Neighborhoods and parades: The social and symbolic organization of conflict in Northern Ireland.

Abstract

Riots and civil disorder have been historically associated with parades and other public rituals in Northern Ireland. On the Protestant side, the parades are organized by politically-oriented men's clubs like the Orange Order. Catholic organizations in Northern Ireland also march and for similar reasons, the symbolic assertion of micro-territorial claims in relation to communal enemies. The prominence of public rituals and displays of symbols by both sides suggest that Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland share a common political culture. This shared political culture is important because it structures events--by influencing how Catholic and Protestants define and pursue political goals. Ethnographic research was carried out, over a period of two years (1984-1986), in several Catholic and Protestant working class districts in Belfast. These districts are associated with the Catholic and Protestant paramilitary groups and are the scenes of political violence as well as of symbolic displays of conflict. The purpose was to compare neighborhood life and political attitudes of both groups. Patterns of rioting in the context of parades are similar among Catholics and Protestants and are based on both sides in a historical tradition of popular political action. Riots proved to be heavily patterned by practices associated with micro-territoriality and public ritual. These observations challenge the assumption that riots in Northern Ireland are tightly controlled by paramilitary organizations, like the Provisional IRA. In the symbolic forms of political expression, and in the strategies used to organize political conflict, Belfast Catholics and Protestants show striking similarities. Characteristic patterns of interaction between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland are the products of local and regional history as well as large scale political and economic factors.