SYMPOSIUM: Perpetrator Trauma and the Irish Civil War

Perpetrator trauma can be experienced by individuals and groups struggling to comprehend and process violence they have been directly or indirectly responsible for. This symposium brings together contributors from the arts and academia to examine what can often be unacknowledged or unspoken experiences of perpetrator trauma. In doing so it will also explore a fuller account of the personal and societal impacts of violence and the place of perpetrators in memory and commemoration. Presentations may be of particular interest to those in the arts, civil war, conflict, memory, atrocity and trauma studies.

The symposium coincides with Dark Dark Mouth, a body of performance, drawing and installation work by Dominic Thorpe exploring perpetrator trauma and the Irish Civil War in Cork city. Dark Dark Mouth is one of six project awards commissioned as part of Building as Witness, a programme that focuses on the site of Crawford Art Gallery which was witness to fascinating histories of local, national, and international importance surrounding the Irish Civil War period.

SPEAKERS
Dr. Síobhra Aiken
Perpetrator Trauma and the Irish Civil War
Dr. Cara Levey
The Place of Perpetrators in the Commemoration of Atrocity in Latin America
Dr. Dominic Thorpe
Perpetrator Trauma and Contemporary Visual Art from Ireland

The event will conclude with a panel discussion chaired by renowned filmmaker and writer Peadar King.