The Object of Sectarianism: The Material Reality of Sectarianism in Ulster Loyalism Author(s): David Cairns Source: The Journal

of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 6, No. 3 (Sep., 2000), pp. 437452 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2661084 . Accessed: 22/04/2013 05:01
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THE OBJECT OF SECTARIANISM: THE MATERIAL REALITY OF SECTARIANISM IN ULSTER LOYALISM

DAVID CAIRNS

University of Ulster, Jordanstown

in contemporary This article examnines an important, and neglected,aspect of sectarianism Northern Ireland: its embodiment in the material culture and everydaysocial practicesof its antagonisticfactions.Following a brief theoreticaloutline of sectarianism(characterized I describe this phenomenon as found in an Ulster loyalistcomas a discursiveformation), I show how the materialrealityof sectarianism munity. encompassesthe everyday activities of these loyalists, including their'traditional' cultureof Orangeism and the spheresof sport, leisure, and entertainment. Within these everyday cultural practices,sectarian values are objectifiedand storedin fetishizedobjects,such as flagsand banners,and in an oral culture of songs and slogans.

As a topic for serious acadeniic investigation, of Northern the sectarianism Ireland has been largelyignored (McVeigh 1992: 119). More specifically, no mainstream study to date would appear to have adequately considered the mundane everyday within the two rival communities: realityof sectarianism There has,rather, the 'materialization' of sectarianism in theircultural practices. fieldsof a more sensational been somethingof bias towardsresearching the reduced to the level of 'an aberrant violence and terror, with sectarianism based on outmoded religious prejudices' (Bell 1990: 64), or not mentality considered at all. Furthermore, the few existing material analyses of secin termsof its relationto metatarianism tend eitherto explain sectarianismn and class (O'Dowd narrativeconstructssuch as history, religion,ethnicity, et al. 1980; Bell 1990), or to relyoverlyupon the 'centralmyth'(Shirlow & McGovernl 1997: 1) of a sectarianmaterialrealityconstitutedof a monolithicclash between two primordial'tribes': Protestants and Catholics (Whyte 1990: 194-205). It is difficult to understand why this has been the case, as in recent years the significance of the arena of everydaylife - specifically activities such as consumption, and leisure- as a site foridenentertainment, has hardlygone unnoticedin academic circles(Calhoun 1994: tityformation 13). This articleseeks to begin to correctthismajor imbalance by examining the key areas of everyday life and materialculture, exposing the crucial role The subject-matter thisarena playsin gestating and perpetuating sectarianism. in this articleis exclusively discussedwithin the context of the Ulster loyalist community.
2000. C Royal AnthropologicalInstitute Inst. (N.S.) -6,437-452 J. Roy. anthrop.

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This contention,of sectarianism as an 'everyday'activity, is not without gravity. Social scientists have long argued,perhaps without realizingit, that is to be located almost exclusivelyupon the 'battlefield' sectarianism of the streets and in aberrantpracticessuch as electoralgerrymandering, intimidation,and discrimination. While the existenceand the significance of sectarianism in these areas is not disputed,these extreme behaviours represent only the small tip of the sectarianiceberg. We must therefore come to terms with the unpleasantpossibility that,despitethe advent of'the Peace Process' and possibly a permanent end to the paramilitary conflict,if it can be established thatthe bulk of sectarianism is to be found in everyday lifepractices, and not in the armed struggleitself, the basic problem will remain untouched irrespective of political settlement. There are threeareas in which sectarianism within Ulster loyalismis discussedin this article:the everyday 'traditional' cultureof Orangeism,the arena of sportand leisure, and, finally, entertainment.

Sectarianism Most studies of the 'Northern Ireland problem' would appear to take the forgranted. It is a signifier meaningof sectarianism ordinarily employedas a for the anti-socialor divisiveacts,typically synonym involvingphysicalviolence or intimidation, of 'religious'paramilitary organizations. Such sectarian antagonism encompasses killings,injuries, explosions, shootings,robberies, In the past three decades, this sectariextortionrackets, and knee-cappings. anism has been rifein NorthernIreland.In quantitative terms, O'Leary and McGarry (1996: 40-3) reportthat'over 33,000 people have suffered serious injuriessince 1968, a figure close to one in fifty of the (NorthernIrish)population',not to mentionthe psychological traumas induced in countlessothers. These acts,or thejustification fortheirperformance, are,we are told,grounded in the doctrinaldifferences Catholicism between the two competingreligions: and Protestantism (Ruane & Todd 1996: 22; Sugden & Bairner 1995: 15).1 such sectarianaction is found to be in no way reliYet, when scrutinized, The sectarianactor'sdeeds fail to involvethe essentialelement gious in itself. of 'supernatural' as religious. worshipwhich definesan activity It is easy to appreciatehow such a fundamental 'mistake'has been made: and 'Catholics' alike employreligiouslabels 'Protestants' (in particular, loyalists) in definingthemselvesand their others,implyinga religious dimension to theirsectarianism the essen(Bell 1990: 64). But if we take into consideration could possibly tially'human' natureof the phenomena,at best,sectarianism be said to have builtitself subupon religiousand doctrinalschism. Therefore, sectarianism is religiousonly by semiotic association.Likewise,the stantially, suggestionthat the Northern Irish conflictis somehow religiousin nature As Jenkins (Bruce 1986: 249) is equally flawed:thereis no religiousconflict. 'it is not religious which are in conflict, but theirmembership' states, systems (1986: 2).2 Religion is clearlyonly the colouring,not the essence,of sectarianism.Religion does, however, function withinthe sectarianschema,playing a more sinister a mask forsectarianexercisesof power. role,thatof providing As Foucault (1990: 86) notes,'power is tolerableonly on condition that it

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mask a substantial to its abilityto hide Its successis proportional part of itself. its own mechanisms.' In providinga frontof 'respectability', such as for the and a moral cave in loyalist cultureof Orangeism'schallengeto Catholicism, which to hide when challenged,religionservessectarianism and the sectaras opposed sectarianism as using religion, ian actor.It is therefore apt to typify to being intrinsically religiousin itself. A further has been made,fromMarxistquarters, to discusssectariattempt traditionally proas a formof ideological manipulation anism in class terms, moted by the unionistbourgeoisie during the Stormontperiod (1921-72), under directrule,by the Britishstate, which,accordingto McVeigh and later, since 1972.... (1992: 120), 'has been engaged in managing sectarianism and respondingto social forceswhich It is constantly managing,reworking, back to are structured This theoreticaltraditionstretches by sectarianism.' Marx and Engels themselves, who wrote copiously upon 'the Irish problem' to applyMarx's ideas to Ireland (1971), althoughthe first writersystematically was the socialistand trade unionistJamesConnolly,one of the leaders,and Connolly's writings casualties, of the 1916 Easter Rising and its aftermath. are stillinfluential. His ideas have been updated by writerssuch as McCann Northern Ireland as-being (1980) and Farrell (1980; 1983), who interpret class which [has] kept the workingclass repressed dominatedby 'a capitalist however,has a major and divided' (Whyte 1990: 175-80). This perspective, in thatit depends upon the assumption that (proletarian) sectarian weakness, actorsare 'passivevictims'of a 'false consciousness'inspiredby a bourgeoisie who have somehow stressed the sectariandivision to secure and perpetuate the interests of capital (Bell 1990: 65). Such a theoryis difficult to accept in NorthernIreland, manifestations of secwhere the mostfervent contemporary emanate not fromthe capitalist class but, rather, fromthe working tarianism class itself. At best,the workingclass have been willingvictims;at worst,the in over-stressing The 'false consciousness' ideolvictimizers themselves. thesis, ogy,is further compromisedby the materialrealityof sectariancultureand vividly society(O'Dowd et al. 1980: 25). As we shallsee,thisis a stateof affairs in the operationsof the predominantly culture of illustrated working-class Orangeism. the main The sectarianism has also been deployed to represent signifier ideological division in Northern Ireland. As Sugden and Bairner (1995: 15) explain: 'In its most general sense the term sectarianismis used to describe attitudes, belief systems, symbolsand practicesthroughwhich one group of people sets itselfapart from another within an otherwiseshared culture'. This general meaning moves us towards a conceptualizationof as an everydaydivide maintainedvia social practices, wherein sectarianism material culture represents 'wider social political divisions' beyond simple in 'perceptionsof Christianity' differences (Sugden & Bairner 1995: 15). The reality of thisdivisionis constituted by the dichotomizedsocial relations of two religiouslylabelled communities, each of which possesses its own and tastes, views, orientations, ideologicallyattuned,and heavilystereotyped, in politics,education,work,religion,and culture. These two oripreferences entationseach amount to what can reasonablybe described,in Foucaultian as discursive is a'sysformations. Foucault saysa'discursiveformation' fashion, of its own 'truth tematic conceptual framework' criteria', capable defining

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and which are ... resolved, knowledgeproblems accordingto which,'particular (Milner arrangements' are embedded in and imply particularinstitutional 1994: 85-6; see Foucault 1972: 31-9). Elsewhere Foucault is more specific:
Discursive practicesare characterizedby the demarcationof a field of objects,by the definition of a legitimateperspectivefor a subject of knowledge,by the settingof norms for elaboratingconcepts and theories.Hence, each of them presupposesa play of prescriptions that govern exclusions and selections (1997a: 11).

set of We can thus interpreta discursiveformationas a free-floating political or usually chargedwith a particular ideas or enclosed world-views, throughouta society via mechanismsof invisiblydiffused moral inflection, wherein a paradigmis that of sexuality, power.3Foucault's clearestillustrative - and the discourse itself- is elaborated as 'rules and discursiveforrnation 'the divisionbetween licit and illicit',what is 'condetermining regulations' to nature'or 'againstthe law', in additionto behaviourswhich are 'pretrary scribed' (1990: 37-8). In our context,sectarianacts can be defined as such discursive 'morality' due to the behaviour'sexplicitrelationto sectarianism's code, imposed upon the actor(Foucault 1997d: 263). From thisposition,secin Northern Ireland can now be redefinedas everydaydiscursive tarianism 'other' theirsectarian towards or exclusionary which (i) are offensive practices and or (ii) collectivelybond and harbour the sectarian discourse (Cairns 1999: 87). itself varies accordingto formation The narrative contentof the discursive to which one belongs in Norththe imagined community(Anderson1994) elementssuch as Ireland. Ulster discourse incorporatesnarrative ern loyalist fromBritain during the sixteenth the 'plantermyth'- the arrivalof settlers - as a point of origin,providing a basis forthe oriand seventeenth centuries entationof subsequentinternalconflict(Ruane & Todd 1996: 16), and the has undergonein itspassage successive waves of'trials'which theircommunity the Willianmite wars,where the 'Protestant' most significantly, to the present, King William of Orange routed 'Catholic' King James at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. This victory has proved to be most durable.The Boyne, the 1689 Relief of Derry,have effeccoupled with its ideological precursor, of the actual practices, values,and orientations determined the character tively to the Britishcrown,a code discourse:a formof loyalty which fillout loyalist anti-Catholicism. Loymoralvalues,and,most problematically, of conservative (Foucault 1990: 53): an uninteraliststhus believe in 'an imagined dynasty' rupted,uncorrupteddescent fromtheirpoint of origin; they see themselves of the past as of the present. to be as much part of the 'loyalistcommunity' This process has been extensively explored by Anderson in other contexts. For example,he arguesthat:
throughhomogeneous,emptytime The idea of a sociological organismmoving calendrically is a precise analogue of the idea of the nation,which is also conceived as a solid conumuAn American will never meet,or even know the nitymoving steadilydown (or up) history. He has no idea of what theyare names of more than a handfulof his ... fellow-Americans. anonymous,simulup to at any one time.But he has complete confidence in theirsteady, taneous activity(1994: 26).

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which characterize loyalistdiscoursecan be disHowever,the patternings There is hence carded or augmentedby other elementsif deemed necessary. an elementof instability withinloyalism, perhapsexplaining and vulnerability mass support,obtained throughOrangeism,in a constantneed for fervent community's existence.Thecomparatively recent orderto maintain the loyalist incorporationof 'rights'rhetoricinto loyalistdiscoursein the face of (partiallysuccessful) nationalist opposition (e.g. the successive'Drumcree' protests change taking at Portadown,Co. Armagh) is an example of such discursive is more perspective upon sectarianism place (Cairns 2000).This new discursive inclusive than the prior single-factorreligious and Marxist approaches. sectarianism now becomes a much more However,with it,defining discursive is capable all social and culturalactivity dauntingoperationbecause virtually of operationalizing sectarianism. Previouslyunexplored areas,such as enteris to be fully tainment and leisure, mustbe takeninto account if sectarianism society.4 appreciatedin a post-conflict

'Traditional' sectarian culture

In discussing compracticesof the loyalist the materialcultureand discursive arrangement within which the munity, there is one particularinstitutionai beliefsand values of thisgroup comne into a particularly sharpfocus:their'traditional'cultureof Orangeism.Orangeismhas been at the mastheadof Ulster The commemoration of KingWilliam'svictory loyalism forovertwo centuries. over King Jamesat the Battle of the Boyne providesloyalismwith its focal ascendancy'in '1690' confirmed the 'Protestant historical identification-point. of the Boyne as Ireland (Bryan et al. 1995: 6), and the annual reenactment continuesto reaffirm part of the 'marchingseason' on each Twelfthof July, the constituent transmitting the victoryof'King Billy',whilstsimultaneously of loyalistdiscourse.Largelybecause of the elementsand historicalnarrative continual reemphasisof this victory,in uncompromisingfashion,Orange marches- which consistof long processionsof Orange lodges,accompanied by loud and oftenraucous marchingbands,throughthe townlandsand city centresof Northern Ireland - have commonly been perceived not only as sectarianbut also as triumphalist by those who do not, or cannot,identify codification with theWilliamitevictory. That the Orange Order should resist in affixing a potenas sectarianis not surprising, considering the controversy to Orangeism.Its followers, Orangelabel such as sectarianism tiallystigmatic to be tradition, men, preferto regardtheir cultureas a freedom-upholding respectedand acquiesced in by all. to the extent is an extremely popular cultureamongstloyalists, Orangeisml thatit virtually eclipsesor extendsinto all otherformsof indigenouscultural It has been estimated, withinthe bounds of the loyalist expression community. by the Orange Order, that as many as half a lillion people celebrate the Willianiite victory each year.The cumulativeeffectof this procession of acrossNorthernIrelandis the creationof a social dynanmic Orange symbolism fora symbolicworld withinwhich Ulsterloyawhich sustains the framework to themnselves the distinctive acts which demonstrate, listsare freeto perform and where they and to their'others',who they are,where they come from,

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wish to go, unchallenged. Orangeism can thus be interpreted as a Orangeism also supplies discursivepractice.More overtly, self-perpetuating of ideas and disguise and decoration for Unionist politicians'presentation (North et al. 1997: 23). concerns,a colourfulbackdrop for today'sstruggles This is illustrated in the factthat,for decades,Unionist politicianshave participated in Orange rituals,often using them as a platformfor polemical of loyalist strength are also a demonstration speeches.The parades themselves challenged) in a manner compared,by the (or lack of it, when successfully Orange Order, to that of parishes in England 'walking the boundaries' to each year (Montgomery& Whitten 1995: 6). definetheirterritory

Everyday sectarianism
Outside of or adjacent to the Orange world,thereare other contextswithin which we can observe the loyalistpeople of Northern Ireland act out We can see this 'hidden' sectariandiscourse,albeit in a less overt fashion. in the everydayinteractions among and between members of sectarianism and Northern Ireland's two religiouslylabelled groups, that is, Protestants are of that symbolicculturalmarkers Catholics.It has long been established for sectariangroup members,in providinga basis for particular significance of a potenthe operationof a mechanism which the sectarian identity through in eithercasual or confrontational encounters, can be tially'other' individual, deduced. It is throughsuch a systemthat communitydivisionsare 'defined and maintained'(Sugden & Bairner 1995: 15) at the most mundane of levels: at work,in the marketplace Burton (1978: 37) and in the local community. termsthis system consistof things 'telling'.The culturalmarkersthemselves of the perceived'sname, facial characterislike the perceiver's interpretation school attended, phonetic)usage, linguistic (and possibly tics,area of residence, colour and symbolism of dress(1978: 37);5 in otherwords,sectarianindividtruth and the uals recognizeand match,and perhapsrespondto,the discursive of their'other'. reality conducted within what could be regardedas a typical My own research, rangingfrom in the Greater Belfastarea,with respondents loyalist community in the Orange leaderrank-and-file Orange lodge membersto senior figures ship,has revealedevidence of thisprocessin action.For example,one respontermshow he marching band, revealedin frank dent,a member of a loyalist and would tell his sectarian 'others':'We went to MacDonalds theretonight, "the South". And I thoughtto there'sthesepeople thererunningabout from "This place is full of fenians",as soon as I heard the accents.That's myself, the first thingI got.' The perceived regional accent was hence mobilized to tell: a 'Southern' (Irish Republic) accent being read as shorthandfor a 'fenian' (vulgar and derogatory slangforCatholic).Anotherequally crude tell-taleconcernsfamily size: the sectariantruthstatesthat the largerthe number of childrenin the the greaterthe possibility that the familyis Catholic, as the above family, You'd very rarely respondentcontinued to explain:'They breed like rabbits. see a Catholic family, a full Catholic family, with less than six kids. I'm just that'swhat they'redoing.' saying,

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There are,accordingto another A formof aesthetic telling was also revealed. loyalistrespondent(a member of the same marchingband as the previous respondent), specializedProtestant and Catholic fashions:
We'll walk down the centre of town and I'll tell you who's all Catholic.... You can tell just from their dress sense, the way they are.The way they act. ... A fella I work with, I can rememberthe time he went to Chapel. I sat in his house, and he wore a pair of Joe Bloggs jeans and a Joe Bloggstop, and I said: 'Where the fuck are you going?' And he said,'To the Chapel.' 'What, like that?' And he says,'What'swrong with this?' because they want to go, that'sthe thing.

no respect. haveto go.They're notgoing It'sas ifthey've They're justgoingbecausethey

While these processesof differentiation may be of importancein arriving it must be at an understanding of the everydayoperation of sectarianism, facet of borne in mind that they representonly one, rather superficial, and 'perceived differences' (Darby sectarianism: 'generalisablecharacteristics' as we shall see, extendsfarbeyond this restricted 1986: 16-22). Sectarianism, For example,Bell (1990: range of stereotyped behavioursand characteristics. such as the late seventies 'punk' aesthetic, 8-9) arguesthatsub-cultural styles, However, I would argue that sectarihave been assimilated by sectarianism. anism goes further still,and that mainstreamcultural activitiesthemselves of at a level of sectariansignificance, consolidatingthe sectarianism perform life. everyday

The interior world ofsectarianism

Miller provides a In attempting to relate everydayactivitiesto sectarianism, It is his contention that particularobjects - 'clothing, useful framework. or'fetishistic' furnishing, technology, buildings'- help produce a 'materialistic' an attituderealized by the individual's attitudein the 'average inhabitant', of [their] worlds'(Miller 1994: utilization of these objects in 'the construction 4-7). He explains that a group's culture is 'of a particular kind': 'The conventionsof a bricolage of the streetis no longer aided by the structured ... Even as amongstthe classic "peoples" of social anthropology mythology; such as nostalgia, are continually restructured and reinvented imagesof stability, according to individual domestic situationsand expectations'(Miller 1994: 8-9). Miller's argument employs Hegel's concept of 'objectification',a dual processwherein individualsexternalizemeaning via the displayof symbolic and simultaneously theiridentity redefine thismeaning objects which signify in the externalworld.This processhelps explain how individualscreatetheir 'world' through the purchase and reorientationof symbolic goods, how outsidersread meaning into the world of their'others' and how the group of sectarianism becomes a 'technique of the self' (Foucault 1997c: enterprise 87). In NorthernIreland,a highlysymbolicstreetculturethatis observablein the exteriorhabitatsof loyalistcommunitiesobjectifiessectariangroup relations.The boundariesof these places are oftendefinedby 'BerlinWall'-type

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barriers(anodynelyreferred to as 'peace lines') in sectarianborder areas,in addition to a wider patternof residential segregation engineeredby decades of communalviolence and intimidation (Darby 1986: 148-66).6This exterior aestheticpolarizationmakes walking these streets a dauntingexperience for the outsider.7 Orangeismalso contributes significantly to the politicization of space, in wrapping loyalistcommunitiesin a unionist uniform during its in non-nationalist marchingseason. Streets areas are blanketedby Red Hand of Ulster and Union flags,accompanied by red, white, and blue buntingwith optional paramilitary trappings- several weeks prior to the Twelfth (Loftus1994: 14). It is also common forkerbstones to be painted red,white, and blue,along withstreet lamps,pillars, and gable walls (McCartney& Bryson 1994: 130).8 Murals are equally popular Jarman1997: 209-29), drawingon the key images of the loyalistdiscourse'snarrative: the heroes of the Boyne, the Battle of the Somme, and, with equal prominence, fallenleaders of loyalistparamilitary organizations.9 Huge archesbearingOrange slogans, pictures of the Queen and Prince Philip - alongsideKing Billy - are also erectedon main streets and thoroughfares in virtually everytown and village in Northern Ireland (Loftus 1994: 30-1). In Belfast,many 'staunch' districts, such as SandyRow, adjacentto the city's University area,have theirown arches.Here, loyalistflagshang fromlamppostsand homes alike. It is a Northern Ireland truismthatyou can tell the 'loyalness' of a neighbourhoodfromcountingthe numberof occupied flag-poleholderson the exteriorwalls of its houses.All of these discursive practices, coupled with the loyalistpredilectionfor conductinglarge-scalemarchesthrough theirsectarianother'sterritory, constitute a 'new type' of intimidation (O'Leary & McGarry 1996: 42), intended,presumably, to take the place of old-fashioned naked violence. Added to this exteriorsectarianism In the loyis an interiorsectarianism. alist'shome we see the dweller'sindividualtastesand preferences dropped or augmentedby sectarianbricolage; theirinteriordesign conveyingsectarian, ratherthan individual identity(Miller 1994: 121-2). Through in-depth and sustainedethnographic it has been possible to observeand recordvivid study, theirpolitical values and beliefsvia parexamples of how loyalists objectify ticulararrangements of materialculture.Respondents were also able to tell how they had transformed the decor of their homes, their most intimate spaces,into loyalistsignifiers throughthe deploymentof a demarcated'field of objects' (Foucault 1997a: 11). In this process,flagsseem to possess a particularutility, an ideological function although such signifiers arguablyfulfil or even in most societies (McCartney & Bryson 1994: 8). What is distinct, 'strange',about the use of flags and other emblenmatic materials, including banners and posters,in loyalistcircles is their domestication: they are not restricted to formaloutdoor use at occasions of state or public celebrations, but are virtually a part of the furniture. As a respondent explained:'Listen,see my bedroom? In my bedroom I have six flagsup.Walls are lined with it.' The range of availableloyalist symbolicgoods includes the politicalbricosuch as the mid-1980s campaignagainsttheAnglo-Irish lage of past struggles, the successiveDrumcree 'stand-offs'. Some of Agreementand, more recelntly, thesematerials would appear to have foundtheirresting-place followingtheir Other specificitemshave been made by loyalist politicaldemobilization. prisoners,as anotherrespondentexplained:

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My bedroom? I have my flagsup. I've posters,the 'Ulster Still Says No', nmy King Billy 'Red Hand of Ulster' hat. I've two Rangers' pictureswhich I got done in the prison,from 'the Maze'. Relatives of mine have been in and sent them out to me. I've my wee Lambeg drum,done in 1991.

Other materials included satirical(or offensive, dependingupon one's politicalorientation)representations of sectarianhate figures: in one home, the Pope and Sinn Fein's GerryAdams and Martin McGuinness.The respondent in question elaborated:
You'd get a shock if you went into my wee brothersroom .. he's got a picture of the Pope on the wall in a [marchingband] uniform, playing the bass drum. He's got another picture of GerryAdams and Martin McGuinness buried up to their necks in sand, and a big headline above it:'A brighterfuture'.

This practiceis not withoutits dangers. One respondent explainedthe risk involved. A displayof Britishmilitaristic imagesin his home providesa visitor with an easy means to tell his family's sectarianidentity: 'The likes of my she's got picturesof my brotherup. He's in the army, and the picmother, tures, armypictures, [are] all over the walls.Youjust have to watchwho comes in. Because you thinkif you get a Catholic in, "They're automatically bad".' The employment of these symbolicmaterialsis highlysignificant for the observedprotagonists: the usage of the Britishflag connotes theirloyaltyto the reigningEnglish monarch; the demonization of their sectarianothers' connotesresistance to forceswhich challengetheirpolitipoliticalfigureheads cal world-view; the attachment to militaristic regaliaconnotesthe widespread practice of fetishizing the armed strugglefound throughoutthe Northern Irelandworkingclass.These are the signs that make sectarianpeople feel at home in what theysee as an increasingly hostileworld,constituting nothing less than a siege mentality. Some loyalists actuallyderide such an idea. One female respondentremarked: 'I don't reallyunderstandwhat they mean by I just feel thatwhen it comes down to it, we reallydon't "siege mentality". have any friends. We're all alone.' But othermembersof her community are not so dismissive. Accordingto one of the Orange 'brethren' presentat Drumcree,'there's alwaysbeen some... "under body thereto take that [our identity] away fromus in my lifetime siege" fromthe Siege of Derry rightthroughto this presentday.We're still take it [our identity] away.' In putting thisphenomenonin context, it mustbe said thatall of the people woman, were active membersof quoted above, except the dissenting loyalist loyalist marchingbands or Orange institutions, includingthe Orange Order and the Apprentice Their tastein interiordesignwould come Boys of Derry. as no greatsurprise band to those familiar to the ardentdedicationof loyalist membersto theircause (Bell 1990; Jarman& Bryan 1996). Investigation of those not actively involvedin Orangeism,at home seemed 'ordinary' loyalists, more unpredictable, potentially yet sectariandecor was also found in some, albeita minority, of homes visited.Items observedincluded commemorations of the Orange Order,paramilitary the Ulster Defence Regiorganizations, ment,and Glasgow Rangers Football Club. Loyalistmotifshave also been
... we have a "siege mentality" ... there's [always] somebody there trying to

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incorporatedinto itemssuch as calendars, mugs,plates,lollipops,babies' bibs, One respondent tea towels,and even teapots.10 sportedan impressive signed portrait of former Rangers' centreforward Ally McCoist in his living-room. Other signs involved representations of the British royal family:displaysof coins were observedin severalhomes.These mugs,plates,and commemorative items have an exclusively loyalistconnotationwithin Northern Ireland,and may even be read for their kitsch value from a postmodern perspective. which their However, consideringthe relativelack of political significance as having the owners attachto them,theirdisplaycan hardlybe interpreted same offensive value as the paraphernalia previously described.

Sectarianleisure in Northern The arena of leisureis an important site of sectarianinteraction Ireland.Sugden and Bairnerstatethat'sportcan be an integral elementin the creationand exacerbation of politicalconflict' (1994: 1), whilstat a more basic level,sportprovidesa site for everyday sectarianexchanges. The wearing of and tracksuits certainsporting signifiers, in the formof shirts of the main loyalistfootballteams - Glasgow Rangers,the two main Belfastclubs (Linfield and Glentoran),1" and the NorthernIrelandteam - can be utilizedas part of the tellingprocess,12enablingwhat Bairner (1997: 95) termsa'political function of spectatorship' of sportto operate.I am not suggesting thatthe sectarian meaning encoded into these goods is the work of the sportingagents themselves. On the contrary, efforts have been made by the Irish Football Associationand otherbodies to negatetheirteams'sectarian meaning.Rather, it is the perceiver, observingthese itemsworn by sectarianactorsin sectarian As an illuswho assignsand recognizestheirsectariansignificance. contexts, a respondent tration, explained how a Glasgow Rangers' footballstripcan be utilizedas a sectarianuniform:
now that We'dweara There's times we'd head downintoBelfast. We'd do it in badness. - but that's T-shirt an' that Rangers top - a Rangers just thewaywe've been brought up. I've been attacked downin Belfast. Bricksthrown at us 'n' all,but all you do is stand and throw have bricks back.Then there's some people thatmessaboutwithyou,their parents toldthemdifferent and they wouldjust stand withus,beingmyfriends, butwouldn't 'carry on' withus though. I weartheT-shirt To tellyou the truth, to support but the team just happens theteam, to be Protestant andthat's wheremostof thetrouble is from, becausepeoplearewearing it.

Most of those interviewed were,to varyingdegrees,footballfans.In addition to Glasgow Rangers,manyEnglishteamsprovedpopular,includingLiverpool, Manchester United, and Chelsea. Regarding Rangers, loyaltywas in sectarianterms, as one respondent clearlydemarcated explained:'Well,yes, I do supportthe Rangers,and I do go and see them play, but it's the same on the other side.They go and watch Celtic.' But it is Irish League soccer which has provided the most pronounced in local sport,in encouragingsectarianattitudes and example of sectarianism of sport supportforloyalist paramilitaries (Bairner1997: 95). This sectarianism is acknowledgedwithinthe loyalist community. Accordingto one respondent:

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'They thinkit's all about football, but it's not.When it comes down to it,it's religion... our Protestant footballteam is betterthan your Catholic team.' It mustbe added though,that thereis some evidence to suggestthat the popularity of NorthernIrish and Scottishfootballis in decline,in the face of the stiff competitionfor attention posed by the English Premiership. As one loyalist proclaimed:
The only footballI'm actuallyinterested in is English football:Liverpool.... I come from a verylargefamily, ten childrenand my father was an ardentLiverpool,Linfield, and Rangers in Linfieldand lost fan,and I was the same for years.But over the years I've lost interest in Rangers,although I'd stilllook fortheirresult, interest you know? Liverpool are the only footballteam I'd reallyfollow.

This is significant, in that the English teams,with no clear sectarianconnotation- despiteone respondent highlighting the link between Manchester United and the Catholic churchduringthe Matt Busby era - are of littleor no utility forthe sectarianactor.Furthermore, othersportswould seem to be less divisive. As one seniorloyalist explained,sportssuch as bowls and fishing pose less of a problem:
I like playingbowls, I like fishing. I go anywherefishing, and I don't care who I go with. I belong to different clubs ... mixed fishing clubs.We all fishtogether. fishing Many's a time we play bowls with [Catholics] and there'sno problem.I'm not bigoted in that area, that I can play bowls with them or I can't ... I don't care where I go to play bowls either.I've gone to some chapels,chapel halls,many'sa time:Roman Catholic clubs. It doesn't matter. You're going to play your bowls ... And theirfootball?I don't mind.We play our football, our rugby, they have their Gaelic and whatever. Well, that'stheir culture... I have nothing againstthat.

Entertaining sectarianism
in termsof Beyond footballlie other areas of leisure of greatersignificance social relations.Within the loyalist are myriadeventsand everyday community thatare sociallylinked to Orangeism. These range fromimpromptu festivities house parties, hostedby marching-band membersfollowingparades,to major such as discos and barbecues,at the local Orange hall. On fundraising events, such latteroccasions,perhapsseveralhundredloyalists will be in attendance. These Orange social eventsare typically informal, publicized only withinthe marching-band network.During my most intensiveperiod of ethnographic research(summer1996) I accompanied a marching band throughthe various and the Relief of stagesof their'season', coveringeventssuch as the Twelfth the originalintentof thisresearch was to docDerry commemorations.While ument and understand the marchesthemselves, these other additionalspectacles attracted not simply my attention. could therefore Investigation stop when the flutesand drumshad been safely the familiarity packed away.Fortunately, which I had established within the marching-band was translated fraternity into invitations to such events.It was throughattending these occasions that I was able to develop a fuller of sectarianism. and beliefs Attitudes appreciation but this is may be on displayat the main Orange ritual eventsthemselves, not the primarysite of their formation, nor the place in which loyalist

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symbolismis impregnated with its sectarian significance: it is the loyalist for identityformationand social occasion which provides an opportunity reinforcement, a site for the discourseto work itselfinto person and object alike. A typicaleventis the Orange disco. Such an eventwill be held in the local in Northern Ireland possessesat least Orange Hall. Each loyalistcommunity one such civic amenity, for the purposes of Orange-relatedenterexpressly tainment. On the surface, theseevents- red,white,and blue decorations aside - are similarto the average provincialdisco: in terms of the music played ('rave' music,mainstream pop, and a few 'golden oldies' for the mums and fordrinking dads) and the opportunities (much of it under-age),dancing, and liaisonswith the oppositesex. In the summer, the eventmay the all-important to marching also be precededby a barbecue.Such eventsare important bands in financial are severely terms. Many of these outfits underfunded and receive littlesupporttowardsthe cost of instruments and uniforms fromthe Orange of a nominalentry lodge theyaccompanyon marchdays.Fund-raising consists charge, sellingtins of beer and the ubiquitous raffle. As an evening unfoldsand the revellers become increasingly intoxicated, There is the raucous singingof footballchantdistinct ritualsemerge. loyalist like partysongs,frequently at a volume loud enough to drown out the disco. These songs,judging by the passion with which they are sung,provide an important point of reference for theirvocalists. Their lyrics- which glorify the deeds of King William ('The green grassyslopes of the Boyne' is one popular tune) and more contemporary paramilitants ('Soldier of the UVF' is second in popularityonly to 'The sash my father wore') - evoke a world in which loyalists heroically triumphover the forcesof Catholicism:King James and his Catholic army, the republican-deified hungerstriker Bobby Sands,the world of song,if not IRA, or GerryAdams and Sinn Fein. In the imaginative in the real world of NorthernIrish politics, loyalists alwayswin. These tunes are sung to the accompaniment of a local or visiting 'kick the pope' or 'blood side and thunder'band. The instrumentation of such bands consistsof flutes, The originsof the terminoland one or occasionallytwo bass drums. drums, ogy will be obvious to anyone who has seen or heard one of these bands in action (Bell 1990: 102). A band may ventureas far as Scotland for a social event.Around half an hour of Orange tunes will be played by the band at in a rendition of the perennialOrange the climax of the evening, culminating favourite: 'The sash'.The significance of the music is explained by a bandsman who has participated in numeroussuch occasions:
Well, a lot of the tunes played,the marches'n' all, you could hear anywherein the world a band playingit. But there are tunes unique to us: 'The sash', 'Derry's walls', thingslike that there. They're traditionaltunes which stem fromProtestantism and they again would be part of our culture.... [When] we talk about folk music,I would say thatwould be the Protestant folk music.Them songs,they are folk songs.'The sash' has already community's

has been accepted as a folksong.

Those in attendance sing along to the choruses, insertingimprovised and ritualized anti-Catholic insults,such as 'Fuck the paramilitary-praising At the end of the night, the band Pope' or 'Fuck Bobby Sands',into the lyrics. their continued loyaltyto English play 'God save the Queen', signifying

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The lightsgo on, the audience and the ideals of the Britishstate. monarchy of'No surrise to theirfeet and proudlysing along, adding the odd refrain the end of the evening'sentertainment. render'between lines,signalling

Conclusion
- including footballstrips, I have shown how particular cultural artefacts flags, not to mention songs, slogans,and the English and political paraphernalia, Exposing this of sectarianism. nationalanthem- comprise a 'materialization' and perhapsOrangeism why such flags, processhelpsus to appreciate anthems, What is community. to the 'sectarianothers'of the loyalist are offensive itself, which a structuring is so widespreadas to 'constitute more,thismaterialization social division'(Burton 1978: 37). In the of a fundamental the reality reflects in the home and at leisure, the sectarianobject also possessesa certain street, link with the wider the individual'sor family's social practicality, signifying from their not to mention their difference loyalistimagined community, sectarianothers. sectarianfetish objects in social rituals Observationof the use of particular also provides an answer to a major, previouslyunexplained, conundrum. of people, not it is an attribute human property: Sectarianism is an essentially However,inanimateobjects and social ritualsare commonlydescribed things. as sectarian. How do discreteobjects and culturalactionsacquire thischaracMarx argued There is considerabledepth in our answer.Famously, teristic? value. fetish was its of the commodity an element that intrinsic

A commodity appears at firstsight an extremelyobvious, trivialthing.But its analysis subtletiesand theologbringsout thatit is a very strangething,abounding in metaphysical man changes the formsof the mateby his activity, ical niceties.... It is absolutelyclear that, rialsof naturein such a way as to make them usefulto him.The formof wood, forinstance, the products of labour is alteredif a table is made out of it. ... Through this substitution, or social become commodities,sensuous thingswhich are at the same time supra-sensible (Marx 1990: 163-5).

are manifoldin termsof We have observedthatthe objects of sectarianism commodities, But theyare all, at one point or another, theirmaterialforms. structures: they are inheritedor purchased,mobialbeit in greatlydifferent lized as symbolicgoods and read for sectarianvalue by the actor's'others'. from Sectarian objects are thus perversein their nature,in their difference to explain the other objects; hence my adoption of 'sectarianfetishization' The sectariansocial ritual is a fundamental part in of things'. 'sectarianism of the object's sectarian this process,in providingfor the operationalization formameaning.Both object and social ritualservicethe sectariandiscursive to This processalso enables sectarianism and spread. tion,enablingits survival be objectifiedin a relatively passive manner.Merely sportingcertainhighly them in the home, or singingthem when out fetishized displaying signifiers, is not perceivedas sectarianbehaviourby most people. Restricting drinking, rather sectarianism to the narrow field of violence and directintimidation, it into the field of material culture and social rituals,thus than admitting within the subject, that in their everydayactivities, creates an impression,

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theyare not being sectarianwhen, in actual fact,theyare,albeit in a socially acceptablemanner.

NOTES The original fieldworkupon which this article is based consistsof ethnographicinvestigation of four successive marchingseasons (1993-6) and a subsequent series of fortyin-depth interviewswith membersof the marchingfraternity, to whom I am deeply indebted for their cooperation. I would also like to thankAndrew Sanders at UUC and Jim Smythat QUB, in addition to my anonymous reviewers, for theirhelpfuland perceptivecomments. 1This belief is reflectedin the officialdefinitionof sectarianismused in state discourse: is a complex of attitudes, in which religion is sectarianism beliefs, behaviours,and structures a significant or indirectly, the rightsof individucomponent,and which (i) directly, infringes als or groups,and/or (ii) influencesor causes situationsof destructive conflict'(North et al. 1997: 7). 2Jenkins(1986: 11-17) notes three strandsof interconnectionbetween religion and 'the conflict':in education, the role of the Church in the Republic of Ireland, and the ethnic chauvinismof fundamentalist Protestantism. 3Foucault takesthisidea to its extremein arguingthatsocietyitself is 'essentially a historicopolitical discourse,a discourse in which truthfunctionsas a weapon for a partisanvictory' (1997b: 63). 'The extentof the embedding of sectarianism can be gauged fromthe fact that,as Sugden and Bairner note,'It is not possible ... for people who are fromNorthern Ireland to abdicate from thewidersectarian implications of theirreligiousheritageand simply being labelled Catholic or Protestant can be sufficient to rendera person vulnerableto sectarianabuse' (1995: 16). 'The significanceof 'telling', Burton argues, is not so much in its actual operation (in practiceit is highlyunreliable)but ratherin the factthatpeople in Northern Ireland have 'the desire and necessityto tell' (1978: 38). 6Particularly segregation-prone, accordingto Darby (1986:28), are the public-ownedworkingclass areas,effectively Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) housing. 7The terrorization of the urban environment has itselfproduced an architecture moulded on an anti-insurgency dynamic, readilyobservablein fortified carbunclesof police stations, army barracks,observationposts, and permanent check-points.Even new urban housing has been designed to be less terrorist-friendly (O'Leary & McGarry 1996: 33). All of these buildings a symbolic,and concrete,manifestation represent of sectarianism. 8There is considerableanecdotal evidence to supportthe claim thatstreet paintingis carried out by over-zealous paraniilitaries against the wishes of powerless residents. McCartney and Bryson report incidences of an 'anti-paintinggroup' who 'paid very dearly' for their efforts (1994: 139-40). 9For a full discussion of Northern Ireland's mural culture, see Rolston (1991; 1992; 1995). The loyalist visual narrative has also recentlycolonized the 'Ancient defenderof Ulster', Cuichulainn Jarman1997: 227). Belfast'sPolitical Collection, houses a formidableassemblage of l?The Linen Hall Library, such memorabilia. 11 Coleraine, Glenavon, Glentoran, Linfield, and Portadown are all teams which have Protestant 'substantial support' (Bairner 1997: 99). 12As is the kind of football preferred: Association or Gaelic. The decline of the Northern Irish national footballteam is chartedby Harvie (1996: 192-219) and Bairner (1997: 99-100).

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L'object du sectarisme: la realite materielle du sectarisme dans le loyalisme en Ulster

Resume Cet article examine un aspect neglige mais importantdu sectarismeen Irlande du Nord contemporaine:son incorporationdans la culture materielleet les pratiquessociales quotidiennes de ses factionsantagonistes. Apres une breve revue theorique du sectarisme(caracterise comme formationdiscursive), je decris ce phenomene tel qu'il se trouve dans une communauteloyaliste en Ulster.Jemontrecommentla realitematerielledu sectarisme incorpore les activitesquotidiennesde ces loyalistes, y comprisleur culture'traditionnelle' de 1'0rangisme et les domaines du sport,des loisirs et des distractions. Au sein de ces pratiques culturellesquotidiennes,les valeurs sectairessont objectifieeset conservees dans des objets fetichises tels que drapeaux et bannieres ainsi que dans une culture orale de chants et de slogans. Further and Higher EducationResearchUnit, School of Education(14L), University of Ulsterat Co. Antrim B T3 7 OQB. D. Cairns@ulst. Jordanstown, Newtonabbey, ac.uk

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