Reviving Erased History: Associate Professor Kate Catterall

Fifty years ago, the Belfast City Centre was surrounded by barricades, a security cordon meant to keep bombers from entering the city’s commercial center during the Troubles Era, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland. Whether one was rich or poor, Catholic or Protestant, everyone had to pass through the security checkpoint for a pat-down before entering to work, shop or socialize. The cordon, a series of gates, fences, turnstiles, search stations and blocked roads, was known as the Ring of Steel.