Magdalene Institutions Oral History Archive Launch

national | crime and justice | event notice Sunday September 08, 2013 23:20 by A.N. Other

Launch of the Magdalene Institutions Oral History Archive. Liberty Hall, 12pm - 6pm. hosted by SIPTU, UCD Women's Studies Centre, and National Women's Council of Ireland.

Flyer

Launch of the Magdalene Institutions Oral History Archive. Liberty Hall, 12pm - 6pm. hosted by SIPTU, UCD Women's Studies Centre, and National Women's Council of Ireland.

To register: http://magdaleneoralhistory.com/symposium.htm

Magdalene Institutions: Recording an Oral and Archival History is a Government of Ireland Collaborative Research Project funded by the Irish Research Council and conducted at UCD Women’s Studies Centre under the direction of Dr Katherine O’Donnell. This symposium addresses key outcomes of the project as it comes to a close and is co-hosted by SIPTU Campaigns and Equality and the National Women’s Council of Ireland, who have supported the campaign to bring justice for the Magdalene women.

The overall objective of this project is to contribute towards a better understanding of the system of Magdalene Institutions that existed in Ireland through the gathering of archival material and oral history accounts from survivors who worked and lived in the Magdalene Laundries, as well as relatives, members of the Religious Orders, key informants (such as paid hands and GPs), and anyone else who has a story to tell that relates to these institutions. The project ends in September and the symposium will survey the 75+ interviews (averaging over two hours each), the transcripts and archival materials which are made available in redacted format through UCD Archives. The interviews and transcripts will also be available on-line via the Irish Qualitative Data Archive (IQDA).

The symposium will also launch educational videos and lesson plans designed to introduce British and Irish 16-year old students to the ethical issues raised in consideration of the Magdalene Laundry system. We have worked on this aspect of the project with the British charity TrueTube. We will also unveil a pilot version of a digital ‘virtual museum’ of the Magdalene Institutions and will close with a focus on current issues for the feminist, labour and anti-racist movements that bear a relation to the experience of the Magdalene institutions.

The symposium will be followed by supper and entertainment 6-9pm. Supper will be free for survivors.

Please note: For those who wish to remain anonymous, media will be restricted to one part of the building and will only interview those who wish to do so. Hence, survivors/others should feel safe to attend without being publicly identified. A ‘quiet room’ will also be available with counsellors on hand for those who need them.