Deviancy as a socio-cultural construct: journalism, translation and othering during the Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’

This thesis designs a Critical Narrative Analysis framework which allows a methodological triangulation to occur, working alongside sociological theories of identity and deviancy. A new contribution to an inquiry in its infancy, the framework proposed in this thesis addresses a gap in the literature towards building a comprehensive framework through which Critical Narrative Analysis can be used more widely in academic research.<br><br>This thesis uses sociological theories of deviancy and its Critical Narrative Analysis Cycle to analyse the dataset.

It uses three examples of under-researched acts of political violence in the early years of the conflict in and around Northern Ireland: The Ballymurphy Massacre (1971); the M62 Coach Bombing (1974); and the Dublin Monaghan Bombings (1974). Using British and Irish Anglophone newspapers The Daily Mirror, The Times, The Irish Independent and the Irish Times, this thesis establishes that the position of the Other is indeed dynamic and dependent on different temporospatial contexts.

Taken together, the findings of this thesis do not support the current definitions of Self and Other in Northern Ireland. This thesis argues for further exploration into the effects of personal narratives on institutional discourses, with an aim of reducing harmful stereotypes, particularly within the context of political violence.<br><br><i>Thesis is embargoed until 31 July 2030.</i>