Twelfth International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

Tourism is often seen as an arbiter of peace and sign of prosperity in nations emerging from conflict. This is particularly true in Northern Ireland, where rising visitor numbers to Belfast in the wake of the Troubles were enthusiastically hailed by local politicians and the media as a sign of the province’s transition away from conflict and into peace. Such optimism has, however, been somewhat undercut by the rise in the unofficial ‘troubles tourism’ sector in the city where, contrary to the council’s attempts to deflect attention away from the Troubles and onto visitor attractions associated with the city’s pre-Troubles history, visitors to Belfast remain consistent in their desire to visit areas of the city associated with the conflict. This rise in visitor interest in the conflict has also been mirrored in the increase in the number of unofficial ‘community’ museums in the city which, run by ex-paramilitaries, offer some of the only museological accounts of the Troubles. This paper focuses on the specific intersection between community museums and troubles tourism in Northern Ireland, thinking specifically about how the relationship between these two stakeholders informs and perpetuates international perspectives of conflict. Problematising the distinction between museums of the community and those run by paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, this study argues that increased tourist interest in community-run sites dedicated to conflict across the globe may call for a re-valuation of our understandings of community museology as a whole.