My first journey to Derry (or Londonderry, depending on one’s political orientation and identity) brought me directly into the city’s living history. I arrived to attend the annual Think Left conference, held each year on the first weekend of October to commemorate the civil rights march of 5 October 1968, a pivotal moment often described as the symbolic opening to the Troubles. Sponsored largely by the city’s left-wing community, particularly the party People Before Profit, the conference served as a contemporary reminder of the enduring resonance of 1968. This year’s discussions centred heavily on Palestine Action, featuring speakers from Gaza and addressing the mounting restrictions on protest in the UK. The seamless interweaving of past and present was most palpable when Eamonn McCann, veteran of the Northern Irish civil rights movement (especially in the locality of Derry) and lifelong activist, reflected on his decades of political engagement and on how socialist frameworks have shaped both his understanding of protest and his imagination of social change.
As a historian, one may ask why I would immerse myself in a space where activists exchange ideas, mobilize campaigns, and articulate contemporary grievances. The short answer lies in the focus of my PhD project: I study how historical events are remembered, mobilized, and reframed across time, and how their meanings shift depending on who invokes them and for what purpose. My background in history and global studies has trained me not merely to reconstruct events historically, but to interrogate the narrative processes through which these events acquire significance and meaning up to the present day—for both the (historical) actors and historians alike. In other words, I work at the intersection of history and memory, assuming that the two are never separate but continuously shape one another.
Continue reading The Derry Civil Rights Movement: Between Historical Memory and Ongoing Struggle. Combining Archival Research and Fieldwork