Unionist Nationalism: Paradox or (Emergent) Paradigm A Report of a Senior Thesis By Janet Bunde Department of History Haverford College April 15, 2002 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ..............................................................................1 Introduction....................................................................................... 2 Chapter1 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 8 Chapter2 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..28 Chapter3 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..53 Chapter4 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. ... .. ... ... ... ..69 Conclusion. - • . .. ...84 Bibliography.................................................................................... 91 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project would have been impossible without the aid and assistance of several people and organizations. To the librarians at Haverford College, Queen's University Belfast, the University of Michigan, and the Free Library of Philadelphia, whose archives I meticulously searched, I offer a collective thanks. Professor Dominic Bryan of Queen's University, under whom I conducted a research assistantship in July-August 2001, deserves special recognition as well, for giving me an office and a phone in Belfast and allowing me to tag along with him and Neil Jarman at the Apprentice Boys annual parade in Deny. • Sources of inspiration cannot be captured in words, let alone a list of names, but the following individuals deserve particular mention. To Carolyn, Stevan, and Naonih I owe the privilege of candid conversations from "real life" rather than a book. For our many conversations over pints and mops I am particularly grateful. To Marcus for his film, Mick for his faith, and Martin for his trust, I also owe my gratitude. Special thanks belong to those individuals who braved the entire work. Professors Bethel Saler and Marc Ross offered critical assistance and moral support, often at odd hours, throughout the writing process. Editing is a fine art, and these two professors practice it well. My mother, Pam Bunde, is an editor as well, and she added my thesis to the 300+ she faced this semester. Jeffrey Golde is owed special mention—his contributions to this project extend far beyond the introduction. And to Elizabeth Bonapfel and Naomh McKee, whose targeted editing introduced a measure of clarity, however small, I am also grateful—had time permitted. I know that my work would have been better for your full editing of it. Finally, I dedicate this paper to my grandparents, Harold and Mary Bunde. I hope they would have been proud. Janet Bunde April 15, 2002 Introduction One day several months ago I found myself in the company of several teenagers from Belfast. Our conversation skipped through several different topics, from what I thought of American university education to popular music to beer, and as most young people this age tend to be curious about romantic relationships, I was eventually questioned about my love life. I explained that I did indeed have a boyfriend, and, as might be expected, the next question they asked involved marriage. I explained that we had no date and no place set, which drew some puzzled looks. "Why not his church?" they queried. "He doesn't have one," I answered. Sensing an opportunity to educate them, I explained that he was Jewish. "What's that?" they asked. Though fairly ignorant of doctrine and practice, I tried to give a rudimentary sketch of Judaism to the teens, who nodded their understanding. As I stumbled through my explanation, a certain suppressed impatience on their part led me to stop. "Have I explained this well enough?" I asked, hoping the answer was yes. "Oh, yeah," they asserted. Pause. "So are Jewish people Protestant or Catholic?" Amusing though this question may be, its restatement is not meant to highlight the ignorance of Northern Irish people about different religions (though it does offer proof of the relative homogeneity of their society). It implies, however tangentially, that the schism dividing Catholics from Protestants does not remain doctrinally based—were that so, Judaism could be merely dismissed as a foreign and likely aberrant doctrine with few implications for Northern Ireland. Though Catholic and Protestant identities retain religious terminologies, they depend less upon scriptures or practice than patterns of emigration, settlement, and colonial privilege, 4 Most importantly, however, the teenagers' question reveals the Northern Irish practice of dichotomization. Two identities-Protestant and Catholic—imprison Northern Ireland; though each is replete with its own complexities and internal differences, both are united in one constant: opposition to the other. Animosity does not characterize all opposition—often, the line of demarcation between two streets, football teams, or flags is accepted without contention as a simple fact of life. We have ours; they have theirs. The identity of Northern Ireland lies in the semicolon joining Protestant and Catholic.i On either side of that semicolon lie two identities, uniquely constructed, though formed (and forming still) from much of the same historical materials and ethos. An emphasis on tradition, on a particular reading of an historical event, on legitimate national aspirations remains at the core of each. No treatment of Northern Ireland can withstand criticism without delving into the elaborate methods of declaring identity in this highly visual culture, which in turn signify much about identity formation and evolution. By choosing the formation and evolution of identity as my lens, I gravitated toward the more challenging and less written about case study of the Protestants. Catholic identity has by no means remained stagnant for the last five centuries, but Protestant identity in Northern Ireland has been entirely created within that period. Mass 1 The body of literature about Northern Ireland mirrors this construction; a book is about Protestants or, more often, about Catholics and some other neutral variable, such as history, or sport, or paramilitarism, or parades, or religious attendance. Few authors approach the province holistically, and thus authors and texts find themselves arrayed on either side. I have not escaped this dichotomy, but to write of both Catholics and Protestants neither served my aims nor fit within the time allotted to complete this project. 5 emigration grafted an alien element onto an established culture.2 The result changed both populations, but mapping the trajectory of Protestant identity formation provides the data for what I hypothesize is an experiment in the creation of a national consciousness. Following Liah Greenfeld's definition of the nation as "a `people,' which is seen as the bearer of sovereignty, the central object of loyalty, and the basis of collective solidarity,"3 I believe that Protestants in Northern Ireland have been consciously involved in creating a national identity for themselves. Importantly, this identity continues to evolve, as Northern Ireland's current constitutional and cultural relationships with Great Britain4 attest. Michael Ignatieff labels the product of this creation "nationalism that dare not speak its name."5 As currently defined by most historians and political scientists, nationalism requires agitation for one's own state, and Northern Irish Protestants do not at present wish to reject either their British heritage (upon which their identities are founded, and their past actions have rested) or British rule (which has afforded Protestants economic protection against independence and constitutional protection against becoming a minority in a united Ireland). For in Northern Ireland, identity is more than tradition—it is, as is the case in other post-colonial societies, intimately linked with political power and territorial claims. The foreign population artificially introduced on the island in the early seventeenth century has both remained distinct from, yet acquired certain characteristics of, the 2 Given their geographic proximity and shared ancestral origins, English and Scottish culture was not vastly different from Irish culture. However, there were significant differences, primarily in law, language, and religion. s Liah Greenfeld, Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992), 3. a The proper name of Great Britain (terminology used, only by the United States at present) is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which; due to resistance from British authorities, was not officially used until 1985. Brendan O'Leary, "The Lang Good Friday" (lecture presented at Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, 12 November 2001). 6 culture it invaded, and gained an attachment to and identification with the territory it occupies. I contend that identity formation among Northern Irish Protestants has manifested itself as a reactive ethnic nationalism evolving over time in response to external events. Colonial ties to England privileged Protestant populations in terms of political and economic influence. Protestant nationalism, therefore, incorporated equal measures of allegiance to Britain, fear of Catholic encroachment, and belief in the primacy of Ulster Protestants. Creating and displaying this nationalist