“Two Eyes on the Past”

The past in Northern Ireland is always present and always contested. This chapter is not a rehashing of the complex history of the north of Ireland nor is it an attempt to place blame for the origin or continuation of the sectarian divide that defines it. A legion of scholars have addressed the former, and the latter—“the conflict about the conflict”—is a daily exercise for most everyone in Northern Ireland. Rather, this chapter offers a broad survey of that scarified history in recognition that understanding the origins of those competing social identities and the ways in which they became cemented over generations, is essential context and a necessary reference point for our coming analysis of risk and resilience in contemporary Northern Ireland.