Storytelling on the Northern Irish Border: Characters and Community [Paperback]

More than quaint local color, folklore is a crucial part of life in Aghyaran, a mixed Catholic-Protestant border community in Northern Ireland. Neighbors socialize during wakes andceilisinformal nighttime gatheringswithout regard to religious, ethnic, or political affiliation. The witty, sometimes raucous stories swapped on these occasions offer a window into Aghyaran residents' views of self and other in the wake of decades of violent conflict. Through anecdotes about local characters, participants explore the nature of community and identity in ways that transcend Catholic or Protestant sectarian histories. Ray Cashman analyzes local character anecdotes in detail and argues that while politicians may take credit for the peace process in Northern Ireland, no political progress would be possible without ordinary people using shared resources of storytelling and socializing to imagine and maintain community.

Stories may begin as entertainment, but in fact they can actually portray change in the way of life. Through careful ethnographic observation, Cashman (English and folklore, Ohio State Univ.) uses stories to capture life in Aghyaran, a small town on the northern Irish border. He analyzes the stories and the traditions of ceilis (i.e., get-togethers) and wakes, offering a glimpse into a community and its social life as he contemplates the lasting effects of oral narrative. Throughout, the author draws on the work of linguists and anthropologists such as Richard Bauman and Franz Boas to analyze the values and themes revealed through the narratives presented. By concentrating on particular individuals, Cashman depicts types of characters; but he goes far beyond this to observe the importance of context and genre of stories as well as the role of local character anecdotes. Offering much more than stories traded by friends and family, Cashman delves into the differences in political and religious identities of the region to paint a complete picturel³™