The Northern Ireland Troubles in Britain: Impacts, Engagements, Legacies and Memories

Confirmed Speakers: Professor Brandon Hamber, International Conflict Research Institute, University of Ulster; Professor Mary Hickman, London Metropolitan University; Professor John Newsinger, Bath Spa University and Colin Parry OBE, Co-Founder of the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace.

The Centre for Research in Memory, Narrative and Histories at the University of Brighton, the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Leicester, and the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace are organising an inter-disciplinary conference which will consider the impact and lasting effects of the Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’ in Britain, and responses to the conflict from Britain.

Little research exists on the legacies and memories of the Irish Troubles in Britain, and initiatives here towards post-conflict remembering, critical and empathic understanding, and peace-building have been piecemeal. This is in sharp contrast to the situation in Northern Ireland, where since the peace process began in 1993-94, the academy, civil society organisations, community groups and other stakeholders have been engaged in wide-ranging debates about the social, cultural and psychological legacies of violence; the importance of memory, storytelling and commemoration in acknowledging, understanding and transforming these legacies in the context of peace-building; societal responsibilities and strategies for ‘dealing with the past’; and profound questions of representation, truth-recovery, justice, healing, and reconciliation.

This conference aims to examine the impact of the Troubles since 1968 upon individual lives, social relationships, communities and culture in Britain; to investigate the history of responses to, engagements with, and memories of the Irish conflict in Britain; to explore absences and  weaknesses in peace-building and conflict transformation related to the Troubles in Britain; and to contribute to wider academic and public debate about Britain as a post-conflict culture and what can be learned from the Northern Irish experience about peace-building and ‘dealing with the past’.