In these walls…: the prison as a site of (re)constitution of the Republican political prisoner’s identity during the Troubles (1968-1998)

Identities are situated, activated – either consciously or unconsciously – depending on the context and individuals/institutions interacted with. Political identities are no different, and a lot of attention has been given in political science about the formation and transformation of political identities. In times of violent conflicts, political identities tend to become the differential markers between the involved parties and communities. But political identities are also the outcome of specific subjective and objective individual trajectories and experiences, located in time and space and influenced by both. Prison, in particular, had been known to be an important site of politicization for many political prisoners during violent conflicts. It is also a defining moment in their personal trajectories, as well as in their self- and collective – often complex because interconnected – identification’s process. Explained as the product of the resistance against state repression (and/or its embodiment, the carceral system), the political prisoner’s identity formation process is frequently explained as a given, without much attention paid either to its determinants, characteristics, or particularities. Even when it comes to the North of Ireland’s case, arguably still of "one of the most heavily researched areas of the world" (Whyte, 1990, p. 248), and certainly one with a considerable population of ex-political prisoners, estimated at 15, 000 (McEvoy et al., 2004), few studies have focused on the political prisoners’ identity formation process, or how political prisoners’ selves were acquired, constructed, negotiated and build-on during their prison experience. Moreover, the different actors and institutions involved and coactive in this process, both at the individual and collective level, have rarely been investigated in a cohesive approach. By looking at both men and women political prisoners’ experiences in the North of Ireland’s carceral system during the Troubles (1968-1998), the paper aims to fill a gap in the literature regarding political prisoners’ identity formation. To be accepted as a member of the group, individuals have to embrace the political prisoner identity, which means adopting a specific behaviour. The behaviour in question can be defined through different "rites of passage," around which this paper’s analysis will be organised. Using data (interviews and archives) collected through both researchers’ respective fieldwork, it aims to better understand (ex) political prisoners’ trajectories during and after the conflict.