CSE Hosts Talk on Northern Ireland’s Public History
The Center for the Study of Europe (CSE), an affiliated regional center at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, hosted a March 21, 2019 talk with Olwen Purdue, Director of the Centre for Public History at Queen’s University Belfast, on “The Uses of the Past in Divided Societies: Northern Ireland and the US.”
In her lecture, Purdue discussed how public history has been used in the United States, citing the controversy surrounding the placement and removal of Confederate monuments in various locations and how public history has been used by different Northern Irish groups. Purdue also discussed her observations on the role of cultural institutions in dealing with conflict, and on the relationship between history, identity and community.
Purdue is Director of the Centre for Public History at Queen’s University Belfast. Her work focuses on Public History in divided societies, looking in particular at Northern Ireland where she works on the role of cultural institutions in dealing with conflict, and on the relationship between history, identity and community. She has just completed a Wellcome Trust-funded project on heritage and wellbeing among inner-city communities in Belfast and is also Principal Investigator on a public history project among communities in Dhiban, Jordan.
She works closely with a range of cultural institutions. She is historic advisor for the Ulster Museum’s ‘The Troubles and Beyond’ gallery and was the historical consultant for Titanic Belfast, recently voted the world’s best tourist attraction. She is International Editor of the Public Historian, a juror for the Royal Historical Society’s Public History Prize, and a Director of the Irish Museums Association.
Purdue’s lecture was co-sponsored by Boston University’s Center for the Study of Europe and the Institute for the Study of Irish Culture at Boston University. John D. Woodward, Jr., Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Pardee School, introduced Purdue and served as moderator for the discussion.
The mission of the Center for the Study of Europe is to promote understanding of Europe through its cultural heritage; its political, economic, and religious histories; its art, literature, music, and philosophy; as well as through its recent emergence as a new kind of international form through the European Union (EU). Operationally, the center provides a focal point and institutional support for the study of Europe across Boston University through coordination of teaching missions, support of research, community-building among faculty and students, and outreach beyond the University.