Breathing the Same Air: Children, Schools, and Politics in Northern Ireland

There are many stories of the long discord in Northern Ireland between the Protestant and Catholic communities. Breathing the Same Air: Children, Schools, and Politics in Northern Ireland focuses on the stories of the integrated education movement in Northern Ireland, the context in which the integrated education movement began and continues to develop, and an American researcher's experience as she learned of these stories. It relates how the common goal of integrated education has brought Protestant and Catholic children together in schools in an attempt to foster an atmosphere of mutual understanding and respect. The integrated schools stress what these two communities of Northern Ireland have in common, rather than what divides them. Dr. Abigail McNamee is an American educator who has traveled to Northern Ireland for many years to write about the stories of the integrated education movement. She asks: What families, schools, and church personnel have participated in the integrated education movement? What risks have they taken to do so? What do the children who attend an integrated school, and those who attend the State (Protestant) and Catholic schools in the same community, understand about the uniqueness of the school that they attend? Do their friendship patterns extend beyond their own school to the other schools in their community? How has the integrated education movement changed over the years? How can this movement resonate with Americans?" Begun as an academic project, the experience of learning about the integrated education movement became highly personal for the author as she befriended families, children, and school personnel in Northern Ireland. Dr. McNamee lives in Westchester County, New York. She is a professor who teaches child development at Lehman College, City University of New York in the Bronx, and is the author of numerous academic works, poetry, plays, and children's books. For more information please visit www.abigailmcnamee.com. Publisher's website: http: //sbpra.com/AbigailStahlMcNamee