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13 - Does Religion Still Matter?

Comparative Lessons from the Ethno-national Conflict in Northern Ireland

from Part VII - Northern Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2021

By
Liam O’Dowd
Edited by
Nadim N. Rouhana  and
Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian
Nadim N. Rouhana
Affiliation:
Tufts University, Massachusetts
Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian
Affiliation:
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Queen Mary University of London
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Summary

This chapter explores the enduring intersections of popular religion, violence, and ethno-national memory in Belfast. Wider debates on the nexus between religion, violence, and politics are integrated with recent empirical data on the contemporary post-conflict city. The chapter demonstrates how conflicting narratives of nationalism, imperialism, and popular religion materialize in the “sacred spaces,” public rituals, and territorial enclosures of a nominally secular city located historically in the heartlands of Western imperialism.

Keywords

religionsecularismethno-national conflictviolencememorysacred spaceterrtorial enclosuresBelfastnationalismimperialism
Type
Chapter
Information
When Politics are Sacralized
Comparative Perspectives on Religious Claims and Nationalism
 , pp. 337 - 362
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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