Iris Robinson's Excitable Speech: Sexuality and Conflict Transformation in Northern Ireland

In the summer of 2008, the Westminster MP and Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Iris Robinson, made homophobic statements during interviews with the media. Robinson's anti-gay remarks highlight the continuing challenges for sexual politics in Northern Ireland. However, conflict transformation literature in the region has elided issues of sexuality. This article, drawing on elements of Judith Butler's analysis of injurious speech, assesses the issues that Robinson's homophobic speech highlights in relation to sexual equality in Northern Ireland. It concludes by assessing the role of conflict transformation literature in charting sexual politics in the region.     

From Paramilitaries to Peacemakers: The Gender Dynamics of Community-Based Restorative Justice in Northern Ireland

Community-based restorative justice (CBRJ) schemes emerged in Northern Ireland during the 'peace process' to provide an alternative to paramilitary systems of justice. These initiatives have received considerable academic attention. A complex and critical literature has now emerged in this area; however, extant explorations of CBRJ have tended to sideline issues of gender power. Feminists and international bodies, such as the United Nations, have highlighted the importance of addressing historical gendered inequities in terms of the design and evaluation of conflict transformation initiatives. Drawing on contemporary feminist frameworks this article exposes the importance of the category of gender in evaluations of CBRJ in Northern Ireland. Moreover, it scrutinises the theoretical processes through which issues of gender power have been filtered out of evaluations of community-based restorative justice schemes in the region.