British imperialism first politicized religious division at home, not in its colonies.

Evidence

Belfast in particular, and Ireland generally, are reminders of how British imperialism first forged and politicized religious divisions in the formation of the UK state rather than in its overseas territories. Generally, the imperial and anti-imperial violence associated with these strategies were exported and externalized as part of the imperial project. With the disastrous exception of the two World Wars, organized political violence was typically confined to the colonial territories. Meanwhile, in the pacified metropolitan core, this violence was firmly consigned to the past. Belfast provides an uncomfortable and enduring challenge to this narrative – a clue perhaps to why a relatively limited and localized conflict continues to attract disproportionate international attention in Europe and North America. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 2312

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s MOC thread — the racializing-instinct grammar apparently arose inside the metropole (Ireland) before export, supporting a state-form genealogy more than a Western-particular one. — connects to: The religion-secularism divide is a modern Protestant construction — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 306; Religious-nationalist antagonism originated in Western imperial heartlands, not just its colonies. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 2311; Early English orientalism served homegrown Anglican church-politics disputes — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing: The Orientalists…, 165 (+1 more)
• QUESTION: If core-periphery is reversed here (violence confined to the ‘colonial’ periphery of Ireland while the metropole pacified), worth asking what interior peripheries did similar work in other empires — e.g., Brittany or Scotland for France/Britain.

Broader Connections

• Religious-nationalist antagonism originated in Western imperial heartlands, not just its colonies. #corroborates (0.95) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 2311
• Religious nationalist antagonism developed in the West before being exported elsewhere. #corroborates (0.90)
• Early English orientalism served homegrown Anglican church-politics disputes #exemplifies (0.80) — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 165