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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.
About the author
Kenneth Funston gained his doctorate in 2020 from Ulster University, with a thesis focusing on the minority Protestant population of County Fermanagh and republican violence. He has worked with victims of terrorism, speaking at many conferences and debates in order to highlight victims’ issues. His research examining the effects of republican violence on the border has appeared in publications such as the Financial Times and the Belfast News Letter.He has also worked collaboratively with Spanish representatives of victims of ETA terror, highlighting the similarity of issues faced by victims and survivors.
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).
