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Excursion Northern Ireland: Peace, Memory and Reconciliation

In this excursion students get to know the meaning, structures and legacies of the Troubles and the Northern Ireland (NI) peace process by visiting Belfast, Derry/Londonderry and the Corrymeela Community to discuss the challenges, achievements and ongoing tensions of post-conflict transformation. Students will critically engage with political, social and community-based institutions from different perspectives and analyse their specific roles, positions and contributions to peacebuilding and reconciliation.

They engage with an analysis of spatial divisions—particularly peace walls, murals and contested urban landscapes in Belfast and Derry—and the impact of protracted conflict on local communities, infrastructures and development. They look at the complexities of root causes for this conflict that oftentimes is too easily framed as based on religious difference. They furthermore visit sites of memory and memorialisation and critically engage with questions of representation, justice and the politics of remembrance.

Students actively train with the island’s oldest peace and reconciliation organisation (Corrymeela),  to learn about cross-community dialogue initiatives and reconciliation facilitation. They experience and interact with peacebuilding practitioners, understand how to dissect and question politically essentialised identities, and visit museums and memorial sites on different sides of the conflict to think through memory and representation from multiple perspectives. They furthermore meet with scholars and practitioners in Dublin for introductory lectures and contextualisation.

Turning the excursion into a collective mini research project to understand the trobles and its aftermath from various perspectives and conceptual framing, students will do their ownwith research and analysis and will apply them in practice by working in small groups to develop thematic foci, implementing them in the form of mini-ethnographic research in Northern Ireland.

This excursion to Northern Ireland on the Troubles, the Good Friday Agreement and ongoing reconciliation efforts offers students first-hand experience of a post-conflict society in a safe research environment. The excursion focuses on a comprehensive learning experience in the field to understand the work of community peacebuilding, memory and reconciliation initiatives, and the socio-political challenges faced by societies moving from conflict to post-conflict and peace.

Students learn about the organisational structures of reconciliation centres, dialogue platforms, community remembrance projects and cross-community organisations, amongst others. They will have lectures, guided visits, workshops and interviews with local activists and practitioners to provide them with knowledge and practice within peace and conflict studies. They will be encouraged to test the promises of EU porder regimes and international peace agreements, against lived experiences and practical application and outcome in post-conflict scenarios.

Information session: General overview on the excursion, costs and requirements – attendance is mandators, after this session, acceptance into the course will be decided

Preperation sessions: Five sessions to prepare a solid base for understanding the complexity of the historical, sociocultural and political background of the conflict and the conceptual and theoretical appraoches and topical foci in Innsbruck in November and January

Excursion week (Dez 10 – 16): 

Belfast/NI: Guided exploration of peace walls, murals, contested neighbourhoods; visits to museums and memory sites; conversations with community activists and practitioners

Derry/Londonderry/NI: Spatial analysis of the walled city, Bogside murals, sites of memory; discussions on justice, representation and the grey zones of conflict

Corrymeela Community/NI or Glencree Centre for Peace & Reconciliation/Rep of Ireland: Workshop on memory work, peacebuilding and reconciliation with practitioners 

Dublin/Republic of Ireland: Closing lecture and visit to contextualise the historical and political background of the conflict

This excursion to Northern Ireland provides students with theoretical and practical knowledge about post-conflict transformation, community reconciliation, the work of memory and peacebuilding organisations through lectures, guided tours, workshops, interviews and participant observation.

The first phase consists of introductory lectures at Uni Innsbruck, preparation of reading materials, and small group presentations on specific topics relevant to socio-political conflicts, peace and memory in the context of NI. Furthermore, we develop the necessary methodological knowledge for the mini-research work in Northern Ireland in order to create a solid basis for the subsequent field excursion.

The second phase of the excursion will be held in Ireland and Northern Ireland (Dublin, Belfast, Derry/Londonderry, Corrymeela). It offers students the opportunity to engage first-hand with research on conflict transformation and the various individuals, communities, organisations and institutions involved.

During the excursion, students engage practically with qualitative research tools such as (participant) observation, audio-visual documentation, spatial analysis and qualitative interviews by working in small groups to develop thematic foci and practically implement them in the form of mini-ethnographic research.

Students will be assessed on four aspects: Attendance and participation, oral presentation, field notes, final essay.

1. Attendance and participation: Punctuality and observation of the schedule during the excursion as well as cooperation and engagement with guides and facilitators will be factors considered by lecturer.
2. Group presentations during preperation sessions on selected aspects of the institutions, places and themes we shall encounter in Northern Ireland.
3. Writing and handing in of daily field notes on the last day of the excursion.
4. Final essay: At the end of the excursion, you will hand in a short essay on your angle on peace, memory or justice work in Northern Ireland that connects your groups preperatory presentation with on-site learning from the excursion (details and deadlines will be announced).

Empfohlene Literatur wird zu Beginn der Exkursion bereitgestellt.

Course will be held in English!

If you have any questions, please contact the lecturer at katja.seidel@uibk.ac.at