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Writing as a Citizen?

Some Thoughts on the Uses of Dilemmas

Memorial University of Newfoundland, St John's, Canada, robinw{at}mun.ca

This article traces a series of frustrations and dilemmas that arose from people's attempts to participate in Northern Ireland's peace process in ways that challenged the reduction of its politics to a single line of conflict. As attempts to expand the possibilities for active citizenship, they were not entirely successful. However, the article argues that dilemmas offer privileged access to contradictions and conflicts at work within both political actors and the scene of their actions. The dilemmas explored here are examined for what they can reveal about the political culture of the peace process and the prospects for democratic life after the Good Friday Agreement. Some of these problems emerged as a result of the author's partisan involvement in the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition, one of the parties to the 1996—8 peace talks. As such, this article also asks how participation in the peace process might contribute to the ethnographic record of the peace process.

Key Words: citizenship • consociation • democracy • Northern Ireland peace process • Northern Ireland Women's Coalition • partisan anthropology

Critique of Anthropology, Vol. 28, No. 3, 321-338 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0308275X08094391


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