On our last day in Ireland, I enjoyed walking through the Ulster Museum, eating lunch at Maggie May’s, and taking a Black Taxi Tour of Belfast. At the Ulster Museum, I found the exhibit dedicated to The Troubles fascinating and appreciated the museum’s effort to present the material as impartially as possible. I found it interesting that the museum had a suggestion box at the end of that exhibit that encouraged visitors to share ways in which the exhibit could be more impartial, representative, and inclusive. In all my years visiting museums, I’ve never seen anything like it.

On the Black Taxi Tour, I was surprised by how much I didn’t know about Ireland’s current political climate. I had no idea a wall existed that divided Belfast or that gates were closed every night to help citizens on either side feel more secure. It reminded me a lot of East and West Germany and of the conflict that for so long defined and divided that country.

The taxi tour perfectly illustrated the importance of place. On the Protestant side of the wall, there were memorials dedicated to citizens killed by the IRA. The language on various murals and memorials conflated the IRA with ISIS, an interesting tactic. Conflation is a tactic I often see the US media use to advance an argument. Rarely do supporters of a particular argument find conflation problematic; however, it’s easy to recognize agitprop in arguments we oppose. On the Catholic side of the wall, the murals and memorials were more nationalistic and stressed the sacrifices made by IRA members and others in support of a free Ireland.

In this part of Ireland, place is identity. The lives of Irish people in Belfast are shaped by what side of the wall they’re on.

This trip has been a phenomenal exercise in studying the intersection of place and identity. The activities consistently engaged us on multiple levels, and I’m thankful for LeeAnne’s meticulous planning which allowed us to think critically about a difficult subject.