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Accepted Paper:
The lived experience as catalyst to understand complicated heritage
Kelly Fitzgerald
(University College Dublin)
Ireland has been confronted with the most horrendous historical institutions and legacies of those organisations, including the Magdalene Laundries & the Mother and Baby Homes. This paper will give some thoughts on how such sites become represented as 'Irish Heritage'.
Paper long abstract:
A converted site in Ireland that recognized the need to engage with the lived experience was the Tenement Museum Dublin. In September 2015 Dublin City Council, working with the National Folklore Foundation, began the Urban Memories and Tenement Experiences oral history project. Memories of people who lived in tenements on Henrietta Street and across Dublin were recorded. The interviews gathered guided the design of conservation works in the former tenement and continue to be central to the museum exhibition which opened in August 2017.
Currently, the Irish government has been forced to confront some of the most difficult and horrendous historical institutions and legacies of those organisations. This would include the Magdalene Laundries and the Mother and Baby Homes. The absence of understanding around the impact of the ethnographic interview in the official investigations has exposed the lack of respect held for the oral narrative of the lived experience. The witness accounts became more peripheral as opposed to a core focus in the official reports. This paper will reflect on the accomplishments of the Tenement Museum and propose guidance to future projects. As state officials continue to re-use and reimagine further built environments and heritage landscapes a deeper understanding oral narratives must be employed.