After Brexit the island of Ireland is once more divided by a paradoxical political and economic boundary
Lecturer, film director, and author Maurice Fitzpatrick was hosted at the Englisches Seminar as Travelling Visiting Professor in Irish Studies
Maurice Fitzpatrick is an Irish lecturer, film director, and author whose work focuses on the multifaceted issue of Irish unity. Prof. Dr. Christoph Reinfandt hosted him at the Englisches Seminar as the Travelling Visiting Professor in Irish Studies in winter semester 2022/23. Fitzpatrick returns to Tübingen as a co-organizer of the “Discourses of Unity in Ireland and Europe” conference, 20-22 June.
The Travelling Visiting Professor in Irish Studies is a joint initiative by the Universities of Wuppertal, Würzburg, the Saarland and Tübingen and is sponsored by the Irish government. The program promotes Irish Studies, focusing on the literature, culture, history and language of this far-western member of the European Union. During his tenure in Tübingen, Fitzpatrick held a regular lecture, “The Cultural Politics of a National Canon in Ireland”, and two Hauptseminars, “Screening Ireland” and “Writing the Troubles”.
Maurice Fitzpatrick grew up with the sectarian “troubles” in Ireland. The border dividing the Irish Republic from the United Kingdom’s province of Northern Ireland was just a few kilometers from his home – and on the other side of it, an undeclared civil war was being waged between Irish nationalist paramilitaries opposed to Northern Ireland being governed from London, and Loyalist paramilitaries in favor of it. “I grew up with an awareness of the political situation,” Fitzpatrick says. After studying English Literature at Trinity College, Dublin, that awareness led him to explore the many factors involved in the conflict – and the men who changed the course of Irish history. Fitzpatrick’s book The Boys of St. Columb’s investigates the lives of eight key figures in Irish 20th century history; his documentary John Hume in America looks at the political life of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate instrumental in bringing peace to Northern Ireland in 1998.
Now that Brexit has taken Northern Ireland out of the European Union, the island of Ireland is once more divided by a paradoxical political and economic boundary – which may cause new forms of conflict. The “Discourses of Unity” conference in June will look at the linguistic, cultural and political challenges; it will explore changing perceptions of Ireland since the country joined the EEC in 1973; and – perhaps most importantly – it will seek models for unity in regional identities.
What makes for a common identity? Can Catholic and Protestant, north and south, come together? What does it mean to speak Irish as well as English? To what extent does difference breed hatred, and vice versa? Asked whether the cultural and historical ties are strong enough to overcome the differences, Fitzpatrick is positive: “It depends on which people you ask,” he says. “The mentality is there. There are always those who are willing to embrace the other.” At the same time, he warns, there are the Nationalist extremists who demand the complete removal of the border – and Loyalists who refuse to even discuss it; “It’s a very complex problem. We need conferences like this to tease out the difficulties.”
Fitzpatrick cites Alsace as a region that has successfully forged its own identity within the structure of Europe – “Europe is a totality made of small parts, areas of conflict which have reconfigured themselves in the modern polity that is Europe”.
Speakers at the conference will include David Donoghue, Former Irish Ambassador to the UN, experts from US Universities including Yale and from Germany and Poland. “People are curious about the mechanisms of a united Ireland. How can it work?”, Fitzpatrick says. He points out that, in a deal struck between EU member states, Northern Ireland may be fast-tracked to rejoin the European Union in the event of Irish unification. Why did the EU give Northern Ireland this unique status? What is at stake – and what does it mean for Europe as a whole?
Of his semester in Tübingen, Fitzpatrick says “I loved every minute of it. I found the student body very open and international.” He was made welcome by his host, Professor Reinfandt, with whom he spoke regularly, and while teaching he got to know the students. For them, he says, attending the conference will be the capstone to their Irish Studies courses.
Amanda Crain