Maternal Situations

Sectarianism and Civility in a Divided City

Bibliographic Data

ID3950997
AuthorsLisa Smyth (0000-0001-7082-8960, Queen's University Belfast), Martina Mcknight (Queen's University Belfast)
Year2013
Volume61
Issue2
Pages304-322
Publication date2013-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0261 • E-ISSN: 1467-954X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/1467-954x.12019
OpenAlexW1501883305
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited31

This paper explores the tensions between civility and sectarianism in contemporary Belfast. Drawing on interviews with mothers engaged in raising young children in the largely working-class and divided inner city, the paper offers a situated account of the dynamics of social reproduction and change. This is pursued through an analysis of the interplay between expectations of civility and sectarianism in three situations: walking, shopping and playing. The tensions and dilemmas of maternal action as the divided inner city is navigated indicate the gendered character of civility, an important emerging norm facilitating social change in the post-conflict era. The situation of motherhood itself, both at the centre of ethno-national reproduction and at the interface of public and private life, is not insignificant in routinely drawing mothers into the everyday dynamics of post-conflict continuity and change

Civility · Norm (philosophy · Political science · Politics · Reproduction · Sectarianism · Situated · Sociology · Gender Studies · Irish and British Studies · Law

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub