This is the second in a two-part series on how culture war is a mark of fake politics and not the least in our own backyard and is written from a pro-union perspective.
There is an opportunity for unionism to lead the celebration and expression of culture to a new level. To mirror others, who forfeit this to a discourse of power and mob force illiberal cultural fundamentalism, is to deny its common humanity and heritage and impose tribal identity.
Ideological polarisation and its online echo chambers hollow out cultural hybridity.
We live in a shared space of speech, names, street names, songs, literature, dance and values wherein culture has a growing edge and continues to form. Seeds, sown by Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian Scottish Gaelic and Scots speaking people are rooted deep into our tangled DNA
In her book, ‘Twisted Roots’ writer Patricia Craig, from a County Armagh nationalist-republican background, traces her family history to show multi-layered religious, political, urban and rural identities. This is not exceptional to Armagh nor exclusive to one political constituency.
Anglo and Ulster-Scots culture did not come into an empty location and change was a two-way process. It produced our linguistic and cultural environment. Despite minimal differences between speakers based on gender, age and ethnicity, evidence shows that the features and historic innovations that make for regional distinctions are shared equally within the community in the interaction of linguistic elements, regardless of politics or background.
Hume is a family name derived from Hume Castle, Berwickshire in the Scottish border. Likewise, Anderson, a Scottish surname and one of the most popular in Scotland, derives from the c14th name Fitz Andrew. It is associated with Scotland’s patron saint.
The political and cultural preferences of both the late JOHN HUME and MARTINA ANDERSON MLA are well-known but judging by surnames it is clear that Ulster-Scots forms a part of the web that is their individual identity. In this part of the world such is unlikely to be one-dimensional.
Anglicized Gaelic names like KELLY (Ó Ceallaigh), the maiden name of the First Minister, pepper Unionist politics, names of schools, churches, and council areas. This is the home of unionism to which the late Seamus Mallon referred.
Unionist politics and their interplay with unionist culture, which many see as identifiable only by Orange banners, bonfires and the Somme, do not complete its cultural narrative. Single-minded in its advocacy of the Union but too often narrow-minded in other spheres, political unionism has locked itself within a too rigid cultural paradigm. The need for recognition beyond the myths is imperative.
Israeli writer Guy Beiner in Forgetful Remembrance comments on how some communities display select aspects of their cultural heritage and history which they opt ‘not to remember. ‘He argues convincingly that Unionism has largely erased from its narrative the fact that many, who might now identify as Unionist or pro-Union, had ancestors who were members of the United Irishmen and active in the battles of Antrim and Ballynahinch.
To do this diminishes the radicalism and enlightenment of some who became unionist and has transferred into unionist cultural thinking, allowing, as Connall Parr has written, writers and artists of diverse backgrounds, to be ignored and under-valued. The same is no less true of both Scots and Irish Gaelic influence.
Diversity and recognition of such will not contaminate some socially constructed purist culture. It can only enrich as the impact of different ethnic groups now resident in Northern Ireland displays year on year.
Culture is not the same as identity and the diversity that defines life in Northern Ireland offers no threat to political allegiances. It reflects the pluralism of the United Kingdom today.
New Decade, New Approach and planning for cultural recognition has slipped under the Covid-19 radar.
When it is revisited, those with responsibility for what is seen as unionist, and therefore British culture, should ensure it is celebrated as a tapestry of hybridity and inclusivity to move beyond denial strategies of the past. Culture is best lived for what it is, not for what it is against.
Photo by truthseeker08 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA
Terry Wright is a former member of the UUP who, in addition to inter- and intra-community activities works independently to promote Civic Unionism.
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