Who Are You?

What are the consequences of silence? What are the risks of revealing your identity?
When a society has been through a devastating period of mass violence and political instability, trust between people is fragile, if it exists at all. Ordinary, daily interactions—at work, at the market, at the bus stop—can be fraught with tension. Too avoid this discomfort (and sometimes for safety) many people in Northern Ireland choose silence. And for those who are willing to reveal themselves to others, there are risks involved. Even if you do not share the political ideas of your group, your affiliation might derail a possible friendship or a working relationship with a colleague. The reading below is an example of this careful dance.

Kathy recalls a typical conversation she had a few years ago when she was a student at Queen's University Belfast. Leaving class one day, a classmate fell in step with her. They talked about their class and then the inevitable happened. "Where do you live?" he asked.

"North," she answered, knowing it was a mixed neighborhood and could mean anything.

"Where do you live?" she asked him.

"North," he said. "On which road?" he asked.

"The Ardoyne Road," she answered, knowing it was a long road and could mean anything. "On which road to you live?" she asked.

"The Ardoyne Road," he answered.

But he persisted, and Kathy revealed that she lived in a Catholic area and he a Protestant area, and that, she remembers, was the last time they talked.1

A conversation in Northern Ireland can be a dance. The Northern Irish, after years of sectarianism and violence, have learned out of fear and a desire to be polite to keep issues of identity at bay. So how do you know what side someone is on? A common way to find out is to ask, "where are you from?" or "where do you live?" If this answer does not provide the necessary information, then "what end of the road?" might. It also helps to ask what sports teams a person supports or what church they belong to. If they mention a "parish," you know that person is Catholic.

A student with an Irish name who lives on the Falls Road, a Catholic area, says that her father calls her a generic name when they are out so that they will not be identified. Another student says her parents will not let her wear her favorite football team's jersey on her street. She lives among Catholics, and she is Protestant.

[Murals in Derry/Londonderry. (photo: <a mce_thref="http://www.flickr.com/photos/samthesham/869760034/" target="_New">creative commons</a>)]

Only 4% of Northern Ireland's schools are integrated. Many teachers and administrators have come to view schools as "safe places" where the troubles are not mentioned and issues of identity are avoided. Creating a "culture of silence" in schools, and throughout Northern Ireland in general, is an act of prevention and keeping one's self safe. It is also an attempt to be polite, to not raise issues that may hurt someone's feelings or make them feel at risk. "Religion and politics," one teacher said, are two topics that are reserved for close friends, family and one's own group. But because religion and politics seem to pervade so much of Northern Irish life, great attempts have to be made to say nothing. Seamus Heaney touches upon this culture of silence in his poem, Whatever You Say Say Nothing.

"Religion's never mentioned here," of course.
"You know them by their eyes," and hold your tongue.
"One side's as bad as the other," never worse.
Christ, it's near time that some small leak was sprung

In the great dykes the Dutchman made
To dam the dangerous tide that followed Seamus.
Yet for all this art and sedentary trade
I am incapable. The famous

Northern reticence, the tight gag of place
And times: yes, yes. Of the "wee six" I sing
Where to be saved, you only must save face
And whatever you say, you say nothing.2

Connections for the Classroom...
  • In a segregated Northern Ireland, the street on which you live most likely reveals your religious affiliation. Kathy strikes up a friendly conversation with a classmate, but when they figure out exactly where the other lives (and therefore, each other's religion), they never speak again. Do you think Kathy and her classmate would have been better off remaining silent and avoiding the topic altogether? What are the implications of remaining silent? What are the risks of talking about the past and the conflict?
  • A "culture of silence" is not a characteristic of Northern Ireland alone. Larissa Kasumagic is an educator from Bosnia and Herzegovina who has worked with organizations offering psycho-social support for war-traumatized children and their families. In the following video clip, Kasumagic talks about the damage inflicted by a "culture of silence" she sees in her post-war, post-genocide society. Click here to watch the video clip (QuickTime needed to view video).

    Research the history Kasumagic is referring to in the video clip. What does she say that seems similar to the "culture of silence" in Northern Ireland? What about silence is different in the two distinct histories?
  • Make identity charts for your neighborhood, your favorite sports team's group of fans, and your religious community. How do those identity charts compare to your own? In what ways might someone outside of those communities create very different identity charts for each?
  • What does the community in Heaney's poem look like? Draw a picture of it or make an identity chart, then discuss with your class.

1 Karen Murphy, personal correspondence with author.
2 From "Whatever You Say Say Nothing," in Opened Ground: Selected Poems 1966-1996 by Seamus Heaney (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998), p. 124.