The Politics of Remembrance: Commemorating 1916

Abstract

In remembering critical events, history; memory; and commemoration often cause confusion and dissention. In this decade of centenaries, seminal events in modern Irish history contend for pre-eminence, but 1916 is clearly the most important. Scholars are competing with journalists and politicians for control of the agenda for establishing the meaning and importance of the Rising 100 years later. The continuing problems associated with commemorating 1916 are at least partly caused by the fact that partition has hindered nationalists from achieving their aspirations of a 32 county republic. We contend that it is this failure that accounts for much of the conflict in Ireland over the last century and which is now highlighted by the politics of commemoration of 1916. Despite the inevitable efforts of politicians and parties, the Easter Rising should be understood in the context of larger and broader movements that began decades earlier: the quest for Home Rule and the search for Irish identity.