This study poses the question of why national conflicts persist in the context of increasing transnational integration. From the early 1970's and especially since the end of the 'Cold War', nationalism has gained increased global significance. At the same time, seemingly hand-in-hand with the upsurge in nationalism, there has been an acceleration in transnational integration. This apparent paradox is explored in several ways: first by developing a theoretical framework for linking nationalism and transnationalism, second by analysing a particular case of national conflict in its transnationalised setting, and third by investigating the interpretation and re-interpretation of 'national' interests by key political actors. The case chosen is the national conflict in Ireland in the context of transnational integration in the European Union. In Ireland the two global tendencies - of national division and transnational integration - are focussed to a high degree of intensity. The transnational integrative process is at its most advanced in the European Community which, in 1993, became the 'European Union', one of the most ambitious examples of inter-state and trans-state regional integration to date. The national conflict in Ireland meanwhile, is more deeply entrenched than in any other Western European state and was, until the IRA ceasefire on 31 August 1994, the most highly militarised conflict in Western Europe. This study suggests that the relationships between transnational integration and national conflict are becoming a defining factor in Ireland's political development and that such relationships also pattern developments in the wider EU. Indeed, to the extent that the process of EU integration is seen as an antidote to nationalism in Western Europe, the impact of the EU in Ireland's national conflict could be interpreted as a test case of EU integration.

In recent years, historians have attempted to reassess the image of sectarian Ireland by offering an ethnically and religiously complex narrative of social intersection. Due to the changing intellectual and political climate in Ireland, archaeologists and historians can now begin revaluating the myths of the conquered and conqueror. As settlers poured into the Irish landscape to carry out the English government’s plantation schemes, they brought traditions and goods from home, and attempted to incorporate these into their lives abroad. Woodland clearance supplied timber and destroyed the wood kerne-infested fastness, and new houses erected on plantation settlements rattled a landscape still speckled with the wattle huts of its native inhabitants. Using the 1641 Depositions as the core of this dissertation, this research endeavours to contextualise evidence of material culture embedded within the written testimonies, beginning with the private world of the home and ending with the public devotional space of the church. Evidence found in the depositions will be placed alongside archaeological evidence, cartography, a small collection of wills and inventories, and seventeenth-century trade records. This thesis investigates the extent in which the English and Irish communities were at conflict in a material way: in their homes, local economy, clothing, household goods and religion.

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This thesis film is an examination of my evolving perspectives and understanding of my Irish heritage as I travel to the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Through the course of a year and a half, I traveled to Belfast to explore the modern state of the sectarian conflicts between the Catholic and Protestant communities. Through the use of personal reflection, historical research, interviews with local residents, and on-location experiential learning, I began to learn not only about the modern state of Belfast and its economic and social climate, but also about the complexities of personal cultural identification and the concept of “truth” and “mutual guilt” when associated with acts of violence. With the use of the short documentary as the medium of choice, I am able to relay to audiences not only my own personal reflection of identity and history, but then allow them to reflect on their own perspectives as well, helping to create sincere moments of personal thought and reflections.

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