Summary: This thesis explores the processes of identity formation and place-making among UVF/RHC prisoners in the Maze/Long Kesh compounds from the period of 1972-1988. These processes are analysed through an examination of the prisoners' engagement with artefact production. The distinct structure and operation of the compound prison system contributed to an unorthodox prison experience, which is illustrated through incorporating narratives about the development of artefact production within the de facto prisoner-of-war camp physical environment Prison handicrafts were produced collectively and individually, and these dialectic processes contributed to the formation and maintenance of both group/political and individual identities As the spatial and temporal contexts of production are essential to understanding the meaning of the objects within the prison, so too are these contexts in relation to contemporary uses for prison made objects. After presenting the breadth of prison production, the dissertation shifts to examine how the objects’ meanings and values have changed over time. Additionally, it examines how the objects contribute to ongoing processes of identity construction, or re-construction, for the former prisoners who made them. The thesis uncovers these meanings by comparing four prison artefact collections - those of the Ulster Museum, Linen Hall Library, Northern Ireland Prison Service, and Action for Community Transformation. Examining these four collections provides further insight into how objects change in meaning and value over time and through different physical locations. The dissertation represents a heretofore under-researched and overlooked aspect of loyalist conflict related scholarship It afso contributes to understandings of how people and objects gain new meanings and impact through on-going and contextually specific processes of place-making.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:727397 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Hinson, Erin Elizabeth |
| Publisher | Queen's University Belfast |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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