Public social histories of colonialism and postcoloniality in Ireland: kinship and equality in the MMMV Project

This paper presents research from Many Memories, Many Voices project (MMMV), an interdisciplinary research and engagement project which combined methods from history and anthropology with a public history / public anthropology approach. Working in close collaboration from the start with communities and practitioners from outside higher education, the project employed oral history, participant autoethnography and museum practice to support contributors of diverse cultural heritages living in Northern Ireland and Ireland to share memories, stories and objects related to colonialism and the British Empire. MMMV was a partnership with the Irish Museums Association and intercultural arts charity ArtsEkta, and it aimed to support UN Sustainable Development Goal 16: promoting just, peaceful, and inclusive societies, by fostering equality, helping to combat racism, and promoting decolonisation.

Through interviews and creative arts, participants curated their memories and shared their reflections on their identities, experiences and the colonial past as they understand it, both in Ireland and globally. Contributors highlighted the complex motivations behind migration to and from Ireland, and they explored how objects are involved in navigating social and geographical displacement. They also discussed how class, gender, and ethnicity have shaped their experiences, shedding light on social disparities as well as privileges. Contributors’ work is included in a website at http://mmmv.org and in an exhibition at Belfast Central Library in the summer of 2024 which is expected to tour in 2025.

This paper sites the project as public social history, supporting contributors to share and interpret their own stories. In this paper we focus particularly on how ideas about equality and kinship were expressed in the interviews, aiming to offer fresh perspectives on how colonialism and postcoloniality in the social history of modern and contemporary Ireland are understood both within communities in Ireland and Northern Ireland arising from more recent as well as historic migrations. Through the integration of social history with anthropology and digital humanities, the MMMV project sought to provide a platform for ongoing conversations examining the histories of migration, identity, and equality – and examining how these shape the present and future – that is rooted in respect, empathy and the sharing of perspectives.