... more This paper examines the meanings and imaginings of the home as a site of identity and belonging, focusing on that space in the geographical, historical, and political contexts of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The notion of home is used to discuss some interactions between public, political, and national identities, and private and personal identities on the island, with the help of two artworks, Gift, by Sarah Browne, and Gauge, by Philip Napier. These pieces illuminate specific issues pertaining to public and private identities and public and private spaces in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland; here, they are read as a means of comparing certain uses and meanings of identity in the statelet and its neighboring state.
The concept of belonging in place acquires particular intricacy in the context of Northern Irelan... more The concept of belonging in place acquires particular intricacy in the context of Northern Ireland, where strong territorial imperatives come into intimate conflict. This paper aims to unfold some of the complexities of imagining the province as a place, and the difficulties involved in claiming belonging there, drawing attention to the apparently ongoing refusal to share the ownership of spaces.
The lack of an overarching narrative of place for Northern Ireland, and its territorial conflict,... more The lack of an overarching narrative of place for Northern Ireland, and its territorial conflict, have resulted in fragmented, highly localized and strictly bounded senses of place. This is nowhere more evident than in Belfast, a city profoundly shaped by its sectarian geographies. As a result, what theorists have come to characterize as the relative liberty of urban space is overtly compromised, with movement through and within Belfast being restricted by the policing of its internal boundaries. These difficulties, and their gendered effects, are focused here in relation to the particular experience of artist Sandra Johnston. Johnston made two performative pieces in response and resistance to the spatial constraint she had undergone on the Lower Newtownards Road, a loyalist area of East Belfast. Johnston disrupts the performance of order and control evident in Belfast's politico-religious territories, and offers a radically alternative negotiation of space, which I argue is personally, communally and politically significant.
This paper explores and extends recent work on the Irish border that has sought to redress the re... more This paper explores and extends recent work on the Irish border that has sought to redress the relative lack of attention to the social, economic and cultural dimensions of the border in contrast to its intense political symbolism. In particular it addresses the theme of border ...
In this paper I address the position of Northern Irish Protestants within (or without) discourses... more In this paper I address the position of Northern Irish Protestants within (or without) discourses of colonialism and postcolonialism on the island of Ireland. I contend that this position is a problematic one, which calls into question certain assumptions about the colonial or postcolonial nature of Ireland historically and in the present day. Further, I suggest much theory on the subject neglects the complexities of the relationship between contemporary Northern Irish Protestants and the seventeenth-century colonisation of Ulster. This is a pity, because it limits understanding of the historical and ongoing conflict in Northern Ireland, as well as concepts of identity and place. I use an autobiographical methodology as a means of reflecting on the multiplicity of individual stories, and the role they might play in opening out discussion of colonial legacies and postcolonial contexts in Northern Ireland and Ireland today.
Imaginings and uses of place in Northern Ireland are characterised frequently by sectarianism, le... more Imaginings and uses of place in Northern Ireland are characterised frequently by sectarianism, leading to the strict territorialisation of space along cultural, political and religious dividing lines. It is argued that such geographies underpin the six counties' ongoing intercommunal conflict. Extrapolating from the work of feminist economic geographers J. K. Gibson-Graham, this paper suggests that in order to fracture the
The concept of belonging in place acquires particular intricacy in the context of Northern Irelan... more The concept of belonging in place acquires particular intricacy in the context of Northern Ireland, where strong territorial imperatives come into intimate conflict. This paper aims to unfold some of the complexities of imagining the province as a place, and the difficulties involved in claiming belonging there, drawing attention to the apparently ongoing refusal to share the ownership of spaces.
This article examines imaginings and uses of place in the city of Belfast which challenge the con... more This article examines imaginings and uses of place in the city of Belfast which challenge the conventionally gendered and sectarian place discourses dominating politics and society in Northern Ireland. These alternative imaginings are articulated in two artworks, ‘Home’, by Mary McIntyre, and ‘Street Signs’, by Aisling O'Beirn. I present readings of these pieces with reference to concepts of public and private which signify through socio-political, geographical and psychological orderings of space. Focusing on the construction of public and private space allows me to approach the issue of sectarian territorialisation in Belfast obliquely, while recognising its physical and psychological potency and the complexity of its operations; further, it facilitates the exploration of how gender and memory are made to matter spatially, in general and specifically in Belfast. This analytical perspective clarifies certain exclusions and oppressions inherent in the framing of space, but also offers understandings of how these may be destabilised, allowing unorthodox or marginal identities and practices to emerge as co-constituents of space.
Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 2007
This paper examines the meanings and imaginings of the home as a site of identity and belonging, ... more This paper examines the meanings and imaginings of the home as a site of identity and belonging, focusing on that space in the geographical, historical, and political contexts of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The notion of home is used to discuss some interactions between public, political, and national identities, and private and personal identities on the island, with the help of two artworks, Gift, by Sarah Browne, and Gauge, by Philip Napier. These pieces illuminate specific issues pertaining to public and private identities and public and private spaces in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland; here, they are read as a means of comparing certain uses and meanings of identity in the statelet and its neighboring state.
The concept of belonging in place acquires particular intricacy in the context of Northern Irelan... more The concept of belonging in place acquires particular intricacy in the context of Northern Ireland, where strong territorial imperatives come into intimate conflict. This paper aims to unfold some of the complexities of imagining the province as a place, and the difficulties involved in claiming belonging there, drawing attention to the apparently ongoing refusal to share the ownership of spaces.
The lack of an overarching narrative of place for Northern Ireland, and its territorial conflict,... more The lack of an overarching narrative of place for Northern Ireland, and its territorial conflict, have resulted in fragmented, highly localized and strictly bounded senses of place. This is nowhere more evident than in Belfast, a city profoundly shaped by its sectarian geographies. As a result, what theorists have come to characterize as the relative liberty of urban space is overtly compromised, with movement through and within Belfast being restricted by the policing of its internal boundaries. These difficulties, and their gendered effects, are focused here in relation to the particular experience of artist Sandra Johnston. Johnston made two performative pieces in response and resistance to the spatial constraint she had undergone on the Lower Newtownards Road, a loyalist area of East Belfast. Johnston disrupts the performance of order and control evident in Belfast's politico-religious territories, and offers a radically alternative negotiation of space, which I argue is personally, communally and politically significant.
This paper explores and extends recent work on the Irish border that has sought to redress the re... more This paper explores and extends recent work on the Irish border that has sought to redress the relative lack of attention to the social, economic and cultural dimensions of the border in contrast to its intense political symbolism. In particular it addresses the theme of border ...
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Papers by Bryonie Reid