Conflicting Memory and Social Media:

Memorialising the Northern Irish

Troubles on Instagram
Dr. Paul Reilly
University of Sheffield
@PaulJReilly
8th European Communication Conference
7 September 2021
Combat photography during the Troubles
• Photojournalists criticised
for producing aesthetically
satisfying photographs that
mispresented NI
• Images taken during
Bloody Sunday used by
Widgery Report to justify
actions of British soldiers
(Hanna, 2015)
• Photographs also provide
starting point for folk
memories challenging Don McCullin’s photograph of Battle of Bogside, Derry 1971

‘official’ accounts
Partisan conflict memories persist in NI
• ‘Post-conflict’ tensions between ‘moving
on’ and redressing injustices of Troubles
(Dawson, 2016)
• Partisan forms of public memory- ‘war by
other means’ (Brown and Grant, 2016)
• Loyalist and republican commemorations
‘thick’ with references to Troubles- memory
work crucial to retaining support within
respective communities
• Few shared narratives on past- barrier to
reconciliation (McQuaid, 2016)
Towards memory of the multitude?
• Collective vs. collected memory
(Ollick,1999; 2008)
• Connective turn liberates memory
from physical archives
• ‘Memory of the multitude’
characterised by hyperconnectivity,
searchability (Hoskins, 2016)
• Instagram maintains Holocaust Holocaust Memory
remembrance among younger
generations (Commane and Potton,
2019)
Research Questions and Design
•RQ1: What were the dominant visual representations of
the Northern Irish Troubles on Instagram? Which actors
were most prominent in these photographs?
•RQ2: Which actors were responsible for these
photographs and their distribution on the photosharing site?
•RQ3: How did Instagrammers respond to these
photographs?
•Content analysis of #thetroubles photographs on
Instagram (N=100) conducted between August and
December 2019
Photographs of British soldiers and
riots get the most likes and comments
Photographs focus on citizens
experience of the conflict
 8

Children
feature
prominently
in images of
‘everyday
life 'during
the
Troubles
Images focus on aftermath of atrocities
 10

‘War’ photojournalism finds new audience

Veterans share ‘combat’ images of
British troops
 12

Images of
British
soldiers
generate
partisan
comments
and
trolling
British army photos generate the most partisan
comments and sharing of personal memories
Conclusion
• Visual representations of #thetroubles conform to the
‘aesthetically satisfying images’ produced by photojournalists
during the conflict
• Former combatants uploaded some of these images, but
majority were from Instagrammers providing no bio information
• Images of British soldiers generate the most antagonistic
comments, sharing of personal memories and trolling
• Instagram laid bare the partisan conflict ‘memories of the
multitude’ - although likes/comments ratio suggests we don’t
know what many viewers thought about these photographs
References
•Aiello, G., & Parry, K. (2020) Visual Communication: Understanding Images in Media Culture, London: Sage.
•Brown, K and Grant, A. (2016) A Lens Over Conflicted Memory: Surveying ‘Troubles’ Commemoration in Northern Ireland, Irish
Political Studies, 31(1): 139-162
•Commane, G. & Potton, R. (2019) Instagram and Auschwitz: a critical assessment of the impact social media has on Holocaust
representation, Holocaust Studies, 25(1-2): 158-181
•Dawson, G. (2016) Memory, ‘Post-Conflict’ Temporalities and the Afterlife of Emotion in Conflict Transformation after the Irish
Troubles, In M. Corporaal, C. Cusack, & R. Van den Beuken (Eds.), Irish Studies and the Dynamics of Memory: Transitions and
Transformations (Vol. 79, pp. 257-296). Peter Lang
•Hanna, E. (2015) Photographs and “Truth” during the Northern Ireland Troubles, 1969–72, Journal of British Studies 54: 457–480..
• Hoskins, A. (2016) Memory of the multitude: the end of collective memory, In: Hoskins, A. (ed.) Digital Memory Studies: Media
Pasts in Transition. Routledge: New York, NY: 85-109.
•McQuaid, S. D. (2016). Notes on studying Public Policies of Memory: The Parades Commission in Northern Ireland and the
institutionalization of memory practices. In M. Corporaal, C. Cusack, & R. Van den Beuken (Eds.), Irish Studies and the Dynamics of
Memory: Transitions and Transformations (Vol. 79, pp. 129-147). Peter Lang. Reimagining Ireland Vol. 79.
•Ollick, J.K. (2008) ‘Collective memory’: A memoir and prospect, Memory Studies, 1(1):23-29.
•Ollick, J.K. (1999) Collective Memory: The Two Cultures, Sociological Theory, 17(3): 333- 348.
•Ritchin, F. (2013) Bending the Frame: Photojournalism, Documentary and the Citizen, New York: Aperture.
•Rose, G. (2016) Visual Methodologies: an introduction to researching with visual materials, london: Sage, 4th Edition.
•Sontag, S. (2003) Regarding the Pain of Others, London: Penguin.
•Sontag, S. (1977) On Photography, London: Penguin.
 

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