Side-by-Sidedness: A Conceptual Rethinking of Post-Peace Agreement Encounter

Between the poles of conflict and reconciliation are the complex and simple interactions of the everyday. This article introduces the conceptual development of 'side-by-sidedness' - a form of 'lightened encounter' that is civilly inattentive to differences and divisions, thus contributing to improved relationships between individuals in violent protracted conflict. Emerging from a case study centred on the supporters of the Belfast Giants ice hockey club, this concept is developed around shifts in identity, encounter and space that occur through the willingness to sit side-by-side across historical divisions at ice hockey games without a necessary willingness to live side-by-side the person in the seat next to you. The case study is utilised as an unorthodox meeting point - the ice hockey arena of Northern Ireland sits outside the disputed histories in the region and yet offers a banality in the inclusion of the 'other'. Side-by-sidedness thus lies between the narratives and imagery of a divided past and that of a reconciled, hand-in-hand future, instead identifying the willingness to share space as a means of 'getting on with it' in everyday Belfast.