Social Work, Murals, and Gender in N.I.

Monday we had the chance to listen to a Social Work professor about his experience working in the midst of the Northern Ireland conflict. It was very interesting to here his personal stories about growing up in a certain area and the predetermined ideas that people would have on him based on his name, accent, and where he grew up. I found it particularly interesting to hear the struggle he had, just like any other helping professionals have, about the balance between personal and professional identities that each of us have. It is even more so of a challenge for individuals going into this field because you have to put your ideals and beliefs about what the state of Northern Ireland should even if the views of the person you are helping are different. When he talked about some of the personal stories it was hard not to feel empathy for the people of this country especially Social Workers who are not always respected.

In the afternoon we traveled to the UNESCO centre where we did a joint session with 10 postgraduate students from the University of Ulster, who are all going to high school history teachers. The lecturer started out with an exercise to see how much each of us knew about our own history, American and Northern Ireland. It was difficult for both parties, but we managed through. :D We continued on with a slideshow of all the different political and religious murals and paintings that have been expressed through many different towns and communities throughout Northern Ireland and the times of the troubles and the peace process. There were many interesting pieces of art and connections to American history, like certain presidents, slavery, the confederate flag...

Today we had a woman come in to talk to us about gender in Northern Ireland and how just like in any other country the role of women in politics and religious affiliations has been a difficult one. If you want to know more about what our lectures have been about the past few days let me know and I will be glad to send you a message! We ended today with two dramatic films one a documentary about the Battle of the Bogside, which was a violent battle against the RUC (the police at the time, powered by the protestant unionist state) and the catholic, nationalist community in Derry or in the Bogside aread. Than we finished with a movie called SUNDAY, and it was about bloody sunday. It was a very emotional telling of the 17 people who died in 1969 at the start of the civil rights movement in N.I. We will be heading to Londonderry/Derry (Most catholics/nationalists refer to the city as Derry due to the British affiliations Londonderry has with it.) tomorrow where hopefully we will begin to make some more connections about the events of Battle of the Bogside, Bloody Sunday, as well as take a look for the first time at the murals, paintings and peace walls.