Language & Conflict: Negotiating the Language Barrier (Event)

Description

Language & Conflict: Negotiating the Language Barrier

Conflicted societies often experience the marginalisation, exclusion, or destruction of cultural assets, particularly language, as a result of their perceived identity value to one or more of the conflict participants. The Irish language, during the recent conflict commonly known as ‘the Troubles’, is a prime example of how, through cultural homogenisation, one community (‘loyalist/unionist’) viewed the language to be overtly attached to the identity of the perceived ‘other’ (‘nationalist/republican’). Within the current post-conflict situation, however, intercultural co-operation and dialogue have developed as core methods of conflict transformation and, as a result of this knowledge-exchange, marginalised communities, from both sides of the political divide, have initiated a process of positive re-engagement with the Irish language as an element of shared cultural heritage.Our research group will use multidisciplinary approaches to analyse and interrogate the core relationships between conflict, communities, and language in post-conflict Belfast. The group will facilitate knowledge exchange between prominent language activists from loyalist and republican working-class areas of Belfast, academics, visiting scholars, and PG students in QUB. The research will specifically focus on the nexus between active engagement with Irish-language schemes and the potential for conflict transformation through the educational, linguistic, and cultural empowerment of working-class communities.‌

Period	2016 → …
Event title	Language & Conflict: Negotiating the Language Barrier
Event type	Seminar
Location	Belfast, United KingdomShow on map