1. The Reconciliation pyramid; a narrative based framework
looking at the big story
Metanarratives are the almost mythological vast accounts of a collective’s identity,
which encompasses generations. They usually comprise of religious or mystical figures,
which in turn promote values beliefs and symbols of a group (Flyvbjerg 1998). The
groups’ identities are subsumed and defined by this metanarrative, therefore challenging
metanarratives could contest the very identity of an individual or group, and here we see
identity crisis and clash such as in Northern Ireland.
National narratives are interpretations of national history comprising of real events and
the heroes or villains in them; these are told across time and generation. They derive their
meaning from the metanarrative but are about concrete events. Auerbach (2009) suggests
that these stories play an important role in any reconciliation process and although they
are deeply embedded in a societies’ psyche, their story like structure makes them better
able to legitimately incorporate the others version into their own.
The Reconciliation pyramid is a useful tool identifying the various stages which must
be addressed as both parties move towards reconciling, the seven stages of the
Reconciliation Pyramid are: Narrative Acquaintance; Narrative Acknowledgement;
Expressing Empathy; Assumption of Responsibility; Readiness For Restitution;
Asking and Granting Forgiveness and Narrative Integration (Auerbach 2009). All
parties must go through, all of these stages together, to reach the top of the pyramid and
attain peaceful conflict transformation. These stages are arranged in ascending hierarchy
and usually (there may be exceptions) all parties will not move to a higher stage until they
have passed through the preceding one, however completing one stage does not assure
readiness to move to the next stage.
Summary
This poster describes the planned research exploring readiness for reconciliation
in Northern Ireland. This research has three strands which will be drawn together
to create the main body of work, they are:
What is reconciliation? There are varying academic accounts proposing what
reconciliation is as a concept; this researcher will draw on the recognized and
examined aspects of this concept and hope to build on this prior research using
‘The Reconciliation Pyramid’ (Auerbach, 2009).
Who tells the stories, which frame the continued animosity and violent flare ups
in Northern Ireland? There are three intertwining yet contested narratives
regarding Northern Ireland; told from three perspectives, what are the narratives
and who identifies with them and is there any room for integration of these
narratives?
Where can the participants be located on the Pyramid? The Pyramid will be used
as a framework to investigate where on the Pyramid participants believe their
respective communities can be placed. The Pyramid is a clear representation of
phases adversaries pass on their way to reconciliation at its apex.
A qualitative approach will be taken, consisting of interviews with opinion
formers such as: Community relations workers, Politicians and Journalists.
Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) will be employed to examine the
data.
Introduction
Reconciliation
Reconciliation is a process; it is about building relationships and finding ways
to come to terms with the past, by acknowledging, remembering and agreeing
on the truth of the past; with a view to shared future (Hamber, 2009).
Reconciliation may be over ambitious where there are no past relationships
such as in Northern Ireland. Particularly when many numbers of years have
passed and responsibility has been outsourced to these previous generations
(Lederach & Lederach, 2010), however to begin to reconcile, these
generations need to be given a voice through their ancestors and the truths in
all their versions need to be told. This story telling requires requires an
approach of acceptance and trust; this is a long and sticky process, groups
will need to go through ‘cold’ steps of narrative acquaintance and
acknowledgement, before reaching for ‘warm’ steps at the apex: empathy,
apology, and ultimately narrative incorporation (Auerbach, 2009).
Historical clues to an identity conflict
The first English involvement in Ireland is reported to have begun as early as
1170 and struggles for control have wreaked bloody battles over the last 800
years, ultimately culminating in a division into two separate entities: the
Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (Mulholland, 2002). This long history
has created two separate national identities within Northern Ireland and has
birthed a state with citizens embroiled in an identity conflict; a constant ‘them’
an ‘us’ state of affairs with little room for change in the sectarian approaches
to administrating the territory (White, 2001; Bar-Tal, 2011).
Troubled Narratives
Given that the conflict in Northern Ireland is complex it is unsurprising that
there are many versions or narratives of events, for example the length of the
conflict is highly contested some claiming it began in 1969 others with the
plantation of Ulster in the 17thc and still others 1170; additionally there is not
even agreement between the warring parties on who the ‘other’ is (White,
2001, Jarman, 2005).
The contemporary conflict in Northern Ireland was played out during 30 years
of violence from 1969-1998, the Troubles, as they are called, resulted in over
40,000 injuries; 3272 deaths, including 987 Catholic civilians and 538
Protestant civilians in Northern Ireland. On the British mainland the main
causalities were civilian, included in these were high ranking politicians and
members of royal family. The victims and their status are fluid and dependant
on who is telling the story.
It is argued that for Protestants the ‘them’ is Irish Catholics, an Irish Protestant
versus Irish Catholic problem, this struggle, is within the auspices of a United
Kingdom. However for the Irish paramilitaries the conflict is about both social
identity and role identity, for them the other is the British state and its agents,
for Republicans then the social identity dimension of the conflict is not Irish
Catholics versus Irish Protestant but instead Irish nationalist versus the British
government and its agents in Britain and in Ireland (Mulholland, 2002;
Edwards, & McCrattan,2012). Consequently it is this identity clash which
causes the on-going failure to bring real peace in Northern Ireland.
Like other identity conflicts, both parties have deeply rooted narratives based
on “victim and victimizer” each side feels the other has usurped their
legitimate rights to express their national identity, therefore continued peace
between the parties involved remains elusive. Bound up in these, feelings
and narratives, is the inability of either side to successfully engage in
reconciliation (Auerbach, 2009). It is these narratives this research seeks to
examine with a view to understanding the potential for reconciliation.
Moving from official peace to reconciliation
This conflict officially came to an end with an Irish republican army cease fire in 1994
and the signing of the Good Friday agreement in 1998; 15 years ago tomorrow. Since
then there has been concerted efforts to bring about peace, with Millions of pounds
invested in community programs and government initiatives.
However in Belfast alone there are 1500 sectarian incidents per year, there are 99 peace
walls in Northern Ireland dividing communities along sectarian lines these are curving
40ft-high barriers dividing roads, communities and even public parks. The need for
reconciliation between the communities in Northern Ireland is obvious but what lies
beneath the obvious violent flare ups and sectarian division?
Candida Darling PhD Student;Political Psychology
Methods
Participants
20 participants will be recruited for the research; representatives from the three parties
involved will be approached. These will be opinion formers such as: Religious leaders,
Community relations workers, Politicians and Journalists. I have had agreement from
seven individuals thus far and hope to recruit more via snowball sampling.
Procedure & Analysis
A phenomenological methodology is the most suitable approach to addressing this
research question, this approach will enable the participants to explain how much they
know of and how they feel about, the other side’s narrative. This is participant led
approach is imperative in determining where the communities may lie on the
reconciliation pyramid. The research objectives will be met by using a semi-structured
interview technique (Kvale & Brinkman, 2009) conducted as a small scale study. These
interviews will last approximately 60 minutes the interviews will be transcribed; then will
undergo Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) (Langdridge 2004). Findings
will be reported in light of empirical data, using procedures familiar to IPA and Thematic
Analysis. These findings will be triangulated, member checked.
Beyond the obvious; an exploration of readiness for reconciliation in Northern Ireland
The Reconciliation
pyramid
References
Auerbach, J. (2009, April). The reconciliation pyramid—a narrative-based framework for analyzing identity conflicts. Political Psychology, 30, 291-318.
Bar-Tal, D. (2011). Intergroup Conflicts and Their Resolution; a Social Psychological Perspective. New York: Psychology Press, Taylor and Francis
group.
Edwards,A & McCrattan,C. (2012). The Northern Ireland Conflict. Oxford: Oneworld.
Flyvbjerg, B. (1998, June). Habermas and Foucault: Thinkers for Civil Society? The British Journal of Sociology, 49, 210-23.
Hamber, B. (2009). Transforming Societies after Political Violence: Truth, Reconciliation, and Mental Health. London: Springer.
Jarman, N. (2005). No Longer a Problem? Sectarian Violence in Northern Ireland. Belfast: Institute for Conflict Research.
Kvale & Brinkman. (2009). Interviews; Learning the Craft of Qualitative of Research Interviewing. London: Sage publishing Ltd.
Lederach J.P & Lederach A . (2010). When Blood and Bones Cry Out: Journeys Through the Soundscape of Healing and Reconciliation. Australia :
University of Queensland Press
Mulholland, M. (2002). Northern Ireland; a very Short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University press.
White, R. (2001). Social And Role Identities and Political Violence; Identity as a Window On Violence In Northern Ireland . In J. &. Ashmore, Social
Identity Intergroup Conflict and Conflict Reduction (pp. 133-149). Oxford: Oxford University press.
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(Auerbach,2009)