Belfast: 'I think things will really change. I hope so, for the kids’ sake, but time will tell'
Martina McKnight in collaboration with Lisa Smyth Additional photographs by Milena Komarova and the mothers who participated in the research, to whom we extend our sincere thanks
Conflict in Cities: Europe and the Middle East
Drawing on research material gathered in 2008 with mothers of pre-school children living in deeply divided neighbourhoods in East and North Belfast, this photo-essay presents a snapshot of everyday life in the ‘post conflict’ city. The voices and insights of these women have significant resonance and make a rich contribution to the discourses of urban division, conflict and change; discourses from which they are often missing, marginalised or stereotyped. Boundaries, physical and symbolic, remain a feature of their daily lives; yet there are signs that these are being challenged, often through seemingly mundane encounters and practices. The continuing influence and importance of family and community, which simultaneously foster strong feelings of inclusion and exclusion are strikingly evident. These glimpses into the quotidian bring into sharp focus the array of competing yet intersecting concerns, horizons and aspirations that define the embodied city. While the regenerated ‘neutral’ city centre and the increasing diversity of its population convey messages of positive change they may also illicit feelings of exclusion and create new divisions and tensions. These compelling narratives reveal how processes of change are neither fixed nor linear, but, rather, a series of uneven responses to the norms, needs and priorities of family, community and self that are informed by the past, present and hopes for the future.
‘For the first time the other day I walked right up the New Lodge Road onto the Antrim Road to pick my wee nephew up from nursery. Away we went with the pram, just talking away to each other and nobody even acknowledged who’s that or whatever. And we even took the kids into the wee shop. You couldn’t have done that five years ago, not even three years ago, I wouldn’t have even dared last year. Now I wouldn’t do it at night time.’
‘It’s only this past couple of years that I’ve walked up to Connswater, before that you were always afraid... But everywhere’s changing now and you don’t feel afraid. [Although the other shoppers] wouldn’t say anything now, I think because you were used to it in the past you just got into the habit of not saying your kids’ names, or saying anything that might let them know.’
‘There’s sensitivities around [changing the murals] from people who don’t want them to come down. But I think too the community wants a new start. They don’t want to be looking at gunmen and flags and red, white and blue all over the place. So I think the majority of the community are all for them changing, but there’s still that wee smidgen who’re not.’
‘I want this area to be a better place for my kids. I don’t want my kids growing up in what I grew up in which was rioting all the time, your area wrecked, destroyed, you know what I mean? Drugs, friends getting killed. We lost a friend in the Troubles; he got blew up. We don’t want that for our kids.’
‘The park is great, it’s all new. And this is really good, it’s interactive and you have to jump about and run around with the kids – it keep you fit.’ Would the mums from the other community use it? ‘No, not really; they have their own park.’
‘I don’t think it [Peacewall] should be brought down. I think if that was took down it would cause more conflict and we would be back at square one. I think that stops half the hassle.’
'I don’t think it will ever go back to the way it was, because like on both sides there are community groups who are trying to put a stop to it. Like there’s a residents group there and they’re out nearly every night to pull the crowds back. And we all have contact numbers from here to there ... so that you can separate your crowds or whatever. So that’s a good sign.’
Image 8 Posters and Derelict. Belfast. 2010
‘ I t ’s n o t b i t t e r n e s s w i t h Catholics, it’s bitterness with them 'uns across the road. Because it’s our children, not mine but my sister’s kids, [who] were in school and they would have thrown stones and all over at our kids. And my nephew got hit with a bottle one day in school. So l mean it’s bitterness that way. I mean it’s our kids who can’t even play in the playground, so that’s what it’s all about.’
‘Everybody has their family around them. Like, I live next door to my mummy, my sister lives down the street, my auntie just lives there. Like we all live close to each other, and they are important to me for bringing up my kids. And, like I say you need to know who’s living next door to you.’
‘Religion isn’t important to me,... but the kids go to Catholic schools. And it’s important to us bringing [our son] up in the Catholic faith, making his Communion and stuff like that. It has to be important because everybody around him is making it. I’ve been going to Mass more regularly because my wee boy made his Communion. ... but that is something a mummy does more than a daddy.’
‘It’s [the city centre] more like a city... more hotels, more tourism and even like different races and things. Where years ago you didn’t see other races and you’d be like "ah there’s a black fella" now it’s normal.’ ‘I suppose the town is better for the people that can afford it, like the Victoria Centre, but I couldn’t even afford to buy anything out of there. I’ve been in it once just to have a nosey but that’s about it.’
‘Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind people coming here and earning a living the same as me if I went to a different country. But I don’t like the way they seem to be able to walk into the doctor’s and get an appointment whenever they want, walk into jobs, going to the top of the queue like... getting more benefits than what we’re getting. That’s the way it comes across to me anyway.’
‘My partner asked me last week if I could get him a new pair of trainers, and I’m like no the kids need a new pair so they come first. ... When he gets his wages, I get mine and I stretch it, but it’s a struggle. Sometimes I sit with no money from a Tuesday to a Friday and then you’re borrowing and then you have to get it back. So I do find it tough sometimes.’
‘I think you do want to move forward, you want to say I’m sick of the same old things day in day out. Move forward, make this place a better place. And not everybody wants to help, but there’s that handful that say we’ll change the community, do you know what I mean?’
‘I have a lot of hope. I think things will really change; I hope so, for the kids’ sake, but time will tell, fingers crossed. I just think that there are still ones that hold onto the past . But for their own kids’ and their grandkids’ sake they need to just, erm, not forget the past but just sort of keep it on the back burner and let things happen for the best.’
Conflict in Cities and the Contested State research project, supported by the ESRC (grant number RES-060-25-0015)
www.urbanconflicts.arct.cam.ac.uk
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