Ireland

The cluster seeks to understand the legacies and memories of conflict 'in and over' Northern Ireland, in the context of peace process and 'post-conflict' culture. We focus on how the past is negotiated within cultural practices, experiences and identities in relation to the geographies and politics of conflict and its transformation.  

Research in the cluster explores cultural dimensions of conflict transformation and peace-building concerned with the conflict 'in and over' Northern Ireland, in relation to the politics of the Irish peace process since the ceasefires of 1994. We investigate the cultural, material and psychic legacies of violence in Ireland and Britain; how memories of the conflict - collective, social and personal - are experienced, represented, reworked, contested and silenced; negotiation of the conflicted past within experiences, identities, geographies and social relations in 'post-conflict' society; and practices of 'coming to terms with the past' in relation to demands for truth and justice, aspirations for reconciliation, and contesting visions of the future.