230339 Tales & Trails of Irish America (S) (WiSe 2023/2024)

30.4 million people or about 9.2 percent of Americans claim Irish ancestry in the United States today. Big annual St. Patrick’s Day celebrations pay tribute to traditions of the Irish diaspora in America. But can we really speak of an ‘Irish America’ today, and if so, what is its literary and cultural history? This seminar explores these and related questions by introducing students to the study of Irish American literature and culture. We will read and analyze a selection of texts, such as novels, poetry, memoirs, and theory (in full and/or excerpt form) that address or have emerged from Irish American experiences. In doing so, we will reflect on the histories and cultural forms of expression of an ever-changing community of immigrants and their descendants who were central to the shaping of the United States, especially from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century but now may seem more elusive. We will explore the form and style of literary and cultural texts in the broad area of Irish America, and reflect on some key concerns, such as the construction of ethnic, religious, or national affiliation and belonging as well as migration and diaspora.
For those of you who would like a head start on the reading material, our discussion will begin with Colum McCann’s novel This Side of Brightness (1998) and Lauren Onkey´s Blackness and the Transatlantic Irish Identity (2009).