Conference podcast available. See details below.
The Community Relations Council, Heritage Fund and Decade of Commemorations Roundtable organised a special conference entitled:
Partition: A Dividing Ireland in a Dividing Europe.
The exciting and innovative regional one-day event engaged community-based participants in a day of learning to illuminate the period 1920-22.
The conference focused on events during a momentous and turbulent period of change, set within a global context, and illuminate three key themes:
- Partition and Borders
- Migration, Minorities and Dislocation
- Violent Conflict and Polarisation
The conference took place on Thursday 21 November 2019 at The Glenavon Hotel Cookstown.
Keynote speakers included:
- Professor Alan Sharp
- Dr Éamon Phoenix
- Liz Gillis.
NI Screen created a show reel of original 1920s footage which played throughout the event, and the Nerve Centre unveiled a new animation based on the story of Partition.
Martin McDonald, Chair of The Community Relations Council said:
Throughout this Decade of Centenaries, the Community Relations Council has been working in a strategic partnership with The Heritage Fund to explore and develop ways of engaging with our divided history. The experience of the Decade of Centenaries has shown that events, perhaps considered contentious, can be successfully engaged with and positively explored.
Rather than ignore the past we can learn much from it.”
Paul Mullan, Director of The National Lottery Heritage Fund in Northern Ireland said:
Partition in 1921 was not an isolated event, it happened in the context of a changing Europe where national self-determination and the reshaping of national boundaries drove massive changes throughout the continent. Today, 100 years on, we are seeing similar changes brought about by Brexit. How we react and deal with those issues will shape our next 100 years.”
Podcast
An audio recording of the conference includes the keynote speakers and a panel discussion centred on how Partition is of particular interest to contemporary society.
Listen to the podcast on iTunes
The conference is available to listen in full for free on Soundcloud