Professor Brian M. Walker

Professor Emeritus of Irish Studies at Queens University Belfast – Brian M. Walker - opens this year’s summer school with an inaugural address titled: Irish History Matters: Politics, Identities and Commemoration.

He has served as Director of the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen’s, Chairman of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, and President of the Linen Hall Library, Belfast. He has written many books on Irish History including: Dancing to History’s Tune: History, Myth and Politics in Ireland (1996) and A Political History of the Two Irelands: From Partition to Peace (2012). His most recent publication is Irish History Matters: Politics, Identities and Commemoration (2019).

While knowledge of history can explain our contemporary situation, an awareness of the myths and misuses of our history can bring a broader and more conciliatory approach to current political and social challenges. History, or more correctly ‘views of the past’ or ‘historical myths, have shaped politics in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. These views have served in part to cause and sustain the ‘Troubles’. Eventually, many historical perceptions were challenged which helped to promote the peace process. New ideas of revised and shared history are important and are explored here. The public expression of history in Ireland through commemoration of important historical events and persons is investigated and the impact of historical developments on identity is examined not just in Ireland, north and south, but also among the Irish diaspora, especially in America. In Irish History Matters, Brian M. Walker utilises three decades of research to explore the effects historical events have had on Irish politics and society - and why they still have an important influence today.

Assistance from the Somme Museum and the History Press is greatly appreciated in the context of this recording.

For more on Irish History Matters please click here