Abstract
This paper investigates young people’s relationship to territory in Northern Ireland. Territoriality, in this sense, has a wide impact on people’s everyday encounters of contact and social identity driven by the city’s dense political history and segregation. It is argued that even when communities engage on daily bases, they have no choice but to employ tactics to challenge, or resist these logistical realities by adapting alternative means of interaction in the city. This investigative research is based on using semi-structured interviews, focus groups with young people in Derry/Londonderry. The findings reveal that young people formulate their own ways of contact or segregation strategies colored by heavily ‘mythologised’ memories of the Troubles. They experience territoriality as a form of ‘cultural capital’ handed to them from preceding generations. They eventually generate closed, integrated groups limited to their own members and distance themselves from the Other community. This, in return, reflects extreme impact on their mobility practices, employability and social contact. The paper questions whether the growing cultural and ethnic diversification of societies in Northern Ireland could lead to transformative social relations of integration and belonging beyond groups defined by their ethnic identity.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Geoforum |
Publication status | Submitted - 06 Apr 2017 |