Psychocultural interpretations and dramas: Identity dynamics in ethnic conflict

Ethnic identity connects individuals through perceived common past experien ces and expectations of shared future ones. Identity is concerned with grou p judgments and judgments about groups and their motives. This article expl ores identity through the case of Loyal Order Protestant parades in Norther n Ireland and the concepts of psychocultural interpretations (shared deeply held worldviews found in group narratives) and psychocultural dramas (conf licts over competing, and apparently irresolvable claims that engage the ce ntral elements of a group's historical experience). Psychocultural dramas a re polarizing events whose manifest content involves non-negotiable cultura l claims, threats, and/or rights that become important because of their con nections to core metaphors and group narratives that embody a group's ident ity In ethnic conflicts, psychocultural dramas arise over competing claims that evoke deeply rooted dimensions of the conflict which cannot be settled by reference to more general rules or higher authority. Psychocultural dra mas are tools of analysis for understanding the centrality of cultural iden tity and ritual in ethnic conflict and for the redefinition of such conflic ts in ways that increase the chances for managing them constructively. Exam ining the psychocultural dramas surrounding parades disputes in Northern Ir eland suggests why and how some conflicts are more amenable to constructive outcomes than others.