Overview

If memory was simply about past events, public authorities would never put their ever-shrinking budgets at its service. Rather, memory is actually about the present moment, as Pierre Nora puts it: “Through the past, we venerate above all ourselves.” This book examines how collective memory and material culture are used to support present political and ideological needs in contemporary society. Using the memorialization of the Troubles in contemporary Northern Ireland as a case study, this book investigates how non-state, often proscribed, organizations have filled a societal vacuum in the creation of public memorials. In particular, these groups have sifted through the past to propose “official” collective narratives of national identification, historical legitimation, and moral justifications for violence.

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9781782384076

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Reviews

This is an excellent piece of work, one of the best of its kind. The ethnographic approach, with the actual testimonies, is very well done. * Jack Santino, Bowling Green State University This is an excellent account of the reproduction of collective memory and its associated narratives. It delves into the nature and construction of memory and the related forms of propaganda and myth making therein. The inquiry into the construction of memorialization is vital for any scholar of divided societies, nation-building and community construction. The book is important in that it not only describes the processes of such construction but also pinpoints an analysis of the interpretation of meaning. * Peter Shirlow, Queen's University Belfast

Author Information

Elisabetta Viggiani participated in numerous research projects carried out by the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen’s University Belfast on public displays of identity, political rituals, and symbols in Northern Ireland. She has published in academic journals and co-edited Friends and Foes (2009), two volumes on the themes of friendship and conflict.

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