PRESIDENT OF IRELAND CENTENARY REFLECTIONS
“VERSIONS OF THE ‘OTHER’ AS TOOL IN THE CULTURE OF IMPERIALISM AND RATIONALISATION FOR SOURCES OF VIOLENCE” “In commemorating the Irish Centenary, we are now obliged to confront, acknowledge, and come to a deep understanding with some of the most contested aspects of the independence struggle, including the sources of violence – be they land-based, class-based, genderbased, of a local nature, or relating to the treatment of prisoners. This necessitates a solemn reflection to derive an understanding of how and why violence was employed during the War of Independence, who it affected, and what were the consequences of the use of such violence. Understanding the relationship between empire and violence is essential if we wish to gain a deeper insight of the response of empire to uprising. A key element of British imperial strategy at the time was the use of the concept known as ‘Othering’ – of people, of particular cultures, attributes and ideologies. This was part of a wider process of cultural imperialism in which Britain’s position at the time as a cultural hegemon attempted to shape and influence general cultural values in Ireland and in other colonised lands. We now have an opportunity to transact that which establishes the distance between us in terms of different narratives of violences recalled, the absolutisms that drove those impulses to violence, the careless and dangerous assumptions of ‘the Other’ which may have driven such violence. It is hoped that by dwelling on some of the less-examined aspects, the sources of violence and their repercussions, the context of the conquering empire in decline, and the loss of what was a proximate part, we can arrive at a more comprehensive, accurate and open narrative of the times, a deeper collective understanding, an ethics of memory and remembrance that may aid a process of healing for us all as we reflect on these events which have marked us profoundly as a society. In doing so, the prize of an inclusive commemoration becomes possible, one that allows for uncomfortable truths to be acknowledged, and which lets us envisage lives lived together free from the snares of remembered violences.” President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins
The term Machnamh is an ancient Irish concept encompassing reflection, contemplation, meditation and thought. Over the coming year, President Michael D. Higgins will host a series of seminars inviting reflections on the War of Independence, the Treaty Negotiations, the Civil War and Partition. Leading scholars, with different perspectives, will share their insights and thoughts on the context and events of that formative period of a century ago and on the nature of commemoration itself. Through ‘Machnamh 100’, President Higgins is facilitating presentations and discussions on specific themes, to explore more fully the various aspects of that period in Ireland’s journey, and its legacy for the societies and jurisdictions that were to emerge subsequently. At the invitation of President Higgins, Dr. John Bowman, Historian and Broadcaster, will chair the seminar series, which began in December 2020, with further events through 2021. The first seminar, titled Challenges of Public Commemoration, contemplated commemoration itself and the contexts of the national and global events of a
century ago. The following speakers shared their perspectives: President Michael D. Higgins, Professor Ciarán Benson, Professor Anne Dolan, Professor Michael Laffan and Professor Joep Leerssen. In the 25 February seminar, examining the motivations and practices of the British Empire in Ireland and of resistance to it, the panellists will discuss how both those who defended and those who opposed imperialism reacted to changing local and global circumstances. The lead reflection will be given by Professor John Horne, and the respondents will include Dr Marie Coleman, Dr Niamh Gallagher, Professor Eunan O’Halpin, Professor Alvin Jackson and President Higgins. Machnamh 100 is an initiative of President Higgins that builds on his extensive work to date during Ireland’s Decade of Commemorations that has examined and explored seminal events such as the Lockout of 1913, the First World War, The Easter Rising, the Flu Pandemic, the election of 1918 and the first Dáil. Machnamh 100 is being supported by the Government and by RTÉ.
“VERSIONS OF THE ‘OTHER’ AS TOOL IN THE CULTURE OF IMPERIALISM AND RATIONALISATION FOR SOURCES OF VIOLENCE”
THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, CIVIL WAR AND PARTITION 1920-1923
4 December 2020
CHALLENGES OF PUBLIC COMMEMORATIONS Master of Ceremonies: Dr. John Bowman Speakers: President Michael D. Higgins Professor Ciarán Benson Professor Anne Dolan Professor Michael Laffan Professor Joep Leerssen This opening session examined commemoration itself in the contexts of today and of the national and global events of a century ago. The historical spine in this session will be the manner and context in which the constitutional and political ‘terms of settlement’ emerged in Ireland and how nationalists and unionists responded - at the time and since - to the new structures. The implications of these responses for what ‘commemoration’ might mean today will be included in these reflections. 25 February 2021
EMPIRE: INSTINCTS, INTERESTS, POWER AND RESISTANCE The second seminar includes consideration of European Empires following the First World War, the British Empire in particular and imperial attitudes and responses to occurrences in Ireland. It will also include reflections on examples of resistance to Empire in Ireland and resistance to nationalism. In the seminar, President Higgins will focus on the relationship between culture and empire, and how British cultural hegemony at the time attempted to shape and influence general cultural values in Ireland. Speakers: President Michael D. Higgins Professor John Horne Dr Marie Coleman Dr Niamh Gallagher Professor Eunan O’Halpin Professor Alvin Jackson
May 2021
RECOVERING IMAGINED FUTURES Hope, class and gender in the Irish independence struggle and its historiography. a)
Labour, land and longing
b)
Freedom is personal - women, participation and purpose.
c)
Concluding reflections: as the parliament of Northern Ireland meets (June 1921) and the military Truce (July 1921) opens the way for settlement talks between Britain and Dáil representatives, what possible futures beckon?
The principal address at this seminar will be given by Dr Margaret O’Callaghan (Queens University Belfast), and respondents will be Dr Caitríona Clear (NUI Galway), Professor Linda Connolly (NUI Maynooth), Ms. Catríona Crowe, Archivist, and Dr. John Cunningham (NUI Galway).
SPEAKERS’ BIOS Michael D. Higgins, Uachtarán na hÉireann, President of Ireland, is currently serving his second term, having been first elected in 2011 and re-elected in 2018. President Higgins has forged a career as an academic and political representative at many levels, campaigning extensively for human rights, peace and sustainability. He was a member of Dáil Éireann for 25 years, and member of Seanad Éireann for nine years, and Ireland’s first Minister for the Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht. President Michael D. Higgins led the commemorations of the “Decade of Centenaries”, marking the centenary anniversaries of some of the seminal events in Ireland’s history. The President attended and spoke at a large number of State and other ceremonial events helping to shape national efforts at exploring and examining the background, impact and contemporary significance of the events being recalled. Since taking office, the President has published two collections of speeches setting out his approach: ‘When Ideas Matter: Speeches for an Ethical Republic’ and ‘1916 Centenary Commemorations and Celebrations’.
Dr. John Bowman is a broadcaster and historian. He has presented current affairs and historical programmes on RTE radio and television since the 1960s. He is author of Window and Mirror: RTE Television, 1961-2011, the first comprehensive history of Irish television. His PhD, De Valera and the Ulster Question: 1917–1973, won the Ewart-Biggs Prize for its contribution to North-South understanding. His latest book, Ireland: the Autobiography, is published by Penguin. He was elected an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College Dublin in 2009 and awarded an Honorary Doctorate by UCD in 2010.
Dr Marie Coleman is a Reader in Modern Irish History at Queen’s University Belfast. She has written widely on the revolutionary period including a study of County Longford and the Irish revolution, 1910-1923. She is particularly interested in the role of women and gender relations during the period, the experience of the southern Protestant minority during the revolutionary decade, and the lives of revolutionary veterans after the conflict, including the award of pensions and medals. She is an advisor to the Department of Defence (Military Archives) Military Service Pensions Collection and to the Northern Ireland Office’s centenary historical panel, and a member of the Church of Ireland’s working group on historical centenaries. Dr Niamh Gallagher from Co. Armagh is Lecturer in Modern British and Irish History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of St Catharine’s College. Her first book, Ireland and the Great War: A Social and Political History is a revisionist history of the Irish in the First World War and the first work of Irish history to win the Royal Historical Society’s 2020 Whitfield Prize. She is part of the Independent Historical Advisory Panel appointed by the British government to consider how to mark the centenary of Northern Ireland and recently joined a panel of esteemed historians at the Irish Embassy in London to speak about the legislation behind partition. She also leads the Mether Initiative at St Catharine’s College alongside former Labour Party minister and peer, Des Browne, where future leaders, academics and policymakers can connect and learn from the history of Britain and Ireland in all its variety.
www.president.ie #Machnamh100
Professor Eunan O’Halpin MRIA studied at UCD and Cambridge. He was a civil servant before embarking on an academic career. From 1982 to 2000 he taught in Dublin City University, and from 2000 to 2020 was Bank of Ireland Professor of Contemporary Irish History at Trinity College Dublin. Amongst his works are Head of the Civil Service: A Study of Sir Warren Fisher, Defending Ireland: the Irish State and its Enemies since 1922, Kevin Barry: an Irish Rebel in Life and Death and (with Daithí Ó Corráin), The Dead of the Irish Revolution. Professor John Horne has been a member of the Department of History in Trinity College Dublin since 1977, and was appointed to a personal chair in Modern European History in 2003. Initially a labour and social historian, he has engaged with cultural history for the last fifteen years, especially relating to the study of the Great War. In addition to being an executive member of the Research Centre of the Historial de la Grande Guerre, Péronne (France), he is on the Management Committee of EURHISTXX, a European contemporary history network made up of twelve research institutes and history departments across Europe. In 2008 he was appointed the first director of the new Centre for War Studies in TCD. Professor Alvin Jackson is the Richard Lodge Professor of History at the University of Edinburgh. He was educated at Corpus Christi College and Nuffield College Oxford and has taught at University College Dublin, Boston College and Queen’s University Belfast. He is the author of seven books, including Ireland 17981998: War, Peace & Beyond (second edition: 2010) and Judging Redmond and Carson (2018), and is the editor of the Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish History (2014). He is an honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy.