Where are all the women? public memory, gender and memorialisation in contemporary Belfast

Abstract

This chapter focuses on public memory-making practices that have emerged during the post-conflict context from both bottom-up and top-down initiatives, and some of their consequences in terms of gender. It presents S. McDowell in dissecting the role of murals, memorials and active commemorations in Northern Ireland, and how they link to silencing women's experiences and narratives of the conflict in favour of implicitly androcentric perspectives. The chapter focuses on two case studies – from loyalist East and South Belfast – in order to examine the role and place of the memory of women in the post-Agreement context. It also focuses on the role of gender in exploring official and unofficial attempts at place-making in loyalist areas of Belfast. A close examination of community memorialisation practices in contemporary Belfast reveals complex and entangled narratives of place, identity and conflict continue to exist twenty years post-Agreement.