image: Professor Jim McAuley, University of Huddersfield, is pictured. view more
Credit: University of Huddersfield
Recently published is Very British Rebels: The Culture and Politics of Ulster Loyalism (Bloomsbury), in which Professor McAuley challenges some of the narrow views of Ulster Loyalism.
"It is much wider than the media projects and there is a social base to it, distinct from Unionism. Very often the media rolls them together and Loyalism is seen simply as the extreme end of Unionism. I have tried to show that Loyalists are distinct from Unionists in their political views, in their social class, in the way they see their Britishness and in the way they view their commitment to the Crown," said Professor McAuley.
Very British Rebels also analyses the songs of Loyalists and the ways in which they remember history and pass on memories from one generation to the next.
Professor McAuley is currently involved in an ESRC-funded project to conduct a series of seminars on memory and history in Northern Ireland and he will also collaborate on a membership survey of the Ulster Unionist Party, funded by a British Academy grant.
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