Ireland has a deeply embedded culture of division, violence and sectarianism, borne out of a past which has never been critically or ethically unpacked and challenged, nor have the political and religious issues that continue to divide its people been resolved. The innovative approach of this Project will allow participants to unpack a 'shared history' encouraging people to explore significant events in their entirety and begin to understand the complexities of the past, learn from the mistakes and make choices for a better future.

The Project will work sensitively and supportively at all times, on a single-identity, cross-community, cross-cultural and cross-border basis to encourage a wide range of diverse voices to inform discussion and debate. This Project is not about negating the past but rather how we might deal with a legacy of toxic history and upcoming centennial events of remembrance whereby commemoration is acknowledged as an important part of our shared history and how we might do this in a way that is respectful and positive and which does not feed into fear, antagonism and a throw-back to the past.

Ethical and shared remembering are key to the approaching centennial decade. Ethical remembering will mean asking critical and ethical questions about violence, change, justice and peace in the context of the present and desired shared future. One hundred years on there will be no ethical remembering without remembering the future, and without an ethical and concrete commitment to building it together.

Approach

• 1. Core to the project is ethical remembering, providing a distinctive framework for a critical exploration of history and allowing a creative and inclusive approach to commemoration.

• 2. The decade is explored as a whole and the symbiotic relationship between each of the key events is a central feature.

• 3. The legacy of the decade will be explored through the following, highlighted as not only past but current themes: nationalism/identity, religion, violence, trauma, equality, feminism and literary culture.

• 4. The project is engaged, not only with a decade of history, which crucially dictated the history of Ireland since then, but with future visioning and the construction of an ethical and shared future.

• 5. The project will deconstruct the ideological, philosophical and religious views of the decade in order to reconstruct an ethical value base for the 21st century.

• 6. Training resources, community resources and academic literature will be produced for use by a range of sectors to support the development of an ethical and shared future.

 

The Junction is funded by the Community Relations Council
through the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation.