Contributor:

Dr Peter Leary

Talk Title:

Life on the line: Partition at the Border

Talk Synopsis:

This talk explores how Partition affected the everyday life of border communities. It describes the ‘piecemeal and… protracted’ process by which the new boundary was established and how ‘it ruptured old connections… but still needed to be crossed.’ It looks at the extent of smuggling and the development of a ‘frontier bureaucracy’ and also how the Irish border continued ‘to be stalked by the very violence of which it was itself a product.’ It suggests that ‘the pain and irritation and… fury of partition seemed to grow a little dimmer’ by the end of the twentieth century and that by ‘the start of this millennium the border was more permeable than at any point since 1922.’ And it concludes with an assessment of Brexit’s impact on the Irish border, noting that whilst it remains one of ‘the many divisive and contested legacies’ of Partition, it ‘continues to be characterised by interconnection and exchange.’

Short Biography:

Peter Leary is a Vice Chancellor’s Fellow in History at Oxford Brookes University.

Further Reading:

Partitioned lives: the Irish borderlands – Catherine Nash, Brian Graham and Bryonie Reid