The Great Irish Famine (1845-1852)

Heritage interpretation is a complex highly contested and political phenomenon and raises several questions such as; how and when should heritage be interpreted? (Barnett 1997; Uzzell & Ballantyne 1998; Harrison 2004; Timothy & Boyd; 2006). Similar questions are asked in the context of difficult heritage; elements of the past that society can acknowledge as their history but would prefer to forget (Timothy & Boyd 2003; MacDonald 2006; Pavličić 2016). It appears challenging to ascertain absolute answers to these questions and there have been calls for further research to shed light out on issues such as timing and memory (Stone 2016; Farmaki & Antoniou 2017). There has been little research carried out at Irish heritage sites that interpret the Great Irish Famine (1845-1852) and therefore this study addresses the questions concerning interpretation from the literature to contribute to the current understanding of this complex subject.