Negotiating the ground: ‘mobilizing’ a divided field site in the ‘post-conflict’ city

ABSTRACT

While an exploration of mobility patterns in ‘post-conflict’ societies has much to tell us about how division is produced through ordinary activities, less work has considered the practical application of a mobilities ‘lens’ during fieldwork in such contexts. Negotiating the ground in highly polarized contexts presents a unique array of challenges, but also offers opportunities to make use of mobile methodologies. This paper discusses the advantages of GPS-based technologies and walking interviews to a recent activity-space segregation study in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and reflects on methodological issues posed by the ‘post-conflict’ field site.

KEYWORDS:

• Mobile methodologies
• walking interviews
• GPS tracking applications
• activity-space segregation
• researching post-conflict societies
• urban polarization
• Northern Ireland conflict

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the residents of North Belfast who contributed their time and insights to this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The categories Protestant and Catholic are not intended to exclude other identities in Northern Irish society nor to imply religious fervor among group members, but as Shirlow (2003a, 92) notes, ‘are used for the sake of brevity’ in a conflict, which hinges on broader ethno-national disputes.

2. The term ‘interface’ is used to refer to areas in the city where Protestant residential areas abut Catholic neighbourhoods. These areas are sometimes divided by ‘peace walls’ or security barriers although the demarcation line is often less evident to outsiders, and may be indicated by little more than a flag or other sectarian marking.

3. The term ‘post-conflict’ is used to connote the period after the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. It is not intended to suggest the complete cessation of conflict-related violence or associated social problems.

4. Data only registered for 233 of these individuals.

5. The 33 walking interview participants were selected from the initial group of 520 who completed the survey based on their desire to participate, overall aptitude and ability to take part in a walking interview. Although every effort was made to ensure a representative breakdown in terms of gender and sectarian background as well as roughly equal numbers of participants across the five sites, we were somewhat limited in this aim by participants’ willingness.

Additional information

Funding

This research, conducted as part of the Belfast Mobility Project, was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council under Grant [ES/L016583/1].