The Burden of Memory: Victims, Survivors, Storytelling and Resistance in the North of Ireland

Memory Studies 2009, Vol 2(3): 355–376

25 Pages Posted: 27 Jul 2015

See all articles by Bill Rolston

Bill Rolston

University of Ulster - Transitional Justice Institute

Claire Hackett

Falls Community Council

Date Written: July 22, 2009

Abstract

The article examines the potential and limitations of storytelling for victims of political violence. It rejects the view that storytelling is unproblematic, a way for victims to ‘get things off their chest’. It examines a wide range of literature on storytelling and testimony, from the Holocaust through to contemporary transitional societies. In particular, attention is focused on the experience of victims and survivors telling their stories in formal settings such as truth commissions and trials in South Africa and the former Yugoslavia, as well as at unofficial storytelling processes in Northern Ireland. The authors look at the potential of storytelling as resistance to injustice and conclude that while unofficial processes of storytelling present opportunities for collective solidarity, the stories often go unacknowledged by the wider society. Conversely, they also conclude that, while official mechanisms of truth recovery can ensure wide legitimacy for the stories of victims, this is often at the cost of marginalizing the storyteller and the story.

Keywords: Ireland, memory, resistance, storytelling, truth recovery

Suggested Citation

Rolston, Bill and Hackett, Claire, The Burden of Memory: Victims, Survivors, Storytelling and Resistance in the North of Ireland (July 22, 2009). Memory Studies 2009, Vol 2(3): 355–376, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2634576

Bill Rolston (Contact Author)

University of Ulster - Transitional Justice Institute ( email )

Shore Road
Newtownabbey, County Antrim BT37 OQB
Northern Ireland

Claire Hackett

Falls Community Council ( email )

277 Falls Rd
Belfast, BT12 6FD
United Kingdom

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