Violence, Space and the Archives Conference

The Conflict, Humanitarianism and Security Research Cluster co-organised a conference on Violence, Space and the Archives in NUI Galway on 23-24 May 2019 with almost thirty speakers from across Europe and North America. The event brought together archivists, political scientists, sociologists, historians, geographers, human rights scholars and others to explore key themes at the intersection between violence, space and the archive including: archiving in times of conflict; conflict and digital archives; the silence of the archive; collective memory and resistance.

Among the highlights were keynotes by Patricia Sleeman (UNHCR digital archivist) on Archives in a time of chaos and by Prof Patrick Joyce (author of The State of Freedom) on The Politics of Forgetting. The conference included a symposium with Prof Brendan O’Leary- joining by video-link from Philadelphia- Margaret O’Callaghan (QUB) Mary Harris (NUIG) and Niall Ó Dochartaigh on O’Leary’s new 3 volume ‘A Treatise on Northern Ireland’ published by OUP in April 2019. Other speakers included Breandán MacSuibhne (author of ’End of Outrage’) and Deborah Kaple (author of ‘Gulag Boss: A Soviet Memoir).

The programme, abstracts, and speaker bios are available online at: https://ghussey3.wixsite.com/violencespacearchive

The event was co-organised by the Whitaker Institute’s Conflict, Humanitarianism and Security Research Cluster in association with the PSAI Peace and Conflict Specialist Group, the School of Political Science and Sociology, and the Moore Institute at NUI Galway. Organisers were Gary Hussey and Niall Ó Dochartaigh of the School of Political Science and Sociology at NUI Galway.

Co-organiser Gary Hussey presents his paper in a panel chaired by Prof Miguel Centeno at the Violence Space and the Archives Conference, NUI Galway, May 2019