Maisie Oliver, Queen’s University Belfast, Fall 2025
Before arriving in Belfast, I had learned about the ‘Troubles’ of Northern Ireland. To summarize, there remained major religious cleavages in Northern Ireland between Catholics and Protestants due to the colonialism of the United Kingdom and resistance from the Irish. Presently, these cleavages are obviously apparent. Although violence has subsided, the tension between the two groups remains palpable. The tangibility of this was evident during my first few weeks, as I experienced it firsthand during a grocery shopping trip. Queen’s University Belfast is situated in a predominantly Catholic area of town. The grocery store “Lidl” does not. On a mere thirty-minute walk, I felt the environment shift. Instead of the beige and brick buildings that I was used to, I began to see uniform red-brick housing with the Union Jack flag flapping outside. I had never seen that flag anywhere on Queen’s campus.
The major difference that stood out to me when I compared this environmental shift to ones back home in the US was that the ‘invisible lines’ I was used to were those of class and race. You can immediately tell when you are in a poor versus a wealthy neighborhood; the same applies to a majority-Latino versus a Chinese area of town. This manifested in the form of neglected housing and a lack of city cleaning, as well as blaring signs in various languages. In Belfast, however, the simple act of a different style of housing and a flag catching your eye signaled the crossing of a line. The people sounded and looked the same. The food remained similar. The language did not change. And yet, they would never conflate themselves with the other group, to the point that it was considered offensive to do so.
When speaking with locals there, I learned that many of the students at Queen’s came from either the countryside of Northern Ireland or an hour away down south, which puts their place of origin in the Republic of Ireland, not Northern Ireland. On a more intimate level, some would even delve into their desire for the unification of Ireland once again.
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