Excluding the North? Marginalised memory and the legacies of conflict in the Centenary
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2021-02-28

In this paper I will explore the state commemorative events to celebrate the hundred-year anniversary of the 1916 Rising in Ireland. This paper will highlight the focus throughout the commemorative campaign of constructing of inclusivity in the history of the Easter Rising. However, this paper argues that the 2016 commemorations were scared by the past legacies of violence, explicitly The Troubles in Northern Ireland, which cast a long shadow on the commemorative programme. In this following paper I will explore discourse strategies employed by Irish political elites which systemically construct themes of inclusivity, diversity and equality in representing 1916 (particularly in relation to the role of women) whilst routinely excluding a movement and ideology that was central the Rising, armed Republicanism. This paper will explore the juxtaposition of the several attempts by elites to highlight the inclusive elements of the commemorations, whilst systematically excluding Northern Ireland and armed republicanism from the narrative of 1916.

RYAN NOLAN, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN


This paper will detail the intricate role that the present has on the ‘retelling’ of the story of 1916, (or 2016 in 1916). It will show link the focus on diversity and inclusion in the commemorative narrative to recent develops in Ireland’s social and political sphere whilst also exploring the legacies of The Troubles of Northern Ireland on how 1916 is remembered. This paper attempts to illuminate the inherit contradictions in these commemorative speeches specifically in relation to what, (or more accurately who) is included in the narrative, and what is forgotten, excluded and marginalised.