Music and Sport Changing Political Attitudes

• Northern Ireland's Unionist-controlled governments sought to suppress nationalist culture, which they believed could undermine their control.
• This suppression included censorship of films deemed to have a republican tone. In response, many Northern nationalist writers moved to Dublin, where they could express their sense of Irish identity more freely.
• In 1944, a new literary magazine, Lagan, was launched in Northern Ireland. The magazine's founder, John Boyd, advocated for a "regional literature" combining English and Irish influences rather than strictly adhering to one.
• However, Boyd's approach was met with criticism from several sources. One critic remarked that it "skated over the thin ice of political and sectarian animosities" (from A Century of Northern Life by Eamon Phoenix).
• By the 1960s, a new wave of Northern poets emerged, including Michael Longley, Derek Mahon, Medbh McGuckian, Paul Muldoon, John Hewitt, and Seamus Heaney.
• These poets did not focus on engaging with political developments but rather explored what it meant to be either Catholic or Protestant in Northern Ireland's formative years.
• Following the outbreak of the Troubles in 1969, it became almost inevitable that artistic expressions of cultural identity would be shaped by the conflict, even though these poets were genuinely non-sectarian.

Seamus Heaney's Poetry

• In the poem "A Constable Calls," Seamus Heaney describes the terror he felt as a child when a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer visited his father's house, noticing the gun in the policeman's holster. In other works, such as "The Tollund Man" and "Bogland," Heaney sought to make sense of the Troubles by exploring the ancient roots of violence.
• While Heaney's poems address universal themes, they were heavily influenced by his experience of growing up in the nationalist community.
• In 1983, Heaney objected to being included as a British poet in the Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry and faced criticism from some for that stance.
• Other poets, like Derek Mahon, drew inspiration from Northern Ireland's urban and Protestant traditions. In poems such as "Grandfather " and "After the Titanic," Mahon reflects on Belfast's shipbuilding heritage, a significant aspect of Northern Ireland's industrial history.
• Both his father and grandfather worked at Harland and Wolff, the famous shipyard where the RMS Titanic was built.
• Mahon's poetry often engages with themes of displacement and loss, echoing the experiences of many in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

Music and Sport

• The Troubles were also a time of significant cultural production in Northern Ireland, particularly in music. Artists sought to confront, highlight, or simply make sense of the events around them.

• Nationalists maintained a strong connection to traditional Irish music, with musicians like Derek Bell of The Chieftains helping to popularise it. Artists such as Paul Brady and Phil Coulter produced songs inspired by the conflict, including some of Brady's most famous works, like "The Island."

  • As new styles of music became popular during the 1970s and 1980s, young bands such as Belfast's Stiff Little Fingers wrote punk songs like "Alternative Ulster," which expressed frustration with the social and political situation.
  • Northern Ireland produced a rich array of artists and musicians during this time, among them guitarist Gary Moore and songwriter Van Morrison, whose work earned him six Grammy Awards and a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
  • These and other artists not only wrote about life in Northern Ireland but also gained worldwide acclaim for their work.

• Sport was another important aspect of popular culture in Northern Ireland. For nationalists, the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) provided a connection to Irish culture.

• However, the GAA also became a target for sectarian violence from loyalist gangs, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s. Members of the RUC were prohibited from participating in Gaelic games under Rule 21, which reinforced the divide between nationalist and unionist communities.

• Sectarian tensions also affected football. Clubs like the Belfast-based Linfield FC were seen as Protestant-only clubs, although the club itself was never sectarian in its player selection.

• However, at matches, loyalist fans often sang sectarian chants. In contrast, Belfast Celtic FC, one of the most successful Irish League clubs, was dissolved in 1949 following widespread violence and sectarian riots.

• Derry City FC, another club with nationalist support, left the Irish League in 1972 and later joined the League of Ireland in 1985.

Changing Attitudes

• As political developments led to greater cooperation between Northern Ireland's nationalist and unionist communities, artists and writers also began to reflect this change in their work, striving to come to terms with the legacy of the Troubles and to foster an understanding of Northern Ireland's diverse cultural traditions.
• One of the notable works from this period was the play Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme by Donegal-born writer Frank McGuinness.
• The play, which focused on the experiences of Unionist soldiers during World War I, offered a sympathetic exploration of a key event in Ulster's loyalist history.
• Similarly, playwright Martin Lynch's Dockers examined the harsh realities of working-class life in a Belfast shipyard during the 1960s.
• In the late 1980s, visual artists such as Jack Pakenham produced works that portrayed the emotional and physical impact of the Troubles. His Belfast Series featured images of paramilitaries, blindfolded and gagged, exploring themes of violence and control.
• In 2014, artists like Rita Duffy, Catherine McWilliams, and Alastair MacLennan contributed to the Art of the Troubles exhibition at the Ulster Museum, highlighting the ongoing influence of the conflict on Northern Irish art.
• The Troubles have also inspired filmmakers and documentarians since the 1970s, using the conflict as a backdrop for various dramas and thrillers.
• Some notable films include In the Name of the Father (1993), which deals with the wrongful imprisonment of Gerry Conlon, and The Crying Game (1992), which explores issues of identity and betrayal against the backdrop of the IRA.

The Development of Educational and Cultural Amenities

• In the 1950s and 1960s, cultural and educational initiatives aimed to bring together different aspects of Northern Ireland's history and culture. For example, the Ulster-Scots Historical Society was established in 1957, and the Ulster Folk Museum was opened the following year.

• The museum was later renamed the National Museum of Northern Ireland in 1964. Queen's University Belfast established a new Irish history faculty and an Institute for Irish Studies in 1965.

• At the primary and secondary levels, Protestant and Catholic students generally attended separate denominational schools.

• These schools often taught history from different perspectives, with Protestant schools focusing on British history and Catholic schools on Irish history. This difference in education reinforced the distinct cultural identities of the two communities.

• However, denominational education also meant that students from both communities had little interaction as they grew older.

  • The opening of Lagan College in Belfast in 1981 marked the establishment of the first integrated secondary school in Northern Ireland. By 1989, there were 23 integrated schools across the region.

• Cooperation between the two communities in the late 1980s further facilitated educational and cultural developments.

• The British government introduced the Education for Mutual Understanding (EMU) initiative in 1989 as part of the state education curriculum, aiming to promote understanding and respect for cultural differences.

• Another key initiative was the Cross Community Contact Scheme, which encouraged cultural understanding by bringing people from different communities together.

• By 1994, 42% of primary and 59% of secondary schools were involved in the scheme, helping break down cultural barriers and foster greater tolerance of different identities.