Talking Stones : : The Politics of Memorialization in Post-Conflict Northern Ireland / / Elisabetta Viggiani.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Berghahn Books Complete eBook-Package 2014-2015
• VerfasserIn: Viggiani, Elisabetta,
• MitwirkendeR: Donnan, Hastings,
• Place / Publishing House: New York ;, Oxford : : Berghahn Books, , [2014]; ©2014
• Year of Publication: 2014
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (288 p.)

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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- List of Abbreviations -- Introduction: Memorials as Silent Extras or Scripted Actors? -- Chapter 1. Collective Memory and the Politics of Memorialization: A Theoretical Overview -- Chapter 2. The Armalite and the Paintbrush: A Brief History of Memorialization of the Troubles in Northern Ireland -- Chapter 3. The ‘Landscape of Memorialization’ in Belfast: Spatial and Temporal Reflections -- Chapter 4. The ‘Memory Makers’ and the Projection of Narratives of the Troubles -- Chapter 5. The Clonard Martyrs Memorial Garden: Constructing a Dominant Republican Narrative -- Chapter 6. The IRSP/INLA Teach Na Fáilte Memorial Committee: Constructing a Sectional Republican Narrative -- Chapter 7. The 1913 UVF and the Myth of the Somme: Constructing a Loyalist ‘Golden Age’ -- Chapter 8. The UDA Sandy Row Memorial Garden: Attempting a Narrative of Symbolic Accretion -- Chapter 9. Dissecting Consensus: ‘Memory Receivers’ and the Narrative’s ‘Hidden Transcript’ -- Chapter 10. The Memory of the Dead: Seeking Common Ground? -- Appendix A: List of Memorials -- Appendix B: Emblems and Flags -- Bibliography -- Index