Mapping postconflict memory. Affective landscapes, imagined geographies and the politics of time in Derry/Londonderry (Northern Ireland) and Portbou (Spain)
In my research I explore the politics of memory and grassroots history in the context of political violence, by looking at spaces haunted by traumatic events. The project draws upon two case-studies in Northern Ireland and Spain that are, in turn, located within wider, transnational frameworks in order to critically examine the underlying power relationships behind global construction of a "cosmopolitan memory" discourse. Through these cases I discuss how these locations become cultural sites that carry rhetorical power and, on the other hand, how they are experienced—what kind of emotional, affective, political and temporal attachments are generated in such encounters. In general terms, my research interests lie in political/popular uses of the past, modern history, critical historiographies, and activist and participatory methodologies.
How do people approach and negotiate space once associated with violence and suffering?
How do transnational discourses of human rights, victimhood, leisure/consumption and so on shape the narrative of these spaces?
How can we deal with the disjointed experience of time experienced in landscapes of memory that are marked by haunting events?
University of Brighton Doctoral College Studentship
