How and why do we (not) collectively remember non-combatants in Northern Ireland?

Abstract

Mirroring its omnipresence in the region, an empirically rich and theoretically nuanced body of scholarship has developed on collective remembrance in NI. Within this scholarship, memorialisation and commemoration has been afforded considerable attention. Work has been complied on a diverse range of subjects, such as the role of commemoration in mainstream Irish Republicanism’s transition from armed to electoral tactics, the difficulty and absence of official State commemoration, the management of memorialisation in contested space, and efforts to demilitarise working-class loyalist identity conveyed in memorialisation. For all its strengths, this scholarship has tended to predominantly focus on the commemoration and memorialisation of armed actors with research on non-combatant actors being restricted to high profile events like Bloody Sunday or to sub-geographical case studies on specific areas or memorials. Consequently, research on the commemoration and memorialisation of combatant actors in NI has not only been quantitatively superior to the research conducted on non-combatant actors, but it also tends to be qualitatively more sophisticated in asking theoretically probing questions. This research aimed to address this scholarly imbalance with a critical examination of the under-researched topic of the commemoration and memorialisation of non-combatant actors in NI. Specifically, it critically examined how and why non-combatants are collectively remembered in NI. This examination involved the identification and evaluation of five key aspects of memorialisation and commemoration: purpose, emergence, narrative, area, and materiality. A qualitative mixedmethods approach was adapted for this examination, with triangulation being achieved through data being collected from primary and secondary sources, the observation of memorials and commemorations, and interviews. There are two key findings from this research. First, the memorialisation and commemoration of non-combatants in NI is complex and multifaceted. On the one hand, this reflects memorialisation and commemoration itself being a highly complex and multifaceted social phenomenon. On the other, it reflects the highly complex and multifaceted nature of the NI conflict as there is no universal noncombatant experience of death, acknowledgment and memorialisation. Second, the process of memorialisation and commemoration needs to be valued as equally as the product. This thesis argues that the transformative potential of memorialisation as a component of ‘dealing with the past’ in NI will be enhanced by valuing both its process and product.

Thesis embargoed until 30 September 2026

Date of Award	Sept 2024
Original language	English
Supervisor	Adrian Grant (Supervisor) & Kristian Brown (Supervisor)