The troubles in Northern Ireland have been for a very long time a marker and a symbol of Irish national identity. Behind them there is a complex history of colonization and abuse that has divided the Northern Irish population and has given rise to one of the oldest ethnic conflicts in western Europe. This article seeks to integrate three different perspectives in its analysis. There is first the historical perspective, in which history is understood both as an objective process and as an idiom for the textualization of specific world-views. Secondly, there is the perspective provided by the perceived identities, stereotypes and attitudes that seem to originate in that historical process. Finally, a third perspective comes from the constitution of both Irish and British nations and nation-states and the complex dialectics between their beliefs of legitimacy and a population divided along ethnic lines.
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