Identities, both on the level of the individual and the collective, are formed and develop in complex processes that negotiate attitudes, values and behaviours, and shape our social and cultural practices. Identity debates are occurring through reflection on the decade of commemoration and the wider re-evaluation of Irishness, and also in the context of massively changing migratory patterns in both Ireland and Europe. These transformations are embedded within the context of greater global interconnectedness, but con-currently greater individualisation and associated notions of risk and uncertainty.
Cultural memory, how it is constituted and contested, plays a central role in the formation of such identities. The complex and shifting dynamic between memory and identity becomes particularly relevant in times of crisis, disruption, and rapid change, such as what we are currently experiencing.
This research field undertakes a multi-facetted investigation of how the negotiation of identity is linked to processes of transformation on the level of history and culture. It is an investigation which allows deeper insight into the dynamics between social and political change, shifts in cultural memory, cultural and artistic practices, and human agency.
Currently over 70 researchers and their postgraduate research students across 10 of the 24 Schools in Trinity College are actively involved in this research theme. They represent and bring together fields as varied as History, Classics, Art History, Music, Drama and Film Studies, English and Irish Studies, Literary and Cultural Studies, Linguistics, Philosophy, Health Sciences, Theology, Peace Studies, Gender Studies, Sociology, Psychology and Neuroscience.
Interesting Book:
‘Identities in Transformation’: A Study on the Impact of Globalization on Youth in the City of Cluj, Romania Paperback – by Nils Gardek (Author)
This study examines the relationship between globalization, culture and identity. The study was conducted in the City of Cluj, Romania, with the main problem lying partly in the concurrent relations in the locality, partly in the cultural elements coming in from the “outside”. Both theoretically and empirically the study is structured around the distinct but interacting views and roles of the past, the present and the future – features around which identities are constructed. The question at issue throughout this study is in what ways the constructions of identities are affected by globalization/ transformation, and what differences in the constructions depend on. Methodologically a qualitative triangulating approach is used, combining interviews, observations and a qualitative informative survey. The conclusions of the study are that the construction of identities ¿ based on the interactions between the individual and his/ her surrounding ¿ revolve around the two factors of the conception of the past and the ideas and hopes for the future.