Diasporic ethnicity: Irish-American performativity of irishness in popular culture, 1945-2000.

Abstract

This thesis examines the ways in which the later-generation Insh-Amencan diaspora have engaged with and performed their ethnic identity in the latter half of the twentieth century. It particularly focuses upon the ways in which this identity is negotiated and formed through an interaction with Ireland itself, rather than within an entirely American context. The thesis concentrates upon Insh-Amencan popular culture and practices, arguing that it is through these texts that the complex processes of later-generation ethnic identification and performance can best be analysed. The thesis uses a wide vanety of cultural texts for this analysis, including films, novels, news media, tounst practices, family history research and political activism. These texts are examined predominantly within the theoretical framework of discourse analysis, arguing that they should be understood as both reflecting and informing a wider cultural discourse of diasponc ethnicity and identity within the United States. To further highlight the ways in which this occurs, the thesis also discusses the ways in which different academic disciplines, such as history, Irish studies, anthropology and diaspora studies itself, have approached the subject of diasporic identity. The thesis goes on to argue that a multidisciplinary approach is essential to understanding the complex processes of identity construction involved m the formation of a diaspora such as iater-generation Insh-Amenca