Looking to the Past From Behind the Windshield of a Car

Car Riding as Ethnographic Research Tool in Belfast

Abstract

Moving through the city by car can bring about methodological as well as substantial insights into post-conflict society and culture. Identifying the general and specific advantages of car riding, and its potentials and limits as an ethnographic tool in the Northern Irish context, I demonstrate the importance of method contextualization in doing fieldwork on memories of conflict in Ireland. The article contributes to the formulation of methodologies for studying memories of conflict, thus highlighting what anthropological approaches to the past in Northern Ireland have to offer, while also bringing useful perspectives on post-conflict contexts outside the Island of Ireland.