Robin Kirk

I am completing a space opera looking at the world of human rights and humanitarian aid in a future web of galaxies.

In non-fiction, I'm exploring how the memory of the past can be used to understand challenges to human rights. From Northern Ireland to Hungary, Chile, South Korea, and the United States, communities that have suffered violence engage with the past even as they live with or near former persecutors. Alongside mechanisms like trials and truth commissions, these memory initiatives are cutting-edge human rights work that redraw the map of what we think of as museums, monuments, and how we tell our own story. I'm using my own research and family story to make a compelling case for intentional history-telling at the local, regional, and national levels. I argue that remembering the past is an essential part of building a way out of conflict, be it on the streets of Belfast or in America’s neighborhoods. The past matters because it is so often a factor in unrest and violence that costs thousands of lives and billions in policing and damages form violent protest.