University historians and their role in the development of a ‘shared’ history in Northern Ireland schools, 1960s–1980s: an illustration of the ambiguous social function of historians

International audienceA common history curriculum was introduced for the first time in Northern Ireland schools in 1991, which attempted to bridge the longstanding gap between Catholic and state schools in this field. This paper outlines the various aspects of the crucial role played by a number of historians from all the major universities in Ireland, North and South, but especially from Queen’s University, Belfast, in making this change possible, through the development of new historiographical perspectives on Irish history, but also through their more direct and deliberate drive to popularise these perspectives within Northern Ireland society from the 1960s to the end of the 1980s. This engagement of many historians above and beyond their work as researchers shows that they tried to reconcile their scientific work as academics with a recognition of their social role, thus providing a good illustration of the ambiguous nature of the social function of historians in contemporary democracies