Aims

The Moral Economy of Loyalty in Northern Ireland, 1921-39 – the Linen Lords and the Plebs.

‘In Northern Ireland, politics and religion are very much allied. The [Northern Ireland] government, however, in the administration of the country make no distinction between persons of different religions. The only thing the government do require from the citizens of Northern Ireland is loyalty to the Throne and Constitution and obedience to established law.’

Sir Dawson Bates, Northern Ireland Ministry of Home Affairs Press Release on the National Council of Civil Liberties Inquiry into the Operation of the Special Powers Act in Northern Ireland, 1936.

Northern Ireland was established in 1921 and had successfully consolidated itself by 1939, but the state was continually accused of religious-based discrimination. Was Northern Ireland’s premier, Viscount Craigavon, accurate when he called the state a, ‘Protestant Parliament for a Protestant People’? And how did the Ulster Unionist Party create a moral economy of loyalty in the region? This module will examine ‘history from below’ in the context of the new state of Northern Ireland, 1921-39. It will also introduce students to social history methodologies of the political. The module will begin with scrutiny of the context and establishment of the Northern Ireland state. It will discuss the extent of sectarian discrimination and the relationship to the politics of loyalty. It will further examine gender relations and Northern Ireland’s complex interactions with southern Ireland, the United Kingdom government and the British Empire. The module will investigate the ‘factory of grievances’ in Northern Ireland and locate the long-term roots of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Movement in the inter-war period. It will discuss the politics of disloyalty and the construction of a moral economy of loyalty between loyal Lords and Plebs. Finally, the course will discuss contentious history and how we deal sensitively with topics still capable of generating political violence.

The aims of this module are:
1)To enable students to have an in-depth grasp of the contentious politics and society of Northern Ireland.
2)To give students an opportunity to study primary sources and the historiography surrounding the culture and state of Northern Ireland.
3)To introduce students to the combination of quantitative, social methods and critical historical theory.
4)To give students practice in conducting primary source research and reporting their findings in a coherent manner, backed by the relevant historiography.
5)To provide students with an opportunity to deal sensitively with the contended and contentious history of the British Isles.

Outline Of Syllabus

The following is a guide only. Actual subjects may differ from those listed.
Lectures and online seminars will be based on the following themes:
1)       Introduction – The Foundations of Northern Ireland: British and Irish Counter-Revolutions, 1906-21.
2)       Constructing the Loyal State: The Moral Economy of Loyalty in Northern Ireland
3)       Constructing Disloyalty: Irish Nationalists and Separatism, and The Left and Labour.
4)       Documentary Analysis Workshop
5)       Gendering Loyalty
6)       Labour and Progress in Northern Ireland: The ‘Long’ Civil Rights Movement.
7)       Essay Writing Workshop.
8)       The Moral Economy of Loyalty in Northern Ireland, 1921-39 – the Linen Lords and the Plebs.


Seminars – combination of discussion and asynchronous, online activities/tasks to complete. This work will be based on oral history and documents available online at Kew, PRONI, the National Archives of Ireland, and the National Library of Ireland (these will be provided).

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Lecture sessions explaining key context, concepts and historiographical issues, with exercises intended to reinforce understanding through direct engagement with the sources discussed.

Seminars: to encourage independent study and to promote improvements in oral presentation, interpersonal communication and problem-solving skills, research skills and adaptability. The seminars will also enable students to gain a sense of the relationship between Britain and Ireland. They will also allow students to critically engage with historical skills and methods.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

A level 6 course in modern History should be an opportunity for students to demonstrate their abilities and research skills. The two extended pieces of assessed written work give an opportunity for students to demonstrate the knowledge they have gained from their studies. The extended documentary analysis is a platform for students to combine primary research skills with historiographical knowledge. This further provides a basis for their dissertation modules in semester 2. The extended essay, similarly, is an opportunity for students to demonstrate their historical skills. Both pieces of assessed work will allow students to both develop their work and demonstrate the historical knowledge and skills they have obtained so far. This form of assessment is complementary to work conducted in a dissertation.

All Erasmus students at Newcastle University are expected to do the same assessment as students registered for a degree.

Study-abroad, non-Erasmus exchange and Loyola students spending semester 1 only are required to finish their assessment while in Newcastle. This will take the form of an alternative assessment, as outlined in the formats below:

Modules assessed by Coursework and Exam -
The normal alternative form of assessment for all semester 1 non-EU study abroad students will be one essay in addition to the other coursework assessment (the length of the essay should be adjusted in order to comply with the assessment tariff); to be submitted no later than 12pm Friday of week 12. The essays should be set so as to assure coverage of the course content to date.

Modules assessed by Exam only -
The normal alternative form of assessment for all semester 1 non-EU study abroad students will be two 2,000 word written exercises; to be submitted no later than 12pm Friday of week 12. The essays should be set so as to assure coverage of the course content to date.

Modules assessed by Coursework only -
All semester 1 non-EU study abroad students will be expected to complete the standard assessment for the module; to be submitted no later than 12pm Friday of week 12. The essays should be set so as to assure coverage of the course content to date.

Study-abroad, non-Erasmus exchange and Loyola students spending the whole academic year or semester 2 are required to complete the standard assessment as set out in the MOF under all circumstances.