Material and Intangible Interventions as Future

Making Heritage at Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin

Authors

  • Laura McAtackney Aarhus University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.34566

Keywords:

heritage, graffiti, Ireland, prison, restoration

Abstract

This paper uses archaeological studies of political imprisonment in Ireland to show how (im)material interventions at Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin are central to understanding evolving identity and memory in post-partition Ireland. This heritage prison is not only an “icon” of historical struggle, it is a material entity where archaeological methodologies can help to uncover the past realities of imprisonment. Furthermore, it is a highly political place in the present where conflict continues regarding who “wins” the peace in the realm of public memory. This paper argues that archaeological approaches to a transitional heritage site are ideally placed to illuminate not only experiences of its functional past but also its evolving relationship with contemporary society as a form of future-making.

Author Biography

  • Laura McAtackney, Aarhus University

    Laura McAtackney is an Associate Professor in Archaeology and Heritage Studies at Aarhus University, Denmark. She is the author of An Archaeology of the Troubles: The Dark Heritage of Long Kesh / Maze (2014).

References

Agnew, N. and J. Bridgland, eds. 2006. Of the Past, for the Future: Integrating Archaeology and Conservation: Proceedings of the Conservation Theme of the 5th World Archaeology Congress, Washington DC 2003. Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute.

Beiner, G. 2005. “Commemorative Heritage and the Dialectics of Memory.” In Ireland’s Heritages: Critical Perspectives on Memory and Identity, edited by M. McCarthy, 55–71. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.

Bennett, T. and P. Joyce, eds. 2010. Material Power: Cultural Studies, History and the Material Turn. London: Routledge.

Bryan, D. and N. Jarman. 1997. “Parading Tradition, Protesting Triumphalism: Utilising Anthropology in Public Policy.” In Culture and Policy in Northern Ireland: Anthropology in the Public Arena, edited by D. Hastings and G. McFarlane, 211–231. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies.

Buchli, V. and G. Lucas. Archaeologies of the Contemporary Past. London: Routledge.

Cameron, C. 2010. “The Unnatural History of Heritage: What’s the Future for the Past?” Journal of Heritage Tourism 5 (3): 203–218. https://doi.org/10.1080/1743873X.2010.505289

Carman, J., G. D. Carnegie and P. W. Wolnizer. 1999. “Is Archaeological Valuation an Accounting Matter?” Antiquity 73 (279): 143–148. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00087937

Carver, M. 1996. “On Archaeological Value.” Antiquity 70 (267): 45–56.

Casella, E. C. and C. Fredericksen. 2004. “Legacy of the ‘Fatal Shore’: The Heritage and Archaeology of Confinement in Postcolonial Australia.” Journal of Social Archaeology 4 (1): 100–125. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469605304039852

Cooke, P. 1995. A History of Kilmainham Gaol. Dublin: OPW.

____. 2000. “Kilmainham Gaol: Interpreting Irish Nationalism and Republicanism.” Open Museum Journal 2: 1–11.

Daly, M. and M. O’Callaghan. 2007. 1916 in 1966: Commemorating the Easter Rising. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy

Department of Foreign Affairs. 2015. “Launch of the Ireland 2016 Global and Diaspora Programme.” Online: https://www.dfa.ie/news-and-media/press-releases/press-release-archive/2015/june/launch-of-the-2016-global-and-diaspora-programme/

Deacon, H. 1996. The Island a History of Robben Island, 1488-1990. Cape Town: David Philip.

Dolan, A. 2003. Commemorating the Irish Civil War: History and Memory 1923-2000. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Fáilte Ireland. 2016. “Top Visitor Attractions in 2015 Revealed.” Online: http://www.failteireland.ie/Footer/Media-Centre/Top-Visitor-Attractions-in-2015-Revealed.aspx

Frederick, U. K. and A. Clarke. 2014. “Signs of the Times: Archaeological Approaches to Historical and Contemporary Graffiti.” Australian Archaeology 78 (1): 93–99. https://doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2014.11682004

Gosden, C. and Y. Marshall. 1999. “The Cultural Biography of Objects.” World Archaeology 31 (2): 169–178. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.1999.9980439

Graham, B. and S. McDowell. 2007. “Meaning in the Maze: the Heritage of Long Kesh.” Cultural Geographies 14 (3): 343–368. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474474007078204

Hain, P. 2017. “Paralysis has Gripped Northern
Ireland but Politicians Just Look Blithely On.”
The Guardian, 14 November. Online: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/14/northern-ireland-politicians-sinnfein-dup-
stormont-theresa-may)

Harrison, R. 2011. “Surface Assemblages: Towards an Archaeology of and in the Present.” Archaeological Dialogues 18 (2): 141–161. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1380203811000195

____. 2013. Heritage: Critical Approaches. London: Routledge.

____. 2016. “Archaeologies of Emergent Presents and Futures.” Historical Archaeology 50 (3): 165–180. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03377340

____., N. Bartolini, C. DeSilvey, C. Holtorf, A. Lyons, S. Macdonald, S. May, J. Morgan and S. Penrose. 2016. “Heritage Futures.” Archaeology International 19: 68–72. https://doi.org/10.5334/ai.1912

Hicks, D. 2016. “The Temporality of Landscape Revisited.” Norwegian Archaeological Review 49 (1): 5–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/00293652.2016.1151458

Holtorf, C. and A. Høgberg. 2015. “Contemporary Heritage and the Future.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Heritage Research, edited by E. Waterton and S. Watson, 509–523. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137293565_32

Ingold, T. 1993. “The Temporality of Landscape.” World Archaeology 25 (2): 152–174. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.1993.9980235

Jackman, G. 2009. “From Stain to Saint: Ancestry, Archaeology and Agendas in Tasmania’s Conflict Heritage. A view from Port Arthur.” Historical Archaeology. 43 (3): 101–112. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03376764

Jarman, N. 1997. Material Conflicts: Parades and Visual Displays in Northern Ireland. Oxford: Berg.

____. 2001. “Troubling Remnants: Dealing with the Remains of Conflict in Northern Ireland.” In Matériel Culture: The Archaeology of Twentieth Century Conflict, edited by J. Schofield, W. G. Johnson and C. M. Beck, 281–295. London: Routledge.

____. and D. Bryan. 1996. Parade and Protest: A Discussion of Parading Displays in Northern Ireland: Coleraine, Northern Ireland: Centre for Study of Conflict, University of Ulster.

Jones, S. 2007. “Experiencing Authenticity at Heritage Sites: Some Implications for Heritage Management & Conservation.” Conservation & Management of Archaeological Sites 11 (2): 133–147. https://doi.org/10.1179/175355210X12670102063661

Lagerqvist, M. 2016. “Reverberations of a Crisis: The Practical and Ideological Reworkings of Irish State Heritage in Economic Crisis and Austerity.” Heritage & Society 9 (1): 57–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159032X.2016.1246155

Lowenthal, D. 1985. The Past is a Foreign Country. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lucas, G. 2005. The Archaeology of Time. London: Routledge

Matthews. A. 2012. Dissidents: Irish Republican Women, 1923-1941. Dublin: Mercier Press.

McAtackney, L. 2014. An Archaeology of the Troubles: The Dark Heritage of Long Kesh / Maze. Oxford University Press: Oxford. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199673919.001.0001

____. 2015a. “Memorials and Marching: Archaeological Insights into Segregated Tradition in Northern Ireland.” Historical Archaeology 49 (3): 110–125. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03376975

____. 2015b. “Materialising Power Struggles of Political Imprisonment at Long Kesh/Maze Prison, Northern Ireland.” In Historical Archaeologies of Capitalism (second edition), edited by M. Leone and J. Knauf, 273–291. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12760-6_12

____. 2016. “Graffiti Revelations and the Changing Meanings of Kilmainham Gaol in (Post)Colonial Ireland.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 20 (3): 492–505. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-016-0355-4

MacDonald, D. 2010. Blood and Thunder: Inside an Ulster Protestant Band. Dublin: Mercier Press.

Mullally, U. 2016. “Why Women Have Risen to the Top in 1916 Lore.” Irish Times, 28 March. Online: https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/una-mullally-why-women-have-risen-to-the-top-in-1916-lore-1.2588986

Murphy, W. 2014. Political Imprisonment and the Irish, 1912-1921. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199569076.001.0001

Ó Gráda, C. 2001. “Famine, Trauma and Memory.” Béaloideas 69: 121–143. https://doi.org/10.2307/20520760

O’Dwyer, R. 2010. The Bastille of Ireland: Kilmainham Gaol: From Ruin to Restoration. Dublin: The History Press.

O’Halloran, C. and N. Jarman. 2001. “Recreational Rioting: Young People, Interface Areas and Violence.” Childcare in Practice 7 (1): 2–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/13575270108413230

Olivier, L. 2011. The Dark Abyss of Time: Archaeology and Memory. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.

Olsen, B. and T. Petursdottir. 2014. Ruin Memories: Materialities, Aesthetics and the Archaeology of the Recent Past. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315778211

O’Sullivan, N. 2016. Written in Stone: The Graffiti of Kilmainham Gaol. Dublin: Liberties Press.

Philips, A. 2016. “Performance Art in Ireland Complicates and Plays with History.” Online: http://www.artscouncil.ie/Art-2016/Future-Histories/

Rhodes, L. 2001. “Towards an Anthropology of Prisons.” Annual Review of Anthropology. 30: 65–83. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.30.1.65

RTE. 2015. “Kilmainham Gaol and Courthouse 2016 Refurbishment Project”, 17 February. Online: https://www.rte.ie/news/special-reports/2015/0217/680901-kilmainham-gaol-courthouse-2016-refurbishment-project/

Strange, C. and M. Kempa. 2003. “Shades of Dark Tourism: Alcatraz and Robben Island.” Annals of Tourism Research 30 (2): 386–405. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-7383(02)00102-0

UNESCO. No date. “World Heritage.” Online: http://whc.unesco.org/en/about/

Ward, M. 1995. Unmanageable Revolutionaries: Women and Irish Nationalism. Dublin: Pluto Press.

Published

2019-06-26

How to Cite

McAtackney, L. (2019). Material and Intangible Interventions as Future: Making Heritage at Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin. Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, 6(1), 120-135. https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.34566