Religious Demography and Conflict in Ireland, 1659-1926

FAIN: RZ-50569-06

Mizzou (Columbia, MO 65211-3020)
Kerby Alonzo Miller (Project Director: November 2005 to June 2010)

Conference papers, journal articles, and a monograph on religious/demographic change in Ireland, and its social, political, and cultural concomitants from 1659 to 1926. (36 months)

Ireland's partition and the recent "Troubles" in Northern Ireland are often viewed as inevitable results of struggle between two communal traditions--Protestant/British vs. Catholic/Irish--persisting, especially in Ulster, since the British plantations in the 1500s-1600s. Our study of Irish religious demography, 1659-1926, reveals that Irish history is much more complex than that binary model suggests. By charting the shifting boundaries between Irish Protestants and Catholics, we show that, especially in Ulster, economic and political conflict within the Protestant community was often the primary factor in shaping Irish society. Thus, our study suggests that better understanding Ireland's past may point to a less polarized future.