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

Bin Lid Brigades 和木乃伊的小帮手：1970 年至 1985 年间西贝尔法斯特妇女公共网络的口述历史调查

• 批准号: 2882192
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Edinburgh
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2882192
• 关键词: Bin; Lid; Brigades; Mummy; Little

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.

研究建议西贝尔法斯特是北方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一个“编纂的神话”，在1970-1985年的暴力高峰时期，它是北方爱尔兰最破败和最贫困的城市社区之一。然而，对这一时期生活在这一地区的各社区的厄立特里亚现实情况以及冲突以外的事件如何影响其居民，几乎没有进行系统的研究。通过分散冲突，我的研究将分析获得医疗保健，贫困，儿童保育和家庭虐待等因素如何塑造妇女的日常生活，以及为什么社区意识在这个暴力加剧的时期至关重要。只有通过一个雄心勃勃的跨学科研究，分析社会空间历史，性别历史和城市地理与面向社区的口述历史方法的融合，西贝尔法斯特的新画面可以出现。重要的是，我的项目旨在摆脱对分离共和党天主教社区和他们的忠诚新教同行的二进制文件的划分研究。事实上，西贝尔法斯特已被归入一个规范的“共和党”身份。我打算通过比较这些社区的日常经历来挑战这一点，以及民族主义的忠诚是否影响了妇女进入社区网络。口述历史是这个项目的理想方法，因为它直接集中了妇女的声音。这种捕捉我的参与者的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。我打算与来自天主教和新教社区的平等参与者进行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，允许有足够的时间仔细招募，转录和跟进。口述历史在北方爱尔兰被广泛使用。2014年的斯托蒙特众议院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麻烦有关的叙述”。后来的2015年《新开端协定》和2020年《新十年新方法》文件批准了这一点。然而，我的项目打算保持独立的官方遗产项目，宁愿与基层社区网络，如公爵口述历史档案和愈合通过记忆。作出这一决定是因为西贝尔法斯特某些社区长期以来不信任官方叙述，担心官方叙述“受政治影响”或“重写历史”。目前在西贝尔法斯特的口述历史项目只关注天主教共和党的声音。这就造成了知识差距新教保皇派在西贝尔法斯特的经验。影响我将通过我在福尔斯妇女中心、福尔斯社区中心、尚基尔妇女中心、通过回忆治愈和过去的碎片项目的工作招募参与者进行采访。我打算在一系列的访问中与这些小组举行多个项目信息活动，讨论我的研究需要什么，并在完成一系列项目调查结果活动之后。社区活动将是至关重要的，以确保参与者在我的项目中感到中心，并创造一个空间，让参与者可以表达问题，贡献和建议。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。这一介绍将寻求加强该运动的跨社区议程，重点是减轻新教和天主教社区妇女的困难。