Zugl.: Münster (Westfalen), Univ., Diss., 2007.

Zugl.: Münster (Westfalen), Univ., Diss., 2007

Syftet med denna studie är att studera symboler som används i ritualer som är religiöst präglade, i detta fall en nordirländsk parad, för att bygga vidare på forskning kring ritualer och symbolers betydelse för social identitet. För att besvara detta syfte formulerades följande två frågeställningar: Hur kan symboler i tolfte juli paraden tolkas utifrån social identitetsteori? På vilka sätt ger denna ritual uttryck för de fyra komponenter som är del av David J. Knottnerus (1997) strukturella ritualiseringsteori? Genom en kombination av en sekundärobservation och tematisk innehållsanalys analyseras symbolerna som används i denna ritual. Det material som använts var en form av visuellt material, ett längre videoklipp från YouTube. Symbolerna i ritualen tolkas utifrån social identitetsteori, och ritualen i dess helhet betraktas med den teoretiska referensram som är angiven av strukturell ritualiseringsteori. Genom den analytiska processen har det framkommit att det går att identifiera vissa framträdande aspekter av social identitet i ritualer. Resultatet av denna studie visade på att ritualen i fråga bidrar till stärkandet av den sociala identiteten hos nordirländska protestanter, och bidrar till stereotypisering inom gruppen. Det finns även indikationer på att denna ritual fyller funktionen av att säkerställa en form av positiv social identitet som är distinkt. Grunden för denna sociala identitet har en religiös prägel. Det går även att identifiera två av de fyra komponenter som utgör grunden för strukturell ritualiseringsteori. Det går däremot inte att göra några påståenden om vad detta har för betydelse för ritualen i dess helhet eller dess betydelse för den enskilde individen. / Northern Ireland was, for many years, the main subject in various forms of social studies. But in recent years Northern Ireland has been overlooked by many, and is a topic that is dated. In light of recent political events in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland it is of the utmost importance that we revisit Northern Irish society and its social landscape. The purpose of this study is to delve deeper into the importance of symbols in rituals that are, in one way or another, religious to a certain extent. In order for this study to fulfil its purpose it will seek to answer two questions. The first question concerns how symbols in the Twelfth (or Orangemen’s Day) parade can be interpreted with help of social identity theory, and the second question posed concerns itself with how the ritual, in its entirety, can be seen with help of structural ritualization theory. Through a form of secondary observation and a thematic content analysis, it was concluded that there is a clear indication of social identity that takes shape in the usage of symbols in rituals. Participants in this ritual used symbols to strengthen their social identity, and this in turn contributed to stereotyping within the social group. There was also an indication that the ritual has a function, which is to secure a form of distinct, positive social identity. There was also an indication that religion played a pivotal role in the participants social identity. Lastly, the study managed to identify two out of four components in structural ritualization theory. However, it was difficult to assert the implications that the components of structural ritualization theory had for the ritual in its entirety.

Insurgencies have been a nuisance for modern armies to deal with for centuries and recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Northern Ireland supports that claim. Counterinsurgency theories present different solutions for the same problems and old proven theories get challenged by modern ones. Researchers therefore differ in their opinions whether the classical proven theories are still relevant to guide modern counterinsurgency. A lot of modern counterinsurgency doctrines are still heavily based on these classical theories which leads to the purpose of this study, to investigate if an old theory still can explain the outcome of modern counterinsurgency operations. A fitting theory for this goal is the British theorist Thompsons which’s influence still can be observed in modern counterinsurgency doctrines. The study’s findings indicate that an old theory such as Thompsons still contributes to explain the outcome of modern counterinsurgency operations. The analysis illuminates that the greater extent of observance according to the principles of the theory will result in a more successful counterinsurgency overall. Though further research is required to consolidate these affirmations.

During the late 1960s pandemonium and chaos spread throughout the northeast part of the Irish island in the area known as Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. The conflict was the culmination of many factors such as the British colonization of the island during the 12th century, the semi-liberation and divide of the Island during the 1920s, local religious persecution and the advancing civil rights movement. At the heart of the conflict were organizations that gained most of their infamy through the terror and violent conflict, like the IRA and their related factions. These fought for the “liberation” of the entire Irish island as the northern part had been left under British control after the easter rising revolution which established the current Irish Republic, or Ireland.The inhabitants of Northern Ireland had to endure 30 years of conflict during 1968-1998 between the IRA, local police, British military and other loyalist terror organizations. At the end of the conflict, it was evidently clear that the majority of the victims of violence had not been tied to the perpetrators of it. These were civilians whose deaths can be seen as a result of terrorist attacks, sectarian violence and a situation far beyond any official authority's control.This thesis explores one of the many facets of expression during the conflict, music. Specifically, it's an attempt to categorize and contextualize what is known as Irish rebel music. The rebel music can be seen as an outlet for republican individuals and groups to express their reasoning and legitimization for their own actions, thus creating a form of propaganda through discourse. During the paper nine different songs, mostly gathered from republican publications, will be analyzed to see how the so-called rebels choose to portray themselves, their enemies and their reasoning. What becomes apparent is the ever-present violence and how it's used as a tool to create a discourse where the struggles and brutality of the IRA are justified. Furthermore, it looks at the constructs of the other within the British and official government forces which can also be tied to the sectarian violence that’s been a large part of the population's history.

With respect to its troubled past Northern Ireland has constantly been a field of interest, academic research and discourse. Certain periods in this past, like for example the “Troubles” (a time of violent struggle that began in 1969/70), sooner or later tend to create a particular approach towards language usage. As research has already been carried out on the “Troubles” and its language usage the question now remains in how far the application of lexical items would be changing through the impact of the so called peace process. Examining the language use surrounding this process a wide range of phenomena in the field of politics and social affairs but also in society could be analysed and discussed, assuming that change for some reason developed here. Investigating such circumstances further this empirical interdisciplinary study in the shape of a corpus analysis addresses the presumed language change in Northern Ireland by employing news texts (Belfast Telegraph, BBC Northern Ireland and An Phoblacht) of the period from 1995 to 2009 (i.e. before and after the Good Friday Agreement a negotiated settlement between Catholics and Protestants in 1998) for the analysis to attempt to establish a link between changing semantic and lexical units, and to some extend to even find a relation to alleged gradual social change. The evaluation is based on a qualitative and quantitative analysis of thematically pre-selected keywords in the areas of politics, social affairs, and society. Generally it could therefore be concluded that change – though marginal in numbers – appears perceivable. Despite a detailed examination and evaluation (qualitative and quantitative) it needs to be pointed out, however, that the findings of correlating social and linguistic variables could in the end only imply a kind of relation – contrary to the expectations in the beginning. Perhaps, in some cases, gradual change could be illustrated like for example with the name change of the police (RUC to PSNI) or changed social terminology. Nevertheless this study created an important contribution of research on post-“Troubles” Northern Ireland as it brings this statelet back into focus on the one hand and in addition prompts questions on the challenges of future language usage in societies that experienced violent conflict on the other. Corpus and Appendix on CD-Rom for printed copy available at University Library Chemnitz and German National Library

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Hochsch. für Technik, Wirtschaft und Kultur, Diplomarbeit--Leipzig, 2006.

Der nordirische Autor Glenn Patterson (geboren 1961) hat sich als Städteschrifsteller und zeitgenössischer Chronist seiner Heimatstadt Belfast einen Namen gemacht. In seinen Texten arbeitet er immer wieder die kaum greifbare Komplexität und unendliche Vielfalt Belfasts heraus. Die Arbeit zeigt auf, wie Patterson in den Romanen „Fat Lad“, „The International“, „Number 5“ und „That Which Was“ die Stadt dreidimensional konstruiert: auf einer räumlichen einer sozialen und einer geschichtlichen Ebene. Diese dreiteilige Ordnung strukturiert auch die Arbeit selbst und bezieht sich auf ein Raumverständnis, das innerhalb des „spatial turn“ theoretisiert wurde. Vornehmlich zitiert werden Edward W. Soja und Doreen Massey. Die beiden Geographen sehen Räumlichkeit, Geschichtlichkeit und Sozialität als eng miteinander verzahnt und gleichberechtigt und plädieren für eine Dekonstruktion binärer Gegensätze. Dieses interdependente Raumverständnis eignet sich sehr gut für eine Analyse von Pattersons Romanen. In ihnen stellt er Belfast in seiner facettenreichen Komplexität dar und betont die Wandelbarkeit der Stadt als ihr wichtigstes Charakteristikum. Dies erreicht er, indem er räumliche, geschichtliche und soziale Ebenen miteinander kombiniert und immer wieder binäre Gegensätze unterwandert. Damit nimmt der Schriftsteller eine besondere Rolle in der nordirischen Literatur ein, in der die sogenannten „Troubles“ immer noch sehr viel Aufmerksamkeit erhalten, und in der Belfast, als einer der Hauptschauplätze der „Troubles“, allzu oft als stagnierend, eindimensional und von zwei exklusiven Gemeinschaften dominiert beschrieben wird. Um Patterson in die literarische Tradition Nordirlands einzuordnen, gibt die Arbeit auch einen Überblick über die Geschichte des nordirischen Städteromans. Ferner analysiert sie drei Romane, die exemplarisch stehen für einige maßgebliche Entwicklungen in der Literatur des Landes und vergleicht ihre Darstellungen Belfasts mit denen in Pattersons Romanen. / The Northern Irish novelist Glenn Patterson (born 1961) has become known as an urban writer and contemporary chronicler of his hometown Belfast. In his texts he illustrates the intangible complexity and indefinite multiplicity of Belfast. The thesis shows how Patterson in his novels “Fat Lad”, “The International”, “Number 5” and “That Which Was” constructs the city threefold: spatially, socially and historically. This three-dimensional order also structures the thesis itself and refers to an understanding of space as theorized during the so called “spatial turn”. The thesis explicitly utilises concepts of Edward W. Soja and Doreen Massey. The two social geographers see the spatial, the temporal and the social as closely interdependent and argue for the deconstruction of binary oppositions. In the thesis this interdependent understanding of space forms the basis of an analysis of Patterson’s novels, showing how the writer represents Belfast in all its heterogeneous complexity and emphasises the city’s potential for change as its most important characteristic. He achieves this by combining spatial, temporal and social dimensions and by challenging existing binarisms. In doing so Patterson plays an important role in Northern Irish literature, which has been dominated by the “Troubles” and in which Belfast is often portrayed as stagnating, one-dimensional and inhabited by two exclusive communities. Placing Patterson within a literary tradition in Northern Ireland, the thesis gives an overview of the history of the Northern Irish urban novel. Furthermore, it analyses three novels that represent important developments in the literature of the country, and it compares the representations of Belfast in these novels with those in Patterson’s texts.

Diese Dissertation vereint Theorien ethnischer Gruppen und Grenzen (M. Weber, F. Barth, A.D. Smith, A. Wimmer, R. Brubaker, M. Lamont, V. Molnár, C. Tilly) mit den Macht- und Konflikttheorien von H. Popitz und R.V. Gould sowie der cultural sociology J.C. Alexanders in einer Performanztheorie gewalttätiger ethnischer Gruppenkonflikte. Mit Hilfe dieser theoretischen Konzeption gelingt es, anhand einer empirischen Verlaufsanalyse des Nordirlandkonflikts (1966–2013) eine Erklärung für dessen lange Dauer und spätere Transformation in einen gewaltfreien Konflikt zu geben. Der Verlauf der Gewalthandlungen (soziale Grenzen) wird in Beziehung gesetzt zu den zeitlichen Wandlungen der zentralen visuellen Propagandamedien der Akteure (symbolische Grenzen), den Murals in den Hochburgen der Republikaner und Loyalisten. Die Bilder (als nachträgliche Bühnenbilder) entzogen ab den frühen 1980ern auf Seiten der Republikaner (PIRA) die Anwendung von Gewalt der Logik eines Kampfes um "bindende Aktionsmacht" (Popitz). Die Gewalttätigkeiten konnten daher trotz der sich damals abzeichnenden Pattsituation fortgesetzt werden. Paradoxer Weise legten diese frühen Murals zugleich den Grundstein für die spätere Transformation des Konflikts gerade dadurch, dass sie Gewalt nicht mehr als Mittel zum Zweck legitimierten, sondern zu etwas relativ 'Beliebigem' stilisierten. Auf loyalistischer Seite (UDA, UVF) kam es zeitgleich zu vergleichsweise größeren Brüchen auf visuell-symbolischer Ebene. In Vergleich zu den republikanischen Murals zeichneten sich die der Loyalisten nicht durch eine relativ geradlinige und einheitliche Entwicklung aus, sondern durch eine Diversifikation der Motive und die Suche nach (neuen) Symbolen, die die eigene Gruppe neu begründen und einen konnten. Die Möglichkeit zur Konfliktfortsetzung und -transformation wurzelte hier nicht in einem systematischen symbolischen Wandel, sondern in einem patchwork divergierender (alter und neuer) Selbstverständnisse. / This doctoral thesis develops a performance theory of violent ethnic group conflicts by combining theories of ethnicity and boundaries (M. Weber, F. Barth, A.D. Smith, A. Wimmer, R. Brubaker, M. Lamont, V. Molnár, C. Tilly) with theories of power and violent conflicts (H. Popitz, R.V. Gould) and the cultural sociology of J.C. Alexander. This theoretical framework is applied on the Northern Ireland conflict (1966–2013). The result is an explanation for its long duration and later transformation into a non-violent one (peace process). The empirical analysis traces the relations between social and symbolic boundaries throughout the conflict. The development of social boundaries is reconstructed through an analysis of violent events during the conflict, the development of symbolic boundaries is reconstructed based on the central visual means of political communication used by the protagonists of the conflict, i.e. the murals painted in republican and loyalist strongholds. The development of murals (understood as belated stage settings) is interpreted in the context of the course of the violent conflict. In the early 1980s – a stalemate had developed on the level of social boundaries – the murals on the republican side (PIRA) transformed the meaning of violence: It was disconnected from an instrumental logic. Paradoxically, this transformation enabled at the same time the continuation of the violent conflict as well as its later transformation into a non-violent one. The loyalist murals (UDA, UVF) – compared to the republican ones – were characterized by ruptures and a lack of a coherent development. They exhibited a diversification of themes and a search for new (re-)uniting collective symbols. They did not enable the continuation and transformation of the conflict through systematic symbolic changes, but through the emergence of a patchwork of diverse (old and new) collective symbols and 'identities'.