Redress, memorials and activism: can heritage be activism?

The focus of this article is Ireland. Activism has been crucial in exposing historical institutional abuse in different institutions, organisations and contexts. Inquiries set up to investigate abuse have recommended memorials as an element of redress. This article explores what types of memorialisation survivors regard as appropriate, and why. Two responses are considered: (1) state and (2) ‘bottom-up’ unofficial. The article highlights that survivors are rarely active participants in co-creating and implementing state responses. Smith’s (2006) concept of ‘authorised heritage discourse’ (AHD) is used to shed light on whose knowledge is prioritised, who are deemed the experts and who decides what heritage is. The article contributes to this theorisation by proposing a new concept ‘activist heritage’ and examines its potential to create spaces and unlock transformative dynamics that empower survivors. Then, using Justice for Magdalene Research’s (JFMR) virtual memorial museum as a case study of ‘activist heritage’, the article shows that in the absence of state or national forms of recognition, JFMR provides a corrective to AHD. It acts as a counter-narrative in the struggle over memory to state and church ‘forgetting’, ignoring and minimising institutional abuse. The role, benefits and outcomes for survivors of such ‘bottom-up’ memorialisation is assessed.<br/

Pathways to justice: historical institutional child abuse and the role of activist research

This article contributes to the theorisation of responses to historical institutional child abuse by critically analysing the role of activist research. Drawing upon empirical research with survivors who participated in the Northern Ireland Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIAI or Hart Inquiry), including 43 in-depth interviews, five workshops and a survey, it shows that the Inquiry disempowered survivors, delimited voice, and fell short in meeting survivors’ justice needs. It further explores how activist research was used as a tool to empower survivors and achieve justice. The article begins with a detailed analysis of activist research principles, methodology and debates. It then uses a case study of the survivor-driven Panel of Experts on Redress to explore how, and to what effect, activist research was used to formulate pathways to justice. The article concludes that activist research was transformative. It gave voice to those historically marginalised and silenced, challenged powerful institutions, and brought about change to redress legislation. The amended legislation passed through Westminster in November 2019, significantly improving the Inquiry’s compensation package, thereby benefiting thousands of survivors in Northern Ireland and beyond. <br/