Bin Lid Brigades and Mummy's Little Helpers: An Oral History Investigation of Communal Networks amongst the Women of West Belfast between 1970 - 1985

研究建议西贝尔法斯特是北爱尔兰研究最多的地区之一。在文学作品中，西贝尔法斯特被认为是1970年至1985年暴力高峰期北爱尔兰最贫困和最贫困的城市社区之一。然而，对这一时期居住在这一地区的社区的日常现实以及冲突以外的事件如何影响其居民的系统研究很少。通过疏导冲突，我的研究将分析获得医疗保健、贫困、儿童保育和家庭暴力等因素如何影响女性的日常生活，以及为什么在这个暴力加剧的时期，社区意识至关重要。只有通过一项雄心勃勃的跨学科研究，用面向社区的口述历史方法分析社会空间历史、性别历史和城市地理的这种融合，西贝尔法斯特的新图景才能浮出水面。关键的是，我的项目旨在摆脱将共和党天主教社区与他们的保皇派新教社区区分开来的二进制研究。事实上，西贝尔法斯特已经被纳入了一个规范的“共和党”身份之下。我打算通过比较这些社区的日常经历来挑战这一点，以及种族民族主义的忠诚是否影响了妇女进入社区网络的机会。方法口述历史是这个项目的理想方法，因为它直接以妇女的声音为中心。这种捕捉参与者语言的能力将使我们深入了解他们的个人经历，以及西贝尔法斯特独特的文化空间如何影响他们的语言和记忆。我打算对来自天主教和新教社区的参与者进行20-25次访谈。考虑到我的项目的时间表，这是一个合适的采访次数，有足够的时间仔细招募、转录和跟进。口述历史在北爱尔兰被广泛使用。2014年的斯托蒙特之家协议建立了一个国家口述历史档案馆，以“提供一个中心场所来分享与骚乱有关的叙述”。随后的2015年《新削减战略武器条约》和2020年《新十年新方法》文件批准了这一协议。然而，我的项目打算保持独立于官方遗产项目，更愿意与基层社区网络合作，如杜恰斯口述历史档案馆和通过记忆治愈。这一决定是由于西贝尔法斯特某些社区长期以来对官方叙述的不信任，官方叙述被担心为“政治动摇”或“重写历史”。目前西贝尔法斯特的口述历史项目只涉及天主教共和党人的声音。这造成了关于新教保皇派在西贝尔法斯特的经历的知识差距。我致力于跨社区的地方参与，旨在纠正这一缺陷。我将通过我与瀑布妇女中心、瀑布社区中心、尚基尔妇女中心、通过记忆治愈和过去的片段项目的工作，招募参与者参加我的面试。我打算在一系列访问期间与这些小组举行多次项目信息活动，讨论我的研究需要什么，并在研究完成后举行一系列项目发现活动。社区活动将是至关重要的，以确保参与者感觉集中在我的项目中，并创造一个参与者可以表达问题、贡献和建议的空间。我的研究将成为最近由福尔斯和尚基尔妇女中心领导的良好关系资源运动的一部分。本次演讲将寻求加强该运动的跨社区议程，该议程的重点是减轻新教和天主教社区的妇女困难。

Research Proposal West Belfast is one of the most researched areas of Northern Ireland. Within the literature West Belfast has assumed a "codified mythology" as one of Northern Ireland's most blighted and deprived urban communities during the peak years of violence, 1970-1985. However, there has been little systematic research into the quotidian realities of the communities who lived in this area during this period, and how events outside of the conflict affected its inhabitants. By decentring the conflict, my study will analyse how factors such as access to healthcare, poverty, childcare and domestic abuse shaped women's daily lives and why a sense of community was critical in this period of heightened violence. It is only through an ambitious interdisciplinary study, that analyses this convergence of socio-spatial history, gender history and urban geography with a community-facing oral history methodology, that a new picture of West Belfast can emerge. Critically, my project aims to move away from the compartmentalised research of the binaries that have separated the Republican Catholic communities and their Loyalist Protestant counterparts. Indeed, West Belfast has been subsumed under a normative "Republican" identity. I intend to challenge this by comparing everyday experiences across these communities, and whether ethno-nationalist loyalties affected women's access to communal networks. MethodologyOral history is the ideal methodology for this project as it directly centres women's voices. This ability to capture the language of my participants will give an insight into both their individual experiences and how the unique cultural space of West Belfast affected their language and memory. I intend to conduct between 20-25 interviews with participants drawn equally from the Catholic and Protestant communities. This is a suitable number of interviews given my project's timescale, allowing adequate time for careful recruitment, transcription and follow-ups.Oral history has been widely used in Northern Ireland. The 2014 Stormont House Agreement established a national Oral History Archive to "provide a central place to share narratives related to the Troubles". This was ratified by the later Fresh Start Agreement, 2015, and the 2020, New Decade, New Approach document. However, my project intends to remain independent of official legacy projects preferring to work with grass-roots community networks such as the Duchas Oral History Archive and Healing Through Remembering. This decision was made due to long-standing distrust from certain communities in West Belfast towards official narratives, which are feared as being "politically swayed" or "re-writing history". Current oral history projects in West Belfast only concern Catholic Republican voices. This has created a knowledge gap regarding Protestant Loyalist experiences in West Belfast. My commitment to cross-community local engagement seeks to rectify this lacuna.Impact I will recruit participants for my interviews through my work with the Falls Women's Centre, Falls Community Centre, Shankill Women's Centre, Healing Through Remembering, and Pieces of the Past project. I intend to hold multiple Project Information Events with these groups over a series of visits to discuss what my research entails and following its completion a series of Project Findings Events. Community events will be crucial to ensure participants feel centred in my project, and to create a space in which participants can voice questions, contributions and advice. My research will form part of a presentation to the recent Good Relations Resource Campaign headed by the Falls and Shankill's Women's Centres. This presentation will seek to reinforce the campaign's cross-community agenda which focuses on alleviating female hardship across both Protestant and Catholic communities.