In this episode of ‘My Identity’ Professor Colin Graham (Maynooth) is in conversation with

Queen’s University Belfast students James Tourish and Rea Thien.

Following the publication of For and Against a United Ireland by Fintan O’Toole and Sam

McBride, ARINS held two sold out events in collaboration with the Lyric Theatre, Belfast. The

first of these was an interactive debate for school pupils and university students. Colin met

with James and Rea immediately after the event, recording this conversation on site at the

Lyric to capture their reactions and discuss their thoughts about the event and the book.

James is in his second year studying Politics and International Relations at QUB, he identifies

as coming from an Irish Nationalist background having grown up in Derry. Rea recently

graduated from Law and Politics at QUB and grew up in Southern California.

The My Identity series is hosted by Professor Colin Graham, Maynooth. In this series, Colin is

in conversation with a range of people whose ideas, work and life experiences shed light on

the topic of identity on the Island of Ireland. My Identity is part of the ARINS project.

Colin Graham is Professor English and formerly Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Maynooth University. His books include Northern Ireland: Thirty Years of Photography, Deconstructing Ireland and Ideologies of Epic. He was editor of The Irish Review from 2004 to 2020. During the Brexit negotiations he created the Twitter account @borderirish(opens in a new tab) and wrote the book I am the Border, so I am, published by HarperCollins.

ARINS: Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South brings together experts to provide evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. The project publishes, facilitates and disseminates research on the challenges and opportunities presented to the island in a post-Brexit context, with the intention of contributing to an informed public discourse. More information can be found at WWW.ARINSPROJECT.COM(opens in a new tab)

ARINS is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs.

My Identity is hosted by Professor Colin Graham.

Podcast management and production by Dr Susie Deedigan (University of Notre Dame). With thanks to Conor Patterson and Morgan Blain-Crehan, The Spinner’s Mill, Belfast.