Oral Storytelling and Irish Identity

Oral storytelling is an integral part of Irish culture. For centuries, storytelling was a common practice in Irish society, fulfilling a wide range of functions ranging from entertainment and the creation of emotional bonds to the conveyance of history from a unique perspective. Despite its adaptation to the passage of time and its adoption of new themes, storytelling has continued to have an impact on the formation of individual and collective identities within Irish society. Today, society has less of a practical need for storytelling as is reflected in the shifting Irish identity. This thesis explores the role that the oral tradition has played in the formation of Irish identity and what the present decline of traditional storytelling means for “Irishness.