Situated on the banks of the river Lagan on the northeast coast of Ireland, Belfast’s modern development sounds a discordant theme with the wider history of British and Irish urban modernities. A site of febrile ethno-religious divisions for over 200 years, Belfast has been plagued by periodic eruptions of civil disorder and political violence for most of its modern history, and remains today a city ensnared by the legacies of its violent past.
This module introduces students to core themes within this history of conflict, tracking the development of Belfast’s social divisions from the end of the 18th century through to the city’s recent ‘Troubles’ and its present-day struggles to negotiate the afterlives of civil war. Combining conventional historical research methods with ethnographic/participatory approaches, it examines Belfast’s history via a series of in-depth history seminars before undertaking in-person exploration of related sites, landmarks and artefacts as part of a class fieldtrip to the city. Focusing attention upon the dynamic relations between space, conflict and identity, the module develops students’ ability to apply historical and theoretical knowledge in the interpretation of human landscapes of conflict, and affords introductory engagement with aspects of ethnographic and participatory research.