How can peace survive when traditional lawmaking institutions are not functioning? What new democratic practices are established when legislatures are dormant? Northern Ireland has been without a functioning legislature for over two years. Despite the legislative inactivity, questions of peace-building and democratic representation remain as the nation continues to pursue a post-conflict landscape. This talk focuses on how quotidian events (see Zhan 2018) create new forms of social life in ethnographic encounters. Focusing specifically on Northern Ireland, this project questions how moments of everyday life produce new forms of political futures while also relying on historical narratives and memories. Touching on issues of political symbols (such as flags, see Bryan 2000 and Jarman 1997), urban studies (Bollens 2018), and past violence (Feldman 1991, Aretxaga 1997, Evershed 2018), I look forward to comments on my future fieldwork on the absence of the Northern Ireland Assembly in transforming conflict. 

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