Elizabeth Crooke
Biographic Data
| ID | 202454 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Elizabeth Crooke |
| GIVEN NAMES | Elizabeth |
| FAMILY NAME | Crooke |
| SIGNATURE | CROOKE E |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Ulster |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6413-736X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 67 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 14 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Resilience, crises, and workforce care in the UK museum sector
Museums’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been characterized as evidence of the sector's resilience. Concurrently, there is evidence across the United Kingdom of a shrinking workforce and stagnating sector. Drawing on interviews with museum sector staff conducted in 2021–2022 and in 2025, predominantly in Northern Ireland, this article critiques narratives of resilience and their impacts in the museum sector. This article suggests that indiv…
The active lives of the material culture of commemoration
When material culture is used for commemorative purposes objects become mnemonic devices through which we construct narratives of ourselves and other people. By exploring the “active lives” of an Irish Citizen Army flag, exhibited in Dublin, and a Chinese braid/queue included in Remembering 1916: Your Stories (Ulster Museum 25 March 2016– 19 March 2017), this paper provides insights into how objects are positioned as part of dominant or periphera…
Communities, Change and the Covid-19 Crisis
The COVID-19 crisis is having a significant impact on the museum sector, nationally and globally. The immediate impact for many UK museums and arts organizations was a loss of income, closure of galleries, school visits cancelled, and projects on hold, while thousands of staff were furloughed, thus exposing the vulnerability of museums, their staff, projects and collections. Looking elsewhere, new programming, developed at short notice, has demon…
One of our National Treasures’
Many Irish musicians will have heard of Turlough Carolan (1670–1738), frequently referred to as the Blind Harper. Less well known is that his skull was exhumed in 1750, twelve years after he was buried. Since that year and throughout the nineteenth century, a human skull, declared to be that of Carolan, was displayed in various prestigious locations. In the early twentieth century it was received by the National Museum of Ireland, where it still …
Creating liminal spaces of collective possibility in divided societies
This article explores the potential of liminal space to provide opportunities for collective reflection and healing in divided societies transitioning from conflict. In March 2015, acclaimed artist David Best brought his Burning Man phenomenon ‘Temple’ from the Nevada desert to a Northern Irish city in transition. Derry/Londonderry, where the politics of nomenclature is symptomatic of a populace still struggling over space and meaning, experience…
Memory politics and material culture
By considering the life history of a collection of objects now in the Museum of Free Derry (Northern Ireland), the use of objects in private mourning and as agents in the collective processes of public remembering is demonstrated. The story is one of loss and mourning that is intensified by the political context of the deaths. As cherished possessions, these objects are active in the private processes of grieving and recovery. In the memorial mus…
Artefacts as Agents for Change
As Northern Ireland seeks ways to deal with the memory of the conflict, artefacts associated with the period that can be ascribed with an aura of historical authenticity are placed on public display as yet another means to employ the past. These artefacts become another element of the media machine of commemorative projects, touchstones to the past, and agents in contemporary political activities. This paper considers the methods employed by In T…
The politics of community heritage
The community and heritage connection is one that is almost considered so natural an affinity it hardly needs justification or explanation. This paper looks critically at how community and heritage are understood and what arises when the two are brought together. Through the consideration of examples in Northern Ireland, the meaning of such engagement is explored with emphasis on motivations, issues of authority and the value of community‐heritag…
Nuclear Reactions
Occurring in the fiftieth anniversary year of the end of World War II, the patriotic uproar over the exhibit’s alleged ‘political incorrectness’ caused great consternation on both sides of the Pacific, but this chapter looks beyond and behind the international affair to examine how the Hiroshima bombing first was to be put on display, and then was moved off center stage, in the exhibition at the Air and Space Museum. Eager to counterattack any re…
Dealing with the past
The experiences of post‐apartheid South Africa have often been used to open dialogue about Northern Ireland and the possible approaches to dealing with the legacy of the conflict. People in Northern Ireland have, for example, looked towards the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission and policing in South Africa for further insights. This comparison of South Africa and Northern Ireland has now moved beyond being concerned predominantly …
Museums, Communities and the Politics of Heritage in Northern Ireland
The public representation of the past in Northern Ireland has never been the single domain of the ‘official’ museum and heritage sector. The traditions of marching, murals and street painting has ensured that a sense of history is omnipresent in particular urban and, sometimes, rural spaces. A form of political stability has begun to emerge since the 1998 Belfast Agreement and now military fortifications, ephemera of legal and illegal organisatio…
Confronting a Troubled History
Confronting a Troubled History
A major aspect of Ireland's history is the continual problems of a sectarian nature, yet the issue of 'the troubles' gets scant consideration in the permanent exhibitions mounted in Northern Ireland's museums, and is only beginning to emerge in more temporary exhibitions and statements about museums. In addition, the belief that cultural heritage plays a significant part in conflict resolution in Northern Ireland has long been expressed in statem…
The Construction of Meanings in Museums
The museum is a construct; the collections and the physical building are enclosed by a structure, invisible to the eye, which is created by the context in which the museum is being viewed. The nature of that structure will depend on the viewer; he or she will make his or her own meanings. Reinhard Bernbeck, in his paperThe exhibition of architecture and the architecture of an exhibition, has investigated how the Pergamon Museum can simultaneously…
The politics of community heritage
The community and heritage connection is one that is almost considered so natural an affinity it hardly needs justification or explanation. This paper looks critically at how community and heritage are understood and what arises when the two are brought together. Through the consideration of examples in Northern Ireland, the meaning of such engagement is explored with emphasis on motivations, issues of authority and the value of community‐heritag…
Dealing with the past
The experiences of post‐apartheid South Africa have often been used to open dialogue about Northern Ireland and the possible approaches to dealing with the legacy of the conflict. People in Northern Ireland have, for example, looked towards the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission and policing in South Africa for further insights. This comparison of South Africa and Northern Ireland has now moved beyond being concerned predominantly …
Creating liminal spaces of collective possibility in divided societies
This article explores the potential of liminal space to provide opportunities for collective reflection and healing in divided societies transitioning from conflict. In March 2015, acclaimed artist David Best brought his Burning Man phenomenon ‘Temple’ from the Nevada desert to a Northern Irish city in transition. Derry/Londonderry, where the politics of nomenclature is symptomatic of a populace still struggling over space and meaning, experience…
Communities, Change and the Covid-19 Crisis
The COVID-19 crisis is having a significant impact on the museum sector, nationally and globally. The immediate impact for many UK museums and arts organizations was a loss of income, closure of galleries, school visits cancelled, and projects on hold, while thousands of staff were furloughed, thus exposing the vulnerability of museums, their staff, projects and collections. Looking elsewhere, new programming, developed at short notice, has demon…
The active lives of the material culture of commemoration
When material culture is used for commemorative purposes objects become mnemonic devices through which we construct narratives of ourselves and other people. By exploring the “active lives” of an Irish Citizen Army flag, exhibited in Dublin, and a Chinese braid/queue included in Remembering 1916: Your Stories (Ulster Museum 25 March 2016– 19 March 2017), this paper provides insights into how objects are positioned as part of dominant or periphera…
Memory politics and material culture
By considering the life history of a collection of objects now in the Museum of Free Derry (Northern Ireland), the use of objects in private mourning and as agents in the collective processes of public remembering is demonstrated. The story is one of loss and mourning that is intensified by the political context of the deaths. As cherished possessions, these objects are active in the private processes of grieving and recovery. In the memorial mus…
Artefacts as Agents for Change
As Northern Ireland seeks ways to deal with the memory of the conflict, artefacts associated with the period that can be ascribed with an aura of historical authenticity are placed on public display as yet another means to employ the past. These artefacts become another element of the media machine of commemorative projects, touchstones to the past, and agents in contemporary political activities. This paper considers the methods employed by In T…
Confronting a Troubled History
A major aspect of Ireland's history is the continual problems of a sectarian nature, yet the issue of 'the troubles' gets scant consideration in the permanent exhibitions mounted in Northern Ireland's museums, and is only beginning to emerge in more temporary exhibitions and statements about museums. In addition, the belief that cultural heritage plays a significant part in conflict resolution in Northern Ireland has long been expressed in statem…
The Construction of Meanings in Museums
The museum is a construct; the collections and the physical building are enclosed by a structure, invisible to the eye, which is created by the context in which the museum is being viewed. The nature of that structure will depend on the viewer; he or she will make his or her own meanings. Reinhard Bernbeck, in his paperThe exhibition of architecture and the architecture of an exhibition, has investigated how the Pergamon Museum can simultaneously…
Confronting a Troubled History
Confronting a Troubled History
A major aspect of Ireland's history is the continual problems of a sectarian nature, yet the issue of 'the troubles' gets scant consideration in the permanent exhibitions mounted in Northern Ireland's museums, and is only beginning to emerge in more temporary exhibitions and statements about museums. In addition, the belief that cultural heritage plays a significant part in conflict resolution in Northern Ireland has long been expressed in statem…
Museums, Communities and the Politics of Heritage in Northern Ireland
The public representation of the past in Northern Ireland has never been the single domain of the ‘official’ museum and heritage sector. The traditions of marching, murals and street painting has ensured that a sense of history is omnipresent in particular urban and, sometimes, rural spaces. A form of political stability has begun to emerge since the 1998 Belfast Agreement and now military fortifications, ephemera of legal and illegal organisatio…
Dealing with the past
The experiences of post‐apartheid South Africa have often been used to open dialogue about Northern Ireland and the possible approaches to dealing with the legacy of the conflict. People in Northern Ireland have, for example, looked towards the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission and policing in South Africa for further insights. This comparison of South Africa and Northern Ireland has now moved beyond being concerned predominantly …
Nuclear Reactions
Occurring in the fiftieth anniversary year of the end of World War II, the patriotic uproar over the exhibit’s alleged ‘political incorrectness’ caused great consternation on both sides of the Pacific, but this chapter looks beyond and behind the international affair to examine how the Hiroshima bombing first was to be put on display, and then was moved off center stage, in the exhibition at the Air and Space Museum. Eager to counterattack any re…
The politics of community heritage
The community and heritage connection is one that is almost considered so natural an affinity it hardly needs justification or explanation. This paper looks critically at how community and heritage are understood and what arises when the two are brought together. Through the consideration of examples in Northern Ireland, the meaning of such engagement is explored with emphasis on motivations, issues of authority and the value of community‐heritag…
Artefacts as Agents for Change
As Northern Ireland seeks ways to deal with the memory of the conflict, artefacts associated with the period that can be ascribed with an aura of historical authenticity are placed on public display as yet another means to employ the past. These artefacts become another element of the media machine of commemorative projects, touchstones to the past, and agents in contemporary political activities. This paper considers the methods employed by In T…
Memory politics and material culture
By considering the life history of a collection of objects now in the Museum of Free Derry (Northern Ireland), the use of objects in private mourning and as agents in the collective processes of public remembering is demonstrated. The story is one of loss and mourning that is intensified by the political context of the deaths. As cherished possessions, these objects are active in the private processes of grieving and recovery. In the memorial mus…
One of our National Treasures’
Many Irish musicians will have heard of Turlough Carolan (1670–1738), frequently referred to as the Blind Harper. Less well known is that his skull was exhumed in 1750, twelve years after he was buried. Since that year and throughout the nineteenth century, a human skull, declared to be that of Carolan, was displayed in various prestigious locations. In the early twentieth century it was received by the National Museum of Ireland, where it still …
Creating liminal spaces of collective possibility in divided societies
This article explores the potential of liminal space to provide opportunities for collective reflection and healing in divided societies transitioning from conflict. In March 2015, acclaimed artist David Best brought his Burning Man phenomenon ‘Temple’ from the Nevada desert to a Northern Irish city in transition. Derry/Londonderry, where the politics of nomenclature is symptomatic of a populace still struggling over space and meaning, experience…
Communities, Change and the Covid-19 Crisis
The COVID-19 crisis is having a significant impact on the museum sector, nationally and globally. The immediate impact for many UK museums and arts organizations was a loss of income, closure of galleries, school visits cancelled, and projects on hold, while thousands of staff were furloughed, thus exposing the vulnerability of museums, their staff, projects and collections. Looking elsewhere, new programming, developed at short notice, has demon…
The active lives of the material culture of commemoration
When material culture is used for commemorative purposes objects become mnemonic devices through which we construct narratives of ourselves and other people. By exploring the “active lives” of an Irish Citizen Army flag, exhibited in Dublin, and a Chinese braid/queue included in Remembering 1916: Your Stories (Ulster Museum 25 March 2016– 19 March 2017), this paper provides insights into how objects are positioned as part of dominant or periphera…
Resilience, crises, and workforce care in the UK museum sector
Museums’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been characterized as evidence of the sector's resilience. Concurrently, there is evidence across the United Kingdom of a shrinking workforce and stagnating sector. Drawing on interviews with museum sector staff conducted in 2021–2022 and in 2025, predominantly in Northern Ireland, this article critiques narratives of resilience and their impacts in the museum sector. This article suggests that indiv…
History (10 works) · Irish and British Studies (9 works) · Political science (9 works) · Archaeology (8 works) · Law (7 works) · Politics (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation (6 works) · Museums and Cultural Heritage (6 works) · Art (5 works)