In the course I have accomplished all of the learning goals that I had originally set for myself in my first blog post. Through the Post Office we toured in Dublin, the Free Derry Museum that we experienced on our second day in Derry, and the exhibit on the Troubles at Queen’s University that we explored on our last day, I was able to learn more about the Civil Rights movement, Women’s movement, Pride movement, and many other social movements. These opportunities helped me to better grasp the amount of civic engagement that was happening before the Troubles started. In addition, exhibits, like the ones in the Free Derry Museum, depicting the events of Bloody Sunday illustrated the fear that the protestors at the event must have faced. It was heartbreaking to see the shift from nonviolence to chaos. The other goal of mine for the trip was to learn more about restorative justice efforts currently taking place. Through my time spent with the representatives for New Gates Art and Culture Center, The Junction, Corrymeela, Healing Through Remembering, TIDES, and the British Council showed me the importance of group grassroots work to create change and lead societal change in peacebuilding. These community organizations are incredibly important in shifting the culture to lessen division, minimize stereotypes, and help to humanize everyone involved in the conflict. Their consistent dedication to community reconciliation really inspired me throughout the trip to try and bring what I learned from them back to the US.

I think the main takeaway from this trip and this course was how impactful personal stories can be. When we don’t try to understand and actively listen to the stories of people on all sides of the conflict, division can be deepened. Which is why, it should be our goal as peacebuilders and effective communicators to ensure that all stories are shared and heard, so that every side can be equally represented. I am incredibly grateful to all the speakers who took the time to be vulnerable and share their stories with our group. This will be an experience I will never forget. It has provided me with a better understanding of grassroots work in peacebuilding and has provided me with lessons that I hope to take into my future career in the peacebuilding field.

The biggest challenge that I had throughout the trip was the whiplash that came throughout the day. It would be a lie to say that it was easy to go from hearing a group of people bare their soles in the morning and then transitioning to a different group of people telling their own stories in a different perspective. Hearing about the horrors and suffering that people faced throughout the conflict and even after was incredibly hard, there were times when I looked forward to our free time so that I could reflect on what happened and try and unwind. Despite this, I think it was necessary for me to experience this challenge, because without it I don’t think I would have gotten a more conclusive understanding of what life was like from the 1960s, until in some cases, the present.

During this trip there were a couple things that surprised me. One of the things that surprised me, which is slightly less academic, is how close I got with the people on this trip. When you spend every day for 12 days with a group of people I guess it would be inevitable that you get close to them, but throughout the trip I felt safe to express my opinions, and even joke around at the appropriate times. It made the trip so much more impactful for me. On a more academic note, I was really surprised to hear how open people were about their experiences. When we talked to people on the street and told them about what we were studying, they all had their own inputs on the topic. A lot of them shared their own personal facts and experiences from the conflict, or talked about how certain places that we were at had a connection to the Troubles. Before the trip, I never would have thought that people would be so open to talking about these things, but it was really cool to hear about it from ordinary people on the street.

Me at Queen’s University on the last day of programming

On our first day back in Belfast, our group engaged in a full day of site visits and lectures focusing on work around reconciliation and memory after the Good Friday Agreement (1998). We started our day at Ulster University’s Belfast campus, located in the heart of the Cathedral Quarter, where we attended several lectures that illustrated how memory, identity, and creative expression shape peacebuilding processes.

Chapman Students meeting with Kate Turner and Brandon Hamber

We first heard from Kate Turner, director of Healing Through Remembering (HTR), and Brandon Hamber, professor and board member of HTR. Their work centers on how society deals with the legacy of the Troubles through five main themes: Day of Reflection, Memorialization, Truth Recovery and Acknowledgement, Oral History and Personal Narrative, and Commemoration.

The Day of Reflection occurs each year on June 21, offering space for individuals to reflect on the past and ask personal questions such as “What role did I play in the conflict?” The day also features art created by a student artist known as the “Art of the Day” and explores themes of memory and identity and ritual.

The Truth Recovery theme focuses on the impact of language in storytelling, while the Oral History and Personal Narrative component formed the basis of a diverse network for individuals to work together and help each other known as the Stories Network. The final theme, Commemoration, addresses how to ethically remember events of the conflict through a network of grassroots groups.

One interesting project Turner and Hamber shared was “Everyday Objects Transformed by the Conflict,” an exhibition showcasing items like kerbstones or lampposts that gained political meaning during the Troubles. The project emphasizes how seemingly normal objects can be transformed into powerful symbols of division, identity, or healing. Art installations such as Rita Duffy’s Veil represent forgotten narratives and voices, especially the experiences of women during the conflict and the grief they experienced.

Images of Mailboxes in Republican and Unionist areas to mark the territory.

“Veil” by Rita Duffy. Mixed Media Art Installation featured in Everyday Objects Transformed by Conflict

For more information on Healing Through Remembering: https://healingthroughremembering.org

Turner and Hamber also discussed the challenges of involving women in the post-agreement reconciliation process. Women were often excluded from the formal peace dialogues, and when they did share stories, they often centered men’s experiences or experiences of others rather than their own. Everyday Objects challenges this by offering space for women to reclaim their narratives outside hierarchical victim/perpetrator roles.

This theme was expanded in our second lecture by Márie Braniff, who discussed how legacies of conflict continue to shape the present. Braniff explained how suicide rates are now higher than those from the Troubles. Poverty is entrenched and has deepened, and Northern Ireland has one of Europe’s highest rates of violence against women.

Braniff also emphasized that peace for many women means working to make sure a conflict like this never happens again, but despite this, they are often denied seats at the negotiating table. She highlighted UN Resolution 1325, which calls for women’s inclusion in peace processes but was not implemented in Northern Ireland due to the United Kingdom’s role in the conflict. She also explored how many women lost jobs to returning male ex-prisoners, reinforcing systemic marginalization and disenfranchisement.

To address this, initiatives like the Shared Island Initiative’s “Birds of a Feather” project emerged, connecting women across the North and South through cultural exchange. Women share crafts like textile work and storytelling while also engaging in conversations about identity, religion, and politics, building cross-community dialogue through arts like crafts, music, and dance.

For more information on Márie Braniff: https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/en/persons/maire-braniff#:~:text=Biography,involved%20in%20international%20research%20partnerships.

For more information on UN Resolution 1325: https://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/wps/

For more information about the Shared Island Initiatives “Birds of a Feather” project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3Toz2nacvU

Two core themes I saw emerge from today’s sessions were the role of women in peacebuilding and the power of art in memorialization and activism.

In Chapter 3 of Bridging Divides Through Gender-Just Citizenship, the authors highlight how “women’s work” (e.g. raising families, sharing stories, and caring for others) became political acts during the Troubles. Holmgren, shows how while women were mostly erased or viewed in supportive roles during the conflict, they were foundational for resistance and survival during the conflict. Building networks and organizing cross-community dialogues (e.g., Mothers of Belfast) became a form of resistance for women, allowing them to bridge the divide in Northern Ireland and contribute to peace. Despite this, they remained excluded from politics. The chapter emphasizes women’s leadership in organizing grassroots peace initiatives, even when denied formal recognition in the peace process.

The Everyday Objects exhibition reflects the idea of everyday spaces being turned into political sites, but on a smaller scale. Displaying objects and their stories shows how these objects became political. It disrupts dominant narratives by offering multiple voices and experiences. Similarly, maternal activism, focused on care for family and future, reflects how women often frame their peace work. This connects directly to projects like Birds of a Feather, which uses craft and community to bridge divides and restore confidence in women excluded from traditional political processes and work across political divides to overcome division and work towards a better future for other generations.

Women’s creative work becomes a form of resistance nurturing solidarity while building economic empowerment. Groups like Women in Politics also provide confidence-building workshops to support women’s political engagement, illustrating Braniff’s call for seeing women as “agents of change.” In addition, the work of organizations to fight for their role in leadership as seen by the groups of women that elected two representatives into the Good Friday Agreement challenges the structural barriers keeping them from power.

The second theme art and everyday items for social activism and memory also played a central role in both lectures. In Chapter 3 of Visual Activism in the 21st Century, titled By a Thread. The space left to activism when fashion deals with the refugee ‘crisis’  by Elise Gomis, textile and fashion arts are seen as means of resistance. Gomis explores how clothing becomes a tool for visibility and storytelling, particularly for displaced and oppressed communities.

One example is the use of refugee blanket-inspired garments worn by celebrities at a peace gala, intended to draw attention to displacement of refugees. Textile art, like that of Birds of a Feather, functions similarly: it preserves memory, expresses identity, and fosters healing. The women use textile crafts to connect and reclaim space in post-conflict society, with some selling their work to sustain themselves economically and attain autonomy.

This practice aligns with Miriam Schapiro’s concept of “femmage,” which reclaims undervalued “women’s work” (like quilting or sewing) as legitimate art. Femmage challenges the art world’s gender biases, making the personal political. Artworks like Veil and objects in the Everyday Objects exhibit use this framework to tell complex, underrepresented stories.

By turning everyday items like prison doors, trash can lids, and kerbstones into political artifacts, these projects subvert traditional historical narratives. They honor grief, memory, and identity, showing that healing requires more than formal policy; it needs storytelling and recognition of all voices and truths, especially those overlooked in the conflict.

Overall, our morning activities have given us a better sense of the ways gender and art play roles in the peace building processes. From Everyday Objects to Birds of a Feather, women’s stories told through the arts, stories, and memories offer paths towards healings and challenges community division. They show us how we can preserve the past while simultaneously uplifting the hidden or overlooked voices to make progress across communities for the future.

Gomis, E. (2023). By a thread: The space left to activism when fashion deals with the refugee “crisis”. In E. Golańska & I. J. Petersen (Eds.), Visual activism in the 21st century: Art, protest and resistance in an uncertain world (pp. 47–63). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33488-7_3

Holmgren, L. E. (2023). Bridging divides through gender-just citizenship: Women’s political participation, grassroots peace building and transversal politics in Northern Ireland. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-83475-2

Schapiro, M., & Meyer, M. (1977–1978). Waste not, want not: An inquiry into what women saved and assembled—Femmage. Heresies: A Feminist Publication on Art and Politics, (4), 66–69.