A Day in Londonderry

Today we spent about four hours on a bus to visit the town of Londonderry. On the west side of Northern Ireland, this town is central to the history and culture of the Ulster-Scots, the ethnic group we are studying here.

One of the only remaining walled cities with inhabitants living within its walls, Londonderry--or Derry, as it is sometimes called by Nationalists or Republicans who are against the British presence in Ireland--is steeped in the protestant tradition that the Ulster-Scots maintain to this day. Its cathedral, the Cathedral Church of St. Colomb, was actually the first church to be built in western Europe after the Protestant Reformation of 1517. In addition, the city itself was the location where protestant forces began to turn back the siege of King James II, a catholic king of Britain who wanted to dispel protestantism from his kingdom. Shortly after the city was held in 1689, the protestant William III defeated James at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, thus assuring the protestant and parliamentary nature of the British government.

The city's contemporary history also reflects the conflict between the protestant Northern Irish and the catholic Irish. Some of its walls were blocked off due to safety concerns in the 1970s; the IRA used to control much of the town and has contributed to a lack of police control; there remains a wall partitioning the city into protestant and catholic sections; the protestants have been forced to move to different sections of the city in one of the largest ethnic exoduses in modern western Europe; paramilitary murals are displayed from the walls; and violence continues to be perpetuated around areas like the Apprentice Boys Headquarters, an Ulster-Scots organization that commemorates the protestants who protected their city in the late 1600s siege.

Much like some of the other sites we've seen, Londonderry is a testament to the continuing national and religious struggles on the Irish isle. Even if the British and Irish governments have made peace, many of their people have not; even if much of the overt violence has ended, grudges still persist in people's hearts. It is almost overwhelming to see this struggle that has continued for centuries because it feels as though it might never change.

We have, however, seen many aspects of positive change in Northern Ireland. As I mentioned before, the worst of the violence has largely stopped here. In addition, many politicians, whether they are Unionists or Nationalists, take a rather middle-of-the-road compared to the more violent Loyalists and Republicans. Many paramilitary murals around Northern Ireland, and especially in Belfast, are gradually being replaced by less tense ones about history (the Titanic) and sports (local football--that means soccer--players). While progress might seem slow as far as attitudes are concerned, progress is definitely being made.

Tomorrow, we go for the first time into the Republic of Ireland to spend a couple of days in Dublin (a world capital) before we go home. Although we don't have anything definitively planned for our time there, I will do my best to let you know what we get into. There are many museums there--like a writers' museum and an art museum--that I suspect we will want to visit.

Then, after this brief trip, it will be time to depart I have to admit that, even though the sites and people have been incredible here, I am ready to come home. I think most of us miss our families and even--dare I say--the predictable schedule of the semester.

We will come away from this trip, though, having learned and experienced things that we could not have encountered in the comfort of our own homes. Travel, no matter the manner or the location, is definitely a good idea!