1. 6HUM1060 Thinking with History
Workshop three: historical sensitivities

2. Sensitivities and ethics
Macmillan’s points in chapter ‘The History Wars’: - any comments?
History is about remembering but also choosing to forget
History as a series of moral tales designed to enhance group solidarity or to explain how national institutions and ideologies developed = to tell a ‘national story’ – e.g. in educational curriculum
Why?
= problem of immigrant populations – questions of integration, multi-culturalism, ‘political correctness’, trying to find reasons for terrorism or unrest (France- Algeria)
= role in reconciliation – (South Africa, Germany) – again, what to choose and what to forget
Discuss further the examples she uses in the chapter

3. Ireland – 1998 bicentenary of 1798
United Irish rebellion of 1798 – the only time Protestants united with Catholics in republican separatism against Britain
Commemorations of 1998 – same year as the Good Friday Agreement –
Kevin Whelan (pro-government historian) vs Tom Dunne (autobiography right)
Martin Mansergh speaking about the commemorations:

4. Ireland: 2016 centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising
1916 Easter Rising – armed uprising by the Irish Republican Brotherhood to end British rule in Ireland – most significant rising since 1798

5. Ireland: 2016 centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising
Watch the video: mention-the-war-1916-video-fails-to-mention-rising
Examine the website critically –
how does it use the history of the Easter rising? What image of Ireland’s past is it trying to portray and why?

6. 1916 and WWI
memorations