Being "Irish" : the market, transnationalism and the experience of ethnicity / Kymberly Helbig Porter.

Format:

• Book
• Manuscript
• Microformat
• Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

• Porter, Kymberly Helbig.

Contributor:

• St. George, Robert Blair, advisor.
• University of Pennsylvania.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

• Penn dissertations--Folklore and folklife.
• Folklore and folklife--Penn dissertations.

Local Subjects:

• Penn dissertations--Folklore and folklife.
• Folklore and folklife--Penn dissertations.

Physical Description:

ix, 269 pages : illustrations ; 29 cm

Production:

2002.

Summary:

• In the United States, Irish affiliation and history, culture and character hold intense allure and the promise of significant financial profit, evidenced by the rampant rise of products, persons and places that draw on that affiliation. One of the most pervasive aspects of this popularity has been the establishment of businesses that market themselves as "authentic Irish pubs." These pubs perpetuate popular notions of an ethnically-homogenous community, while simultaneously offering participation, and even membership, in such a community through the acts of purchasing and consuming certain ethnically-identifiable products: Guinness stout, soda bread, the accents of the staff.
• This study focuses on the simultaneous commodification and codification of a particular "Irish" ethnic identity within the context of the "Irish pub" phenomenon. Combining ethnographic fieldwork with written and material sources, this work explores the role that the production and consumption of ethnic-specific products plays in the construction of a community and a business based on a particular way of being Irish. The research centers around one site, The Bards, owned and largely staffed by emigrated Irish. The pub provides a nexus for interaction between multiple generations of migrants and their offspring, creating an atmosphere in which myriad experiences and images of "Ireland" struggle to co-exist. The site simultaneously provides a space for those who want to sample, literally and figuratively, an ethnic experience. Designed to promote and to profit from a particular manifestation of Irishness, The Bards forces a reconsideration of previous models of ethnicity, demanding an approach that can reveal the interrelationship of the mass market, the mass media, and individual experiences as they combine to produce powerful and effective versions of a supposedly "fixed" identity, ethnic identity. This study uses a local instance to understand how ethnicity is manifested within that interrelationship and how individuals create a place for themselves within its matrix and live out a real, tangible sense of their own ethnicity. Further, the research indicates the importance of considering the influence of market forces on identity politics, revealing that commodity-style exchange comprises one of the keys to claiming an ethnic identity in the twenty-first century.

Notes:

• Supervisor: Robert Blair St. George.
• Thesis (Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife) -- University of Pennsylvania, 2002.
• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

University Microfilms order no.: 3054988.

OCLC:

244972076