ESRC IAA - MENII Memories, MENII Voices - Phase 2

MENII Memories, MENII Voices Phase 2: PEACE (MMMV2)
ESRC IAA Leading Impact project

Emma Reisz and Briony Widdis

'MENII Memories, MENII Voices Phase 2: PEACE' (MMMV2) is a research impact project to engage with communities and the heritage sector in Northern Ireland and Ireland.

MMMV2 will explore how colonial and imperial histories relate to contemporary society in Northern Ireland and in Ireland. The project sets out to promote understanding of intersecting themes of shared futures, diversity, and the decolonisation of heritage, and to foster respect for diverse perspectives. MMMV2 engages with communities to explore these themes through sharing personal stories of objects, creative arts, an exhibition, and best practice conversations with heritage and community partners.

MMMV2 is a partnership between Queen’s University Belfast, ArtsEkta, and the Irish Museums Association. It is funded by an Impact Accelerator Account Leading Impact grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

With ArtsEkta, MMMV2 will develop a programme of community activities to explore the potential of the PEACE approach outside a research setting.

Working with the IMA, MMMV2 will disseminate the PEACE approach and other learning and best practice through a sector activity programme, which will also lay groundwork for further engaged research involving policy makers and sector leaders in the future.


Background:

MMMV2 builds on a previous research project funded by the ESRC: Museums, Empire and Northern Ireland Identity (MENII): https://go.qub.ac.uk/meniiproject . MENII developed techniques for structured participant autoethnography to facilitate reflections on the complex topics of empire, colonialism, and their afterlives in Northern Irish identity. MMMV2 will develop the professional, societal and community impact of the research technique developed during MENII, which we are calling “PEACE” (Participant auto-Ethnography Around Colonialism and Empire).

MMMV2 also builds on an ongoing public engagement project MMMV1, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council: https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/projects/menii-memories-menii-voices . MMMV1 is a collaborative project with ArtsEkta and is creating a community heritage website aimed at general audiences to explore Northern Ireland’s entanglement with global histories of colonialism and imperialism.