The divide between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is not well defined.  Crossing the border between the two countries reminds me somewhat of crossing between states in the U.S.  Welcome to Pennsylvania! produces about the same feeling as Welcome to the Republic of Ireland!   It’s so forgettable that I’ve managed to sleep through it on several occasions. So you may understand the source of my confusion when, as I was chatting with a local in Armagh about my upcoming trip to Dublin, I began to detect the animosity of the North to the South.  Likewise, as I was told by several of my traveling companions, the denizens of Dublin were repeatedly disgusted to hear our group was staying primarily in the North.

The two countries, both of which I simply refer to as Ireland when I correspond with my friends back home, as most of them aren’t even aware that there are two separate nations on the island, much less can they distinguish in which of them I am currently residing, are each very serious about their national identities.  The Dubliners of the Republic seemed to hold themselves at a different standard from the Northerners, and people from neither side (with the exception of the Irish faculty on the trip) are particularly willing to discuss their relationship to the other.

Nationalism has never been a real topic for me.  Being American in America is easy.  It even gives you a sense of entitlement.  Being a white American in America is even easier.   Being American in Armagh isn’t too bad either, because no one treats you poorly and everyone knows who you’re looking for when you wander into a pub and ask vaguely for the “friends” with whom you were supposed to meet. Americans in Dublin meld into the multi-cultural, multi-national landscape without a second thought (it’s even easy to charge purchases to a credit card in American dollars because American’s are so common) and generally go unnoticed. Certainly there is a stigma attached to the word “American” but in my experience it has never been a hindrance further than being the source of a few bad jokes.

So why all this Nationalism?  Perhaps my detachment from the subject comes from being raised in a peaceful place, preserved for most of my life in the frosted glass bubble that obscured anything that would push me towards a fervent nationalism.  Indeed, conflict has been the source of Northern Ireland and The Republic’s heightened attachment to their own nations, and their differences in economics and cultural practices seem to have solidified the self-imposed division.  I can’t pretend that I completely understand, but I will admit that it is a phenomena impossible to ignore in the Irelands, and an idea I will have to explore further.