Hannah Smith

Despite a vast amount of research into The Troubles within Northern Ireland, previous research has sustained the view that Othering is dichotomous in Northern Ireland. That is, Othering exists on a binary between Protestant and Catholic. This thesis critiques this view, rather asserting that Othering in Northern Ireland is dynamic, and dependent on temporospatial contexts. Thus, this thesis explores the dynamic properties of Othering though sociological concepts of deviancy, symbolic interactionism, Folk Devils and Moral Panic. This thesis argues that the position of the Other is conditional, based on questions of who presents a perceived moral threat to which community and at what time.
In identifying both strengths and weaknesses of narrative theory and Critical Discourse Analysis, this thesis proposes an amalgamation of the two methods of inquiry. This thesis designs a Critical Narrative Analysis framework which allows a methodological triangulation to occur, working alongside sociological theories of identity and deviancy. A new contribution to an inquiry in its infancy, the framework proposed in this thesis addresses a gap in the literature towards building a comprehensive framework through which Critical Narrative Analysis can be used more widely in academic research.
This thesis uses sociological theories of deviancy and its Critical Narrative Analysis Cycle to analyse the dataset. It uses three examples of under-researched acts of political violence in the early years of the conflict in and around Northern Ireland: The Ballymurphy Massacre (1971); the M62 Coach Bombing (1974); and the Dublin Monaghan Bombings (1974). Using British and Irish Anglophone newspapers The Daily Mirror, The Times, The Irish Independent and the Irish Times, this thesis establishes that the position of the Other is indeed dynamic and dependent on different temporospatial contexts. Taken together, the findings of this thesis do not support the current definitions of Self and Other in Northern Ireland. This thesis argues for further exploration into the effects of personal narratives on institutional discourses, with an aim of reducing harmful stereotypes, particularly within the context of political violence.

My primary research interests are in translation, and particularly news media as a site of translation. I am also interested in research relating to the promotion and protection of minority languages, conflict studies and the sociology of communication. 

I have experience in teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

I am currently a tutor on the L1 undergraduate module Language, Politics and Conflict, run in the Irish and Celtic Studies department of the School of Arts, English and Languages in Queen's University Belfast. 

I am currently also a tutor in two postgraduate modules, Principles of Community Interpreting and Theory and Practice of Translation, both for sudents of MA Translation in the Centre for Translation and Interpreting, Queen's University Belfast.

In addition to teaching, I have undertaken personal development courses in the Graduate School, Queen's University Belfast, in order to enhance the pedagogical experience of students and colleagues with whom I work. 

I can be contacted by email at: [email protected]