Northern Ireland's 2016: Approaching the contested commemoration of the Easter Rising and the Somme

This application is made under the Public Policy Call. It fulfils the principal aim of that scheme by bringing together arts and humanities researchers from a range of disciplines (history, Irish studies, social anthropology, politics, education, English literature and geography) to share their expertise with policy makers at devolved and local government level and stakeholders in the voluntary and non-governmental sectors to discuss how commemorations of the centenaries of the Easter Rising and the Battle of the Somme in Northern Ireland (NI) in 2016 can be facilitated to avoid heightening further inter-communal and ethnic tensions and to promote greater engagement with and understanding of the shared past.
The principal objective of the application is to facilitate academics in contributing to the aims of the NI executive's strategy of May 2013 'Together Building a United Community' (TBAUC) which seeks to establish in NI:
'a united community, based on equality of opportunity, the desirability of good relations and reconciliation - one which is strengthened by its diversity, where cultural expression is celebrated and embraced and where everyone can live, learn, work and socialise together, free from prejudice, hate and intolerance.'
This strategy recognises the significance of the Irish 'decade of centenaries', running from c. 1912 to 1923:
'The decade we have just entered will include a number of potentially sensitive anniversaries which we cannot ignore within the context of this Strategy ... and the way in which these events are marked will also have a significant influence on our continued journey towards a united community.'
The second objective is to share the body of knowledge and expertise of the network's academic members with each other and with public bodies in NI that will have a key role in over-seeing and organising events to mark these historic centenaries, including:
- The Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM)
- The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL)
- Belfast City Council
And policy and non-governmental organisations involved in improving cross-community and cross-border relations and promoting peace and reconciliation:
- The Community Relations Council
- Healing Through Remembering
- Co-operation Ireland
The final objective is to invite experts in the areas of commemorative practice, contested commemoration in international situations similar to NI and public engagement with history and commemoration through education to establish best practice guidelines which will assist those organising and managing commemorative events.
The network will address three key issues:
1. The nature and purpose of commemoration.
2. Comparative contested commemorations in an Irish and an international context.
3. Shared engagement with a contested past through education and the shared use of public space for contested commemorations.
The network will hold three workshops to address each of these issues and the findings will be disseminated in the form of:
- policy briefing documents that will summarise the conclusions of each workshop
- the presentation of findings to the DCAL committee of the NI Assembly
- a seminar in the Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series organised by the Research and Information Service of the Assembly
- summaries of the workshops posted on the 'Compromise After Conflict' blog hosted by the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation and Social Justice at Queen's University
- an article in Shared Space, the journal of the Community Relations Council
- the PGCE History curriculum in the University of Ulster.
This is a unique opportunity to raise awareness of the breadth of expertise represented by the network and apply it to the benefit of public policy. It will also inform the academics' research through their own role in advising on the commemorative process.

Devolved government: The Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister is the most important department in the devolved government and has overall repsonsibility for implementing 'Together Building a United Community' and the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) is the department most heavily involved with the decade of centenaries. It oversees a wide variety of public institutions whose activities will be centred around events relating to the Rising and the Somme in 2016, including National Museums Northern Ireland, Libraries NI, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), the Northern Ireland Arts Council and Northern Ireland Screen. DCAL's involvement in the network will act as a conduit for these organisations to relay the issues which concern them to the network for discussion at their workshops and conversely to disseminate the network's research outcomes to all of these bodies. The inter-disciplinary nature of the academic side of the network ensures that all of these groups will benefit from expertise relevant to their particular area of interest, e.g. English literature will be of most interest to the Arts Council and Libraries NI and History to PRONI and the museum sector. DCAL also works closely with the Republic of Ireland's Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and the expertise it will have access to through this network will further benefit cross-border commemorative interaction and allow the Irish government to gain a greater insight into the unique dynamics surrounding contested historical commemoration in Northern Ireland.
Local authorities: All local authorities in Northern Ireland have a good relations officer and the GRO for the largest such authority, Belfast City Council (BCC), will be a member of the network representing GROs in the other councils, with whom she can liaise concerning the discussions and research outputs of the network. Among the principal activities of BCC relating to the decade of centenaries is the hosting of a range of public exhibitions in Belfast City Hall to reflect the key events of the previous century. The members of the network will provide valuable advice to those in BCC tasked with curating these displays. City Hall is one of the most significant and symbolic buildings in Belfast, and a touchstone for contested symbols since the decision to reduce the number of days on which the Union flag is flown there. Given the centrality of this site as a cross-community space, BCC is keen to ensure that its commemorative work is appropriate, sensitive and reflective of the shared past of the divided community that it serves.
Third sector: The third aspect to the network comprises the voluntary sector and independent policy bodies. Healing Through Remembering and the Community Relations Council are two of the most influential organisations dealing with the legacy of past conflict within Northern Ireland. Along with the Heritage Lottery Fund, the CRC has taken a leading role in establishing principles to ensure ethical commemoration of the decade of centenaries. Co-operation Ireland brings a valuable cross-border (crossing geographical boundaries) perspective to the network, that will allow it to examine the wider island of Ireland significance of the contested commemorations. Co-operation Ireland's special focus on the youth is central to the network's desire to ensure the engagement of younger people with the historic commemorations, seen in the focus on the relationship between education and commemoration in the final workshop.
Trainee teachers: Through McCully's involvement the network will impact upon students taking the only PGCE in History in NI and will consequently inform their teaching of the subject in schools. The inter- and multi-disciplinary approach will also enable them to approach the study of these events in a wider societal and civic context and outside of the strict confines of the school history curriculum.