Everyday Possibilities for Peace through Cultural Heritage: Navigating Ireland’s Role in a Chaotic World

At the close of the first quarter of the twenty-first century global society can be seen entering a new period of uncertainty. The increased unpredictability of certain global leaders and continued conflict cycles set against climate chaos and ever-increasing levels of social disparities have led to a growing realisation of the vulnerabilities of communities worldwide. Additionally, the rise in divisive far right ideologies and policies that seek to propagate exclusionist nation building narratives can draw comparisons with societal conditions in the immediate pre-World War II years and the associated rupturing of that global order. There is an imperative to develop alternative, bottom-up initiatives that run in parallel with positivist state actions to counter the narratives and actions of sponsored chaos. Building on Roger Mac Ginty’s approach to everyday peace, this article considers the possibilities of utilising cultural heritage practice to enable ordinary people to confront division and exclusion and promote cohesion, positive identity formation and place-making. Ireland, as a nation, has an opportunity to develop an international platform of heritage-informed peacebuilding through initiatives like cultural heritage professional capacity development programmes tied to a cultural heritage promotion fund within international development structures. We stress that this article is rooted in applied practice and deliberately eschews an overly theoretical approach. By extension it advocates for an informed, internationalist and proactive approach from Ireland’s varied cultural heritage communities to deliver mechanisms that support change.