Transcript SPIRAL Storytelling Monaghan Sept 2012

Storytelling to Promote Intergenerational Reconciliation
And Learning:
lessons from Ireland
Carragher, L., Glendinning, W. and McKeown, L.
Consortium Workshop on Sectarianism
September 18th September
Monaghan
dc
Diversity Challenges
Overview of presentation……
•
The background
– the conflict
– geographical context and legacy
•
The Spiral Project
•
Case studies
•
Youth programme
•
Findings
•
Further work
Background and context …
Northern Ireland conflict 1969-1998
Political and religious roots that are centuries old:
– Protestant Unionist community: NI should remain part of the UK
– Catholic Nationalist community: NI should leave UK and become part of the
Republic of Ireland
Good Friday Agreement, 10 April 1998
− After 30 years of violence, 3,500 deaths, over 35,000 injuries, 34,000 shootings
and 14,000 bombings, few families left untouched (Muldoon et al., 2005).
Geographical context and legacy…
Northern Ireland
County Louth
Estimated that 22,000 people were displaced from
Northern Ireland to the Republic (Ratheen, 2005)
Over 3,000 deaths
Climate of fear and suspicion
People became reluctant to mix socially
Reluctance to express cultural identify
Implications for communities
Societal well-being is tied in significant ways to
individuals’ sense of belonging
Key part of identity based belonging to family,
community, nation, ethnic group etc.
The conflict created hurts which increased divisions
(sectarian / national).
Aims and Methodology…
Storytelling to Promote Intergenerational Reconciliation and Learning (SPIRAL):
Aim
- explore the use of intergenerational reflection as a means of facilitating community healing and
fostering sustainable peace in the Irish border region
Method
The study was carried out in three phases:
Phase one: identification and selection of mid-life and older adults (n=20) willing to share their story.
identification and selection of young people to participate is workshops
Phase two: data collection - 20 in-depth qualitative interviews and 9 video memoirs
from mid-life and older adults
Survey data from 36 young people
Phase three: interactive working sessions with different groups of young people drawn for local schools
and community groups (n=36) aged 16- 25 years socio-economically disadvantaged areas
Phase four:
discussion groups with young people and older people
collection end point survey data
getting the message of peace and reconciliation across to young people
Why intergenerational storytelling?
Stories are powerful tools to bring past experiences to life
- to highlight reality of community conflict
- human repercussions of conflict
- guidance for vulnerable young people
Storytelling promotes listening, the use of imagination and critical thinking
skills – endorsed by Consultative Group on the Past / Victims’
Commissioner
It can also be a process which
- builds resentment
- reinforces wrongs
- maintains conflict
Case study 1…
The biggest tragedy in my life –
Bride, aged 90 years. A Loyalist
no-warning car bomb in Dundalk at 6.22 pm
on Friday, 19 December 1975….that was the
Friday before Christmas he died and he was
buried on Christmas Eve.
It took a terrible lot out of the
whole of us. My mother kept asking where
was Jack she couldn’t get over that he hadn’t
gone to see her for Christmas. She just went
senile. It was such a terrible shock on the
family, the whole lot of us.
We were never really told much
about it.. The Guards never came to me and
Maura was saying that nobody went to her
either…. The government said they would pay
for funeral expenses and anything that was
incurred but they didn’t pay for anything. Like
nobody even came near us, even nuns or
priests.
the past impacts on the present
•
Trauma
Ripples extending far and wide (Bloomfield,
1998)
•
Psychological and emotional impact
•
Culture of silence / forgetfulness
–prevailing denial culture does not
encourage victims to access services
–family encouraged to move on cnd let the
events be wiped from the community’s
collective memory (Harvey, 2005)
Case study 2…
it’s actually harder on the family–
Marion, aged 50, wife of ex-prisoner. Karen grew up,
she was eight and a half months old when he went in
and she was eleven when he came out.
I think it’s actually harder on the family…they have their
three meals a day, their heating and lighting and all
provided, for us we don’t, we have to find the money to
feed and cloth the family. This myth that when they
went into jail you were looked after was wrong.
You were alienated…I remember people that I would
actually know crossing the street so they wouldn’t have
to speak to me or be seen to speak to me,
I think you never get away from the fact that I am the
wife of an ex-prisoner...and they [the community] do not
welcome you in. They tolerate me now…because of
the work I do and I am a member of the District Policing
Partnership,
.
the past impacts on the present
•
The family
–The primary group affected are the partners and
children. Evidence of psychological and emotional
consequences on the children of prisoners (Farset,
2000).
•
Material hardship
•
Stigmatization
- Wives and children were often stigmatized for the
husband’s or father’s politics (Harvey, 2005)
Youth programme...
Sessions:
10 working sessions with between 5 - 14 young people in each session
Listening and communication skills
Stories- Videos?
Response to the videos
- If she were my granny, I would like to ask her?
Communications skills
Who would I like to listen to in my family?
What would I want to find out?
What’s my experience? My story
The present- mapping out your average day
Listening and sharing.
Noticing the past in the present
The everyday effects of the past in the present
Identifying a core effect/event
identifying a range of voices that have something to say.
Identifying 3 voices I will listen to
Findings
•The past impacts on the present – recognition of this is the first step as William Faulkner said,
the past is never dead, it’s not even past
•Young participants were concerned about speaking out / potential implications for their family
•As they were supported to develop communication and interpersonal skills:
-Positive impact on relationships with peers across community barriers
-Crucially, it led to new conversations with older members of the family
“it was great getting to learn about other cultures and storytelling was an effective way of doing it. I
learnt that it is so important to listen to everyone because it is interesting and great to learn”
Challenges
sharing | learning | communicating
•
Generating and maintaining the enthusiasm and commitment of young
people to be involved is challenging
•
The temporary nature of young people’s priorities and circumstances
made it difficult to find young people with the time and commitment to be
actively involved
•
Encouraging conversations between the generations
•
Can we encourage the positive elements of group identity and avoid the
negative?
Further Work
AFTERMATH
• Victims of the conflict and their families
• People displaced by conflict
• Supported by Co Louth Peace & Reconciliation Partnership
PEACE III.
• Partners
– Diversity Challenges
– Integration Centre
– County Museum Dundalk
– Rural Community Network
Acknowledgments:
Special Support Programme for Peace and Reconciliation
For further information, contact:
[email protected]
[email protected]