Aestheticized geographies of conflict: The politicization of culture and the culture of politics in belfast's mural tradition

Abstract

A culture war has been fought on the walls of Belfast. Factions which had long been accustomed to voicing their dissent through violence and fear-mongering no longer have the openly public support to back their campaigns of bigotry and hatred via the gun [Note 1]. Instead, those who still seek to express their dissent over the Northern Ireland issue have found alternative methods by which they can voice their opinion. The re-opening of the devolved legislature for the Northern Ireland Assembly has re-opened a dialogue at the political level; on the ground, however, where political assertions are embedded in social practice, political communities express their cultural authority (in a way that is no less critical although more intriguingly subversive) through the production of mural art. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.