| Abstract | Acknowledging that forgetting is not the antithesis, but an integral component, of memory, this case study of what appears to be an Ulster lieu d'oubli conceptualizes "social forgetting" as the outcome of multi-layered relationships between oblivion and remembering. On May 20, 1898, the Reverend Richard Rutledge Kane -- a pillar of local unionist politics -- addressed a large and enthusiastic audience at Clifton Street Orange Hall in Belfast with a lecture on "1798: Its Lessons for Irishmen." Kane was not alone amongst Ulster unionists in advocating oblivion. Overall, it may appear from this historical survey that the case of 1798 in Ulster is more a story of remembering than forgetting, but to reach such a hasty conclusion would miss the point. Recent psychological studies have moved away from conceptualizations of forgetting in opposition to memory and concluded that "the study of forgetting cannot be separated from the study of memory."
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