The Featured Researcher for December 2024 was Tom Hanson, with a project titled, ‘Conflicted Memory: the Challenge of Representing the Troubles’
HEIs: University of Glasgow, School of Humanities; University of Strathclyde
Supervisors: Professor Maria Economou, Dr Mirna Solic, Dr Niall Whelehan
I am a third-year doctoral researcher based between the University of Glasgow and University of Strathclyde. My research is focused on issues surrounding representations of the Troubles and, more broadly, of the challenges surrounding contested heritages. The research has evolved and expanded from its original beginnings as a simple image analysis of photographs in archival and museum collections. It now seeks to look broadly at institutions, examining the curated spaces but also seeking to understand how these institutions see themselves. Such as in how they understand their role and impact on contested heritage and how that manifests itself into their representations of the Troubles.
My research is derived from my dual background in International Relations and Museum Studies, having focused on conflict in the former and photography in the latter. A constant throughout my education and career is a keen interest in the role of the culture sector in conflicts, particularly in post-conflict settings.
I am currently focused on the process of transcribing and analysing interviews I conducted with culture sector practitioners. However, the broader work I am conducting is to thematically analyse online outputs and exhibitions at the Imperial War Museum and National Museums NI. I recently had the pleasure to present a paper on this topic at the Why Remember? conference in Sarajevo, the below images are taken from this paper and are all from the Imperial War Museum’s online archive.
The process involves colour coding documents along a set of four themes: depiction of civilians; use of biased language; omission of context and militarisation. The overall purpose of this approach is to make it easier for myself to analyse and process the large amount of material I am working through. However, it is also a useful visual aid to understanding the challenges of representation and the areas in which potential biases or omissions might be occurring. These might manifest in more obvious ways, such as the labelling of certain civilians as terrorists and others not. Or more innocuous ways, such as the less favourable descriptions that might prejudice an audience against an individual.
This approach also extends to looking at how objects, in this case photographic, are catalogued. A particularly important feature of this analysis is identifying and understanding how certain biases, in language or context, are adopted from catalogued information to curated spaces, such as in captions.
These potential biases in cataloguing are most apparent when contrasting two entries, with the above example highlighting the omission of context in a representation of Bloody Sunday and the association of ‘terrorism’ with an image of civilian protest.
I am keen to note that this research is not on a quest for the perfect representation of a contested heritage. Rather, it is focused on dissecting the different approaches taken to representation, their strengths and their weaknesses.
Looking towards my last full academic year, I will be finishing my data collection and beginning the process of writing up. Beyond academia, I will be going to New Zealand to work at Te Papa as part of SGSAH’s student-led internship scheme and hopefully carving out time for a much-needed holiday in the sun.
