The land is ours. Young people and participation in the Northern Ireland conflict
RYYNÄNEN, SATU (2008)
RYYNÄNEN, SATU
2008
Sosiologia - Sociology
Yhteiskuntatieteellinen tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2008-06-16
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:uta-1-19101
https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:uta-1-19101
Tiivistelmä
The research studies young people in the Northern Ireland conflict. I examine their ways of seeing sectarianism, the conflict and its history, what kinds of experiences they have had from the conflict and what they see as possible solutions to it. This study can be situated in the field of youth studies. Young people’s agency is in the focus. I examine the attitudes of the research participants as agents in the late modern era towards politics and participation in society. My main interest lies in the ways they see the role of young people in the conflict and how they perceive their own agency in it. I have also tried to find out how young people feel about political participation in general and as a means of finding a solution to the conflict. I have compared the answers of my interviewees regarding participation to results from Finnish youth studies to see, whether living in the midst of a conflict-affected society politicises young people in a different way than living in a peaceful society. The study is based on 15 interviews of young Protestants and Catholics. The interviews were conducted in Belfast in the spring 2006.
The results of this study show that despite the peace process, the conflict still has many impacts on young people. The majority of the interview participants had been involved in some kind of sectarian incident. Segregation in education and housing affects their daily lives. I found that social class and the area of residence seem to have a big impact on the lives of these young people in terms of the conflict. The young people perceived the conflict mostly as a negative thing and they wished that the cycle of violence could be ended. Their attitudes were not sectarian for the most part, but many interview participants thought that segregation should be maintained in Northern Ireland for security reasons.
Similarly to results attained among Finnish young people, the interview participants were not very much interested in parliamentary politics. They felt frustrated and angry with politicians. There was, however, concern for common issues, and young people’s participation in society was seen as a positive thing. Nevertheless, they did not know how young people could participate. In addition to the lack of means of participation, there was a lack of viable freetime options. There was a need especially for such alternatives where young people from both communities could interact safely with each other in a neutral space.
Asiasanat: youth, armed conflict, participation, Northern Ireland, sectarianism
The results of this study show that despite the peace process, the conflict still has many impacts on young people. The majority of the interview participants had been involved in some kind of sectarian incident. Segregation in education and housing affects their daily lives. I found that social class and the area of residence seem to have a big impact on the lives of these young people in terms of the conflict. The young people perceived the conflict mostly as a negative thing and they wished that the cycle of violence could be ended. Their attitudes were not sectarian for the most part, but many interview participants thought that segregation should be maintained in Northern Ireland for security reasons.
Similarly to results attained among Finnish young people, the interview participants were not very much interested in parliamentary politics. They felt frustrated and angry with politicians. There was, however, concern for common issues, and young people’s participation in society was seen as a positive thing. Nevertheless, they did not know how young people could participate. In addition to the lack of means of participation, there was a lack of viable freetime options. There was a need especially for such alternatives where young people from both communities could interact safely with each other in a neutral space.
Asiasanat: youth, armed conflict, participation, Northern Ireland, sectarianism