Talking stones : the politics of memorialisation in post-conflict Northern Ireland
type: CreativeWork
description: This dissertation is divided into ten chapters. In Chapter 2,1 provide an overview of the theoretical background of my research, outlining the key developments, figures, academic works and trends in the conceptual fields of collective/social memory and the politics of memory. Here, I also discuss methods and ethical issues related to my research. Chapter 3 sets the historical background of my study, delineating the history of the Northern Irish conflict with particular attention to how it has been commemorated and memorialised since the late 1960s to the present day. Drawing mainly upon my database of memorials, Chapter 4 is an exploration of the spatial distribution and temporal occurrence of permanent memorials in the city of Belfast, where I advance some interpretations in relation to the historico-temporal dimension of memorialisation of the Troubles. From Chapter 5 onwards, I will focus on the practical aspects as well as the social, political and ideological reasons behind paramilitary-related memorialisation of the conflict, employing qualitative evidence from my interviews and from attendance at commemorative events. Chapter 5 investigates how and to what purpose paramilitary groups project discrete narratives about the conflict and reflects upon the relationship between individual and collective memory of the Troubles. Chapters 6-9 constitute my case-studies, one for each main paramilitary group in Northern Ireland, and investigate how processes of memorialisation and commemoration act as a linchpin between the micro-level, represented both by single individuals and the local community, and the macro-level of the social ‘mnemonic collectivity’ and the national Catholic/Nationalist/Republican and Protestant/Unionist/Loyalist imagined community. They will also demonstrate how narratives of the past have adapted themselves in light of shifting historical and political circumstances in Northern Ireland. Chapter 6 and 7 investigate the projection of Republican n…
abstract: This dissertation is divided into ten chapters. In Chapter 2,1 provide an overview of the theoretical background of my research, outlining the key developments, figures, academic works and trends in the conceptual fields of collective/social memory and the politics of memory. Here, I also discuss methods and ethical issues related to my research. Chapter 3 sets the historical background of my study, delineating the history of the Northern Irish conflict with particular attention to how it has been commemorated and memorialised since the late 1960s to the present day. Drawing mainly upon my database of memorials, Chapter 4 is an exploration of the spatial distribution and temporal occurrence of permanent memorials in the city of Belfast, where I advance some interpretations in relation to the historico-temporal dimension of memorialisation of the Troubles. From Chapter 5 onwards, I will focus on the practical aspects as well as the social, political and ideological reasons behind paramilitary-related memorialisation of the conflict, employing qualitative evidence from my interviews and from attendance at commemorative events. Chapter 5 investigates how and to what purpose paramilitary groups project discrete narratives about the conflict and reflects upon the relationship between individual and collective memory of the Troubles. Chapters 6-9 constitute my case-studies, one for each main paramilitary group in Northern Ireland, and investigate how processes of memorialisation and commemoration act as a linchpin between the micro-level, represented both by single individuals and the local community, and the macro-level of the social ‘mnemonic collectivity’ and the national Catholic/Nationalist/Republican and Protestant/Unionist/Loyalist imagined community. They will also demonstrate how narratives of the past have adapted themselves in light of shifting historical and political circumstances in Northern Ireland. Chapter 6 and 7 investigate the projection of Republican n…
author: Viggiani, Elisabetta
language: eng
date published: 2011-7
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:55:12Z
provider: Queen's University Belfast
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Queen's University Belfast