Fredrika Larsson

Location

Annedalsseminariet, room 419

Materials

Coming soon!

Description

This lecture will discuss how visual representations and other cultural expressions are vital clues and ways to understanding conflicts and how they may be solved by looking at the Northern Irish tradition of murals. Murals are in Northern Ireland closely tied to the conflict since paramilitary groups paint them. However, disregarding them as sectarian propaganda is wrong since they are visual representations of the collective identities of the areas in which they reside. They explain the present through collective memories and must correspond to the present. Thus, murals are continuously repainted to conform to the needs of the present. During the Northern Irish conflict (the Troubles 1969-1998), murals were known to display aggressive militaristic messages to ensure that the enemy was kept out. After the signing of the peace agreement, murals have become battlefields and weapons during the "battles of the narrative", who is the victim of whom. The murals now display seductive and persuasive messages of victimhood. Today some murals display messages of peace and reconciliation. Often they sit next to murals displaying themes that emphasise past victimisation. This mix of messages produces so-called mixed economies, which reveal contrasting interpretations and understandings of the post-conflict society.

Teacher's Background

Fredrika Larsson earned her PhD in History at Lund University in 2021. Her background is in Peace and Conflict Studies, History and Visual IR. In her dissertation, she studied how historical narratives maintained and legitimised the Northern Irish conflict and how these narratives travelled into the peace process by examining murals.

Recommended Reading

Revisiting the local turn in peacebuilding through the emerging urban approach.pdf

Nordstrom A different kind of war story-2.pdf

Larsson, Fredrika Conflict in Colours, Dissertation, Lund University, 2021

https://lu.app.box.com/s/t3z2bm3e3nyj6phx2fhtmr9fsv95q353

Chapters 1, 4, 7, and 8.