Introduction

Construction of Identity in Northern Irish Novels 231
ful to look on the overall attitude of Northern Irish inhabitants towards their identities.
In their 1991 paper Neil Waddell and Ed Cairns examine which ethnopolitical
identities people in Northern Ireland chose. They compared their findings with
those of two other research studies carried out by Richard Rose in 1968 and by
Edward Moxon-Browne in 1978 respectively. The task for the participants was to
choose the identity which they felt they most belonged to. Among the answers to
choose from were terms like “British”, “Irish”, “Ulster”, “Anglo-Irish”, “sometimes
British / sometimes Irish” and “other” (Waddell and Cairns 206). In the
decade between 1968 and 1978 significant changes took place. Whereas many
Protestants embraced Irishness in 1968 (20 per cent), in 1978 only eight per cent
felt themselves to be “Irish”. The “Ulster” identity lost also in popularity. Instead
the “British” identity was chosen by 67 per cent. Waddell and Cairns attributed
these changes to the conflict that had begun in 1969. ”For Protestants, seeing the
union with Britain threatened by Republican violence, the need was probably felt
to make a clear uncompromising statement of national allegiance to Britain. Any
other identity […] would fail to do this” (ibid. 206). Among Catholics the preference
for an Irish identity remained relatively stable (70 per cent), however.
Waddell and Cairns felt that something was missing and included the identity
“Northern Irish” in their own research questionnaire, so that people now could
choose between the following identities: “British”, “Irish”, “Ulster” and “Northern
Irish”. Participants were 475 sixth form students of whom 60 per cent were
Protestant, 40 per cent Catholic, 37 per cent male and 63 per cent female (ibid.
207). Protestants’ answers were distributed among the “British”, “Northern Irish”
and “Ulster” identities, whereas Catholics mainly chose “Irish” and “Northern
Irish” identities of which “Irish” was favoured. Among Catholics the “British”
identity received a zero position, the “Ulster” identity was also disliked (ibid.
209ff). Waddell and Cairns concluded that Ulster by Catholics is assumed as
something British or Protestant (ibid. 210):
There may be several reasons for this Catholic dislike of the Ulster label.
Before partition, Ulster was always the term used to describe that area of
“loyal” Ireland that was largely inhabited by Protestants. After partition, the
name stuck even though it was now geographically incorrect – the old Ulster
consisted of nine counties, the new Northern Ireland has only six – and
subsequently the term seems to have become synonymous with Loyalism
(210).
They further assumed that an “Ulster” identity would not distinguish Catholics
from Protestants sufficiently as in a conflict situation such as the Troubles “opposing
groups seek to develop and maintain psychological group distinctiveness”
(ibid. 211).