The Northern Ireland Conflict on the Margins of History: Protestant Memory on the Border

Assessing the impact of paramilitary violence on border Protestants in Northern Ireland remains a critically overlooked part of the region’s history. Remembered through a framework of memory that blurs the boundary between victim and perpetrator, existing scholarship often disempowers border Protestants by obscuring their experience under the Provisional IRA’s campaign. This re-examination of the conflict illuminates how the Troubles impacted the Protestant community’s physical, economic, and cultural presence in the border counties. Combining oral history with a broader assessment of the Provisional campaign, this book presents a compelling case study for viewing this violence as a form of ethnic cleansing.

Cillian McGrattan lectures in politics at Ulster University. Awarded a PhD in 2008, his research has focused on dealing with the past in post-conflict situations, trauma and peacebuilding, transitional justice, and nationalism in Northern Ireland. He has published articles in Political Studies, The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, and Contemporary British History. Cillian has published a number of books including: Northern Ireland, 1968-2008 (Palgrave, 2010); The Northern Ireland Conflict (Oneworld, 2012); The Politics of Trauma and Peacebuilding (Routledge, 2016); and most recently, Anti-Sectarianism and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland (Palgrave 2024).