Shifting memory: place, and intra-community struggle 25 years after the Good Friday Agreement

Abstract

This article critically examines commemoration at the local-level, drawing on extensive qualitative research spanning over two decades in the Ardoyne community of North Belfast. This longitudinal approach allows us to track memory work in one community in the aftermath of political violence. The research shows that ‘post-conflict’ memorialization has shifted in Ardoyne, with less emphasis on victims’ voice and unresolved justice legacy issues, and towards ‘ownership’ of republican activist dead and political rivals’ memory counterclaims. The longitudinal lens provides an insight into evolving intra-community tensions over memory, struggles between memory activists, and what is driving memory contestation post-Good Friday Agreement.