Connecting commemorative communities: Transforming memory-work after conflict in Northern Ireland

随着北爱尔兰开展其十年纪念活动(直到2021年其有争议的创建100周年)，公共机构在调解过去的党派叙述以及弥漫相关的紧张和暴力方面面临的挑战可能从未像现在这样大。与纪念有关的暴力是我们探索性奖项的主题，它仍然是持续分裂的有力象征，并对转型社会产生重要影响。然而，改变这种类型的暴力的一个组成部分是参与和学习不倾向于煽动暴力的纪念做法，或者那些我们发现与纪念有关的暴力在整个冲突后岁月中已经消散的地方。德里市/伦敦德里就是这样一个例子。在整个和平进程期间以及在1998年签署《贝尔法斯特协定》之后，在纪念游行之前或之后爆发的暴力事件屡见不鲜，但随着时间的推移，暴力事件逐渐消退。拆解这一转变是制定共享和伦理纪念政策的关键。发生在这样的空间中的实践和过程如何被复制或管理到其他地方？这个后续的建议来自于我们的探索性项目的结果，即“地点还是过去？”作品的前提是，在北爱尔兰各地的特定地方，有良好做法的例子来纪念和纪念过去。该项目发现，在协议达成后的几年里，这些与纪念活动相关的暴力行为都消失了，这些地方是“模范空间”。为了加强目前和未来的纪念做法和方法，我们的重点不是什么引发冲突(我们最初项目的主题)，而是参与、评估和分享导致社区间关系改善和围绕纪念活动的非暴力的‘良好’做法。因此，这项后续提案的总体目标是通过建立和建立一个在“新”北爱尔兰开展工作的宣传实践网络来“连接”纪念社区(通过利用我们现有的研究成果)，并促进参与纪念和纪念活动的人与负责在冲突后背景下应对和管理纪念活动的公共机构之间的知识交流，这四个伙伴是：北爱尔兰警察局、文化、艺术和休闲部、北爱尔兰社区理事会和联合总会。该项目由北爱尔兰阿尔斯特大学和贝尔法斯特女王大学的一个跨学科学者团队领导。在为期12个月的项目中，计划开展一系列活动，包括住宿培训课程、公众参与活动、展览和展示。这些活动的主要重点是加强学院以外的知识交流和网络建设的机会，最终目的是改变围绕纪念活动的消极态度、行为和关系。该项目的一个主要成果是设计、建立和传播供公共机构和社区组织使用的工具包。这一工具包将提供一种详细的方法，说明纪念和纪念如何在实践中既共享又合乎道德。该项目旨在创造与过去、现在和未来的对话。在发展当今的网络建设和知识交流机制方面，该项目侧重于如何理解和处理过去，为现在和将来开展争议性较小、暴力较少和费用较低的纪念活动开辟了一条道路。通过这种方式，互联纪念社区团队通过关心过去，集中关注未来。

As Northern Ireland works through its Decade of Commemorations (leading up to the centenary of its contested creation in 2021) the challenges facing public bodies to mediate partisan narratives of the past and diffuse associated tension and violence has perhaps never been greater. Commemorative-related violence, the subject of our exploratory award, remains a potent symbol of continuing divisions and has important ramifications for a society in transition. Yet an integral part of transforming this type of violence is engaging with and learning from remembrance practices that do not tend to instigate violence or those places where we found commemorative-related violence to have dissipated throughout the 'post-conflict' years. The city of Derry/Londonderry offers one such example. An outpouring of violence leading up to or following commemorative parades was commonplace throughout the peace process and in the immediate aftermath of the signing of the Belfast Agreement in 1998, but subsided as the years progressed. Unpacking this transformation is key to formulating policies towards shared and ethical remembrance. How might the practices and processes that have occurred in spaces such as this be replicated or managed elsewhere?This follow-on proposal emerged from the outcomes of our exploratory project, 'Place or Past?' and works from the premise that there are examples of good practice within how the past is remembered and commemorated in specific places throughout Northern Ireland. The project found that these are 'exemplary spaces' where commemorative-related violence has disappeared throughout the post-agreement years. With a view to enhance present and future practice and approaches to commemoration, our focus is not on what instigates conflict (the subject of our original project), but rather to engage with, evaluate and share the 'good' practice that has occasioned improved inter-communal relations and non-violence around commemorative activities. The overarching aim of this follow-on proposal therefore is to 'connect' commemorative communities through establishing and profiling an advocacy network of practice that is working in the 'new' Northern Ireland (through the exploitation of our existing research findings) and promote knowledge exchange between those who are involved in commemoration and remembrance and the public bodies who are tasked with responding to and managing commemoration in a post-conflict context working alongside four partners: The Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, the Northern Ireland Community Council and The Junction. The project is led by a team of interdisciplinary academics based in Northern Ireland, at the University of Ulster and Queen's University, Belfast. A series of activities including residential training courses, public engagement events, exhibits and showcases are planned for the 12 month project duration. The primary focus of these activities is to strengthen opportunities for knowledge exchange and network building beyond the academy with the ultimate purpose of transforming negative attitudes, behaviour and relationships around commemoration. A key outcome of the project is to design, establish and disseminate a toolkit for use by public bodies and community organisations. This toolkit will provide a detailed approach of how remembrance and commemoration can be both shared and ethical in its practice. The project is designed to create dialogue with the past, the present and the future. In developing mechanisms for network-building and knowledge exchange in the present, focused on how the past is understood and approached, this project traces a path towards less contentious, less violent and less costly commemorative activities now and in the future. In this way, the Connecting Commemorative Communities team are centrally concerned with caring for the future, through caring for the past.