ABSTRACT
The British sociologist and 'race expert', Robert Moore's analysis provides a fascinating departure point for any theorisation of contemporary racism and sectarianism in Northern Ireland for two very different reasons. First, it completely ignored the minority ethnic experience, and second, it raised directly the sectarianism/racism debate. This chapter suggests that these issues have to be central in any attempt to make sense of the dynamics of racism and sectarianism in Northern Ireland. Moreover, they are central to wider tensions involving Black and White people, and Irish and British people, in Britain and Ireland. This debate has immediate ramifications in terms of how people name and understand and theorise sectarianism. The importance of these questions illustrates the need for recentring both Irishness and British involvement in Ireland within sociological perspectives on Britain. Such questions are also testament to the continuing importance of colonialism as a structuring element in contemporary British and Irish society.
