Remembering 1916
The Easter Rising, the Somme and the Politics of Memory in Ireland

A pioneering analysis of how the Easter Rising and the Battle of the Somme have been remembered in Ireland since 1916.

Richard S. Grayson (Edited by), Fearghal McGarry (Edited by)

9781316509272, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 March 2016

280 pages, 17 b/w illus. 6 tables
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.3 cm, 0.47 kg

'Grayson and McGarry have provided a collection of work that is insightful and filled with new scholarship.' Kevin Braam, H-War

The year 1916 witnessed two events that would profoundly shape both politics and commemoration in Ireland over the course of the following century. Although the Easter Rising and the Battle of the Somme were important historical events in their own right, their significance also lay in how they came to be understood as iconic moments in the emergence of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach drawing on history, politics, anthropology and cultural studies, this volume explores how the memory of these two foundational events has been constructed, mythologised and revised over the course of the past century. The aim is not merely to understand how the Rising and the Somme came to exert a central place in how the past is viewed in Ireland, but to explore wider questions about the relationship between history, commemoration and memory.

Introduction Richard S. Grayson and Fearghal McGarry
Part I. Memory and Commemoration: 1. Making sense of memory: coming to terms with conceptualisations of historical remembrance Guy Beiner
2. Ritual, identity and nation: when the historian becomes the high priest of commemoration Dominic Bryan
3. 'The Irish Republic was proclaimed by poster': the politics of commemorating the Easter Rising Roisín Higgins
Part II. Narratives: 4. Instant history: 1912, 1916, 1918 David Fitzpatrick
5. Hard service: remembering the Abbey Theatre's rebels Fearghal McGarry
6. Beyond the Ulster Division: West Belfast members of the Ulster Volunteer Force and service in the First World War Richard S. Grayson
7. Remembering 1916 in America: the Easter Rising's many faces, 1919–63 David Brundage
Part III. Literary and Material Cultures: 8. The rising generation and the memory of 1798 Heather L. Roberts
9. Cultural representations of 1916 Nicholas Allen
10. Myth, memory and material culture: remembering 1916 at the Ulster Museum William Blair
Part IV. Troubled Memories: 11. Reframing 1916 after 1969: Irish governments, a national day of reconciliation, and the politics of commemoration in the 1970s Margaret O'Callaghan
12. New roads to the Rising: the Irish politics of commemoration since 1994 Kevin Bean
13. Ghosts of the Somme: the state of Ulster loyalism, memory work and the 'other' 1916 Jonathan Evershed
Index.

Subject Areas: First World War [HBWN], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], British & Irish history [HBJD1]