Is a fence the best defence? A comparative case-study on the influence of the peace lines on the sense of place and identity of residents in West-Belfast Marlies Veerbeek Bachelorthesis GPE School of Management Radboud University Nijmegen July 2016 i Is a fence the best defence? A comparative case-study on the influence of the peace lines on the sense of place and identity of residents in West-Belfast Marlies Veerbeek s4222407 Supervised by Margiet Goos Human Geography, Planning and Environmental studies School of Management Radboud University Nijmegen July 2016 Total number of words: 28947 ii I. Preface I am proud to present my bachelor thesis on the influence of the peace lines on the sense of place and identity in West-Belfast. With this thesis, my bachelor Human Geography, Planning and Environmental studies at the Radboud University Nijmegen comes to an end. It was in this bachelor that I got to know Belfast from a human geographical perspective. Working on an assignment regarding Belfast triggered a fascination within me. This fascination was the reason why I decided to complete an in-depth case study research on this extraordinary city. Conducting the fieldwork in Belfast by myself was an amazing experience. Going to an unknown city by myself to interview people on a sensitive matter made me both excited and nervous. Luckily, all went well and I had a wonderful experience in Belfast. Getting to know a city from literature and then actually being in the research field has been most exciting. I would not have been able to finish this bachelor thesis by myself. First of all, I owe a big thank you to my respondents Jonny Byrne, William Mitchell, Jane 1 and Jane 2. Without their cooperation my research would have been useless. Second, I want to thank my supervisor Margriet Goos for her faith in my research at times when I did not believe in it. Her feedback and support have been of incredible value. Furthermore, I want to thank my parents for supporting me and providing me with the resources needed to go to Belfast. I am very thankful for the fact that they understood the importance of visiting my research sites and supported me in my need for adventure. I want to thank my sister for her support on the English language, checking my grammar and fixing mistakes. Lastly, I want to thank my friends for getting me through the long days in the library, taking me on walks to get some fresh air and providing me with sugar for the needed energy. I hope the readers experience a lovely time reading my thesis. Marlies Veerbeek July 2016 Pictures on the front page are taken by the author on Falls Road and Shankill Road in Belfast, May 2016 iii II. Summary Belfast is not an ordinary city. In this city, Protestants and Catholics have been living separated for centuries and have been in conflict for years. Protestants, also referred to as loyalists, consider themselves British and feel part of the United Kingdom. Catholics, also named nationalists, feel Irish and want to be a part of the Republic of Ireland. In 1969, a violent period called The Troubles started. During these next thirty years of violence and disruptions between the loyalists, nationalists and the British army, the building of the peace walls started. These barriers were created to remain control during The Troubles and to keep the fighting groups apart. Although official peace was established in 1998 by the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement, the peace lines have not come down. On the contrary, the amount of peace lines has increased after 1998, to almost 100 structures in 2016. The peace lines differ in looks. Some are meters high steel fences, others are brick walls attached to homes. Besides built structures, communities are bordered by smaller signs like a flag or an abbreviation on the streets. On the peace lines and on walls of buildings through Belfast, murals are painted. Sometimes these murals tell stories of the past of Belfast, like the story of the building of the Titanic, but more often these murals tell political stories. Areas where these politically loaded murals can be found are nationalist Falls Road and loyalist Shankill Road. Located in the west of Belfast, these two communities are placed next to each other but could not be more different in ideas and beliefs. Shankill Road is the heart of loyalism, whilst Falls Road is home to many nationalists. These areas are divided by the biggest peace wall of Belfast. Because there has been almost twenty years of official peace, the Northern Ireland government proposed a strategy that aims to move Northern Ireland away from the conflict and into a united society. This Together: Building a United Community-strategy (TBUC), adapted in 2013, aims to remove all the peace lines in 2023. Research of Byrne et al. (2012, 2015) on the attitudes towards peace lines shows that less and less people want the peace lines to come down. Since the sectarian areas of Shankill Road and Falls Road are divided by a peace line, this research focuses on the attitudes towards the peace lines and the effects it can have on the sense of place of residents of West-Belfast. The research objective is therefore as follows: The aim of this research is to understand the effect of the peace lines in West-Belfast on the identity and sense of place on its populations and, with this knowledge, to formulate recommendations for the implementation of the Together Building a United Community-policy on the removal of the peace lines in Belfast. iv Translating this into a research question: What is the effect of the presence of the peace lines on the identity and sense of place of the population in West-Belfast, and how would the removal of the peace lines influence the sense of place of the population in West-Belfast? In order to answer this main question, the current situation regarding the conflict in West-Belfast is researched, as well as the effect of the peace lines on identity and sense of place of the West-Belfast population. Furthermore the opinions towards the removal of the peace lines will be analysed. To answer the main question and sub questions on of this research, two theories are used. The first theory is Bourdieu’s theory on Habitus and Fields. This theory focuses on the phenomenon of social inequalities, why they are reproduced over time and why these inequalities are accepted by the lower classes. The second theory of Yi-Fu Tuan explains how the concepts of space and place are interlinked and how they influence the perceptions and feelings of identity of people. The research is an in-depth qualitative empirical research in which a case-study design will be used to gather information. The data is gathered through standardized open-ended face-to-face interviews. Four interviews have provided data that are used to answer the research question. Peace lines shape the identity of people because of the place identity. Feelings of belonging and knowing who you are, are attached to physical spaces in Belfast. Peace lines create massive mental barriers for people. The peace lines show who is in and who is out. Interview data show that people label themselves and others through the labels of Catholic and Protestant. These strong feelings of identity can also be found in the notion of sense of place. There is a very strong sense of place in West-Belfast. The Falls Road and Shankill Road are hard-core communities where either loyalism or nationalism is still very present. This influences the sense of place, habitus and identity. The peace lines reinforce the habitus and therefore the sense of place. Place is perceived in a different matter when the barriers are made so clear instead of more vague mental barriers. The habitus and sense of place influence the segregation, with the peace lines as visible and physical result. Interview and survey data show that there is little support for the removal of the peace lines. People do not feel ready to demolish the peace lines yet. Removing the peace lines would change the sense of place in such a way that people would not feel safe anymore in their own communities because they do not know where there are safe anymore. When people are in their own community, they know the people and know that the ideas and beliefs they have are shared. The sense of place is expected to be highly influenced by the removal of the peace lines. When the barriers are gone, the place identity can weaken since the defined barriers that mark territory have faded. However, the place identity is not only defined by physical structures, the mental maps residents have on whether v they are in their own area or not influence their sense of place as well. This leads to the conclusion that the sense of place of the residents of West-Belfast will be influenced by the removal of the peace lines, but not in an extreme way. Recommendations can be made on two different levels. First of all, recommendations towards to TBUC-policy designers and implementers have to be made. The TBUC-policy and its aims are a good policy, but Belfast is not ready yet to leave its past behind. The residents that live near the peace lines are not ready to live in an area where there are no peace lines anymore. They do not feel safe without the barriers present.