"Ulster Gaelic: It's Yours Too!"

Description of impact

This project seeks to create a discursive space for Irish and its contemporary relationship to the Protestant-Unionist-Loyalist (PUL) community in mainstream culture Northern Ireland.

Through accessible, specific and powerful stories told by PUL speakers and learners of Irish, we create videos and animations that can expand and reframe how Irish is viewed currently, creating a new space and a new way of speaking about Irish that is accessible and enticing to Protestants, unionists and loyalists.

The impact of this project is primarily felt by the PUL community
Secondary impacts reach political stakeholders and language policymakers in Northern Ireland and Great Britain; Irish speakers generally the general society in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland

Who is affected

Protestant-Unionist-Loyalist communities in Northern Ireland
Irish speakers from a PUL background
Political stakeholders in Northern Ireland
Language policymakers in Northern Ireland
Irish speakers generally
General society in Northern Ireland
General society in the Republic of Ireland

Narrative

I am co-leading an ongoing awareness raising project with Irish Language activist Linda Ervine, through her East Belfast-based Irish Language organisation "Turas."

In the form of short animated videos and GIFS, the project creates public narratives (and publicly-sharable narratives) of Irish language usage - and benefits gained from using Irish - in the PUL community in Northern Ireland.

The project is collecting oral history narratives from people from a PUL background who have discovered, started learning and benefited from Irish. These stories are then used to create powerful and compelling animated films that arm to affect people and cause them to reflect and share the story.

Impact status	Ongoing
Impact date	01 Aug 2018
Category of impact	Cultural Impact, Public Policy Impact, Quality of Life Impact, Societial Impact, Other Impact
Impact level	Engagement