In 1882 Ernst Renan argued that the forging of a new nation required the selective forgetting of discordant aspects of the past. Renan’s belief has become almost axiomatic in transitional justice; Divisive pasts risk a return to violence or societies forever trapped in cycles of hatred and atavism. To avoid further violence, narratives of post-conflict societies are transformed, managed and reshaped, and shared stories and spaces of hospitality, healing, and reconciliation are promoted. Those who are unable or unwilling to ‘move on’ are often presented as either ‘out-of-step’ with the new post-conflict political and social reality, or as relics of a violent age that no longer exists.

Increasingly, this paradigm is being challenged by activists, artists and scholars in countries as diverse as Argentina, South Africa, Northern Ireland, and the United States. When groups mark and inscribe places of past and ongoing violence, and seek justice in spite of official or de facto amnesties, these powerful political statements question state claims to equality and justice. Such transgressive and disruptive memory practices, moreover, contest convenient narratives the past is ‘settled’ in post-conflict spaces.

The purpose of this masterclass is to explore theories and practices of memory, place and narrative that exist at the intersections between memory studies, human geography, and transitional justice. Using specific case studies from a range of countries, as well as discussion groups and workshops, we hope to introduce participants to spatial and creative approaches that takes seriously the divergent and pluralistic ways in which people know the past, and how these varied ways of knowing in turn shape the possibilities and limitations of post-conflict futures. We seek to collaboratively explore with participants how these insights and intersections can inform their own area of study or the post-conflict spaces and places which have directly affected them.

Speakers and Workshop Leaders include:

Dr Yaser Alashqar, Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin

Eamon Rafter, Learning Coordinator, Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation

Joe Robinson, Researcher, Glencree, Research Fellow, Irish Research Council, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Geography, Maynooth University

Professor Karen Till, Department of Geography, Maynooth University

This masterclass is free and open to the public, but advanced booking is necessary. To register, please go to:

Hosted by the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation and the Irish School of Ecumenics, TCD

Generously funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.