Violence, Trauma and Memory in Ireland: The Psychological Impact of War and Revolution on a Liminal Society, 1916–1923

Abstract

Memories of trauma were also subjective, distorted and re-defined by increasingly fragmented cultural and political agendas. The breakdown of hegemonic trauma narratives can be seen in Justin Stover’s analysis in this chapter of overlapping, contested forms of trauma that overshadowed the Irish revolution. Demobilized Irish veterans, civilians, and political activists in Ireland’s independence struggle all used the traumatic impacts of war and revolution to define the nation and perceptions of persecution. ‘Traumatic injury’ was defined not only in the context of war-time violence, but also in the context of street fighting, hunger strikes, sexual violence and poverty. Thus, while traumatic experiences were layered and diverse, they also became part of a collective memory, albeit fragmented, constructed by soldiers and civilians, combatants and revolutionaries, under the rubric of loyalty to Irish independence.