Memory, Politics and Identity Haunted by History

by Mcgrattan, Cillian

• ISBN13: 9780230292000
• ISBN10: 0230292003
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-11-13
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

The question of how to move beyond contentious pasts exercises societies across the globe. Focusing on the Northern Irish case, Memory, Identity, Politics examines how historical injustices continue to haunt contemporary lives, and how institutional and juridical approaches to 'dealing' with the past often give way to at best a silencing consensus and at worst a re-marginalizing of victims. Drawing on ideas from post-colonial theory and transitional justice as well as thinkers such as Derrida, Ricoeur and Pocock, this book provides a fresh perspective on the residual force of history in post-conflict situations. It maps the reproduction of ideas and narratives through media and cultural representations and suggests that the answer to the question of moving forward may be located in the combination of historical accuracy and ethical pluralism.

Author Biography

Cillian McGrattan is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at University College Dublin, Ireland.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Remembering and Looking Forward
Dealing with the Past
Belatedness
Haunted by History
Irrevocable Futures: Tracing the Dynamics of Conflict
Bloody Sunday and Bloody Friday
Making History: The Articulation of the
Northern State
Can We Fix It? The Peace Process and the Construction
of Modern Nationalism in Northern Ireland
Nationalist Politics and Truth Recovery
Generational Change
Conclusion
The Workings of the Past