ABSTRACT

This article reports on the impact visits to community-based museums in a divided society, Northern Ireland, had on young people’s historical, political, and cultural understanding of the commemorated past. It examines the responses of two student groups, one predominantly Protestant and the other Catholic, to two museums, each presenting its own community’s perspective on one contentious aspect of Derry/Londonderry’s past. Data were collected through observation, focus groups, and semi-structured interviews from students, teachers, and museum staff. In the emotive environments of the two museums, findings indicated that community background remained important in shaping responses, but critical thinking allied to personal engagement with testimony and artifacts, particularly related to the recent, contentious past, was also influential. In one group, the experience was powerful in causing affective disruption, which challenged established positions, but in the other, it largely consolidated existing norms.

摘要

本文报告了在北爱尔兰分裂的社会中访问社区博物馆对年轻人对纪念过去的历史、政治和文化理解的影响。它检查了两个学生团体，一个主要是新教徒，另一个是天主教徒，对两个博物馆的反应，每个都展示了自己社区对德里/伦敦德里过去一个有争议的方面的看法。数据是通过观察、焦点小组和学生、教师和博物馆工作人员的半结构化访谈收集的。在两个博物馆的情感环境中，调查结果表明，社区背景在形成反应方面仍然很重要，但与个人参与证词和文物相关的批判性思维，尤其是与最近的、有争议的过去有关的批判性思维也有影响力。