Reversed memory, collective action and the Irish economic crisis 2010-2013

Abstract

This paper examines how collective memory of colonialism informed the response of Irish citizens to the Irish economic crisis of 2010-2013. This crisis resulted in the Troika bailout of the Irish banks, a related programme of austerity measures and the loss of economic sovereignty. The frequent referencing of colonial experience during this period is examined using Zandberg, Meyers and Neiger’s (2012) concept of reversed memory. This model asserts that collective memory not only shapes how a society may view the past but that events in the present can re-shape how a society understands its past.