Seismic' or stalemate? The (bio)politics of the 2021 Northern Ireland Census

Coulter, Colin, Flaherty, Eoin and Shirlow, Peter ORCID: 0000-0002-7483-9859 (2023) Seismic' or stalemate? The (bio)politics of the 2021 Northern Ireland Census. SPACE AND POLITY, 27 (1). pp. 57-77.

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Abstract

This article provides a critical reading of the 2021 Census of Population in Northern Ireland. A close examination of the available data on religion and nationality leads us to suggest that the Census provides a distorted portrait of Northern Irish society in two crucial, and connected, senses. First, the operation of the Census creates incentives for many residents to identify in ethnoreligious terms who might not ordinarily do so. Second, the forms of inter-communal competition generated by the decennial poll serve to obscure the degree of cultural diversity that exists in an increasingly secular society.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Northern Ireland, Census, demography, secularisation, Good Friday Agreement
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Histories, Languages and Cultures
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	05 Oct 2023 07:19
Last Modified:	08 Jan 2024 12:01
DOI:	10.1080/13562576.2023.2260153
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3173421