Telling Their Own Stories: The Irish in New York City
FRSEM-UA 540
Linda Dowling Almeida
lindaalmeida@hotmail.com
212/998-3950
Tuesday 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Office Hours: Tuesday 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. and by appointment
Fall 2015
Texts:
Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt
Charming Billy, Alice McDermott
Doubt, John Patrick Shanley
Remembering Ahanagran: Storytelling in a Family’s Past, Richard White
The Voice of the Past: Oral History (3rd edition), Paul Thompson
Joe Long Interviews of West Village Irish
Purpose:
This interdisciplinary course will focus on oral history as a resource in understanding the 20th century
history of the Irish in America, particularly in New York. Students will explore the discipline as it has
progressed over the last twenty years, developing their own research, writing and interviewing skills
along the way with access to the 300+ interviews in Glucksman's Ireland House's Oral History holdings in
the Archives of Irish America. The course will demonstrate how oral history gives life to ethnic
communities like those of the Irish longshoreman who worked Chelsea Piers in the West Village before it
was an entertainment destination, personalizes dramatic events like 9/11, or provides insight as to why
John Patrick Shanley wrote Doubt. In addition to traditional texts, we will listen to and conduct
interviews, read Irish-American fiction, walk the streets of the communities we study and screen film
and documentaries exploring the lives of Irish Americans. This course will introduce students not only to
oral history but to the history of the Irish in America.
Course Requirements:
We meet once a week, attendance is mandatory and will be considered in the determination of final
grades, along with class participation, the readings, and smaller writing assignments that stem from the
class readings and discussion.
Work is assigned on a weekly basis and is outlined in the syllabus distributed at the start of the
semester. The syllabus is also available on-line throughout the semester as are most readings, special
assignments, and announcements for the class.
The two featured assignments for the semester, in addition to regular reading and writing assignments,
are an independent interview with a subject of the student’s choice and a project focussing on some
aspect of Irish American history or culture using oral history sources including interviews deposited in
the Archive of Irish America at NYU.
All books are available at the bookstore, but feel free to use library loans or purchase the texts
elsewhere. All other articles/readings will be found on line in NYU Classes.
Grade Distribution:
Essay #1, Interview – 20% October 5, 2015
Essay #2, Memoir – 20% November 9, 2015
Essay #3, Film review –15% November 23, 2015
Oral Presentation, Film review – 5% November 30, 2015
Final Project –35% December 14, 2015
Attendance and Participation – 10%
Week 1
September 8
Introduction
Class:
What is objective of the course.
Discuss semester projects, expectations.
Review interviews in the Archive: look at elements of the project.
Oral History and Community History
Read for September 10:
“Irish America, 1900-1940”, Kevin Kenny, The American Irish: A History
“Irish America, 1940-2000”, Linda Dowling Almeida, Making the Irish American (MIA)
“The History of Oral History”, Rebecca Sharpless, Handbook of Oral History, ed. Tomas L. Charlton, Lois
E. Myers, and Rebecca Sharpless
Assignment for September 14:
Read oral interview of Ed McGowan by Mick Maloney and select excerpts that best define the interview;
write out each quote and why your chose it.
Listen to the OH podcast: http://irelandhouse.fas.nyu.edu/object/podcast.tellingstories .
Week 2
September 15
Oral History/Oral Tradition/The Irish in America
Class:
The oral tradition in history
Who are the Irish in America?
Review background of Irish in United States 1600-present
Discuss excerpt selections from Week 1 assignment
Why Oral History is important
Read for September 21:
“The Interview,” The Voice of the Past: Oral History, Paul Thompson, pp. 222-245
Read Joe Long Interviews (assign one to each student)
Week 3
September 22
The Interview: Subject and Background
Richard White and his family history
Class:
Review etiquette of interviews, communication with candidates, etc.
Discuss history/historiography of oral history as a practice
Discuss interviewing techniques, how to ask questions, determine focus/structure of interview
Review Joe Long Interviews
Practice interviews, using Story Corps questionaire
Listen to interviews, critique style, discuss how to conduct an interview/work with the interview
candidate to solicit responses
Read for September 28: Thompson, “Memory and the Self”, pp. 173-189
Remembering Ahanagran, Richard White (See assignments for specific chapter requirements)
John Kotre, White Gloves: How We Create Ourselves Through Memory, “Prologue” and “The
Whereabouts of Memory,” pp. 1-26.
Assignment:
Interview Exercise due October 5. See Blackboard for details
Prepare two prompts for discussion based on the readings for September 28.
Week 4
September 29
Memory: How reliable is it?
Class:
Discussion on reading topics including White’s Ahanagran and Kotre led by student prompts
Listen to Richard White interviews
Screen: Sleuthing Mary Shanley
Reading Assignment for October 5:
“The Death of Luigi Trastulli”, Alessandro Portelli, The Death of Luigi Trastulli and Other Stories: Form
and Meaning in Oral History
Kotre, pp. 27-57, “Is Everything in There?” White Gloves
Prepare prompt for class discussion based on readings.
Week 5
October 6
Memory/Oral History as a Resource/propaganda tool
Class:
Screen Bloody Sunday
Interview Exercise due
Student led discussions on Portelli and Kotre and White.
Reading Assignment for 10/19:
Charming Billy by Alice McDermott
Assignment:
Consider topics for final project. Submit topic idea to Professor Almeida by 10/19 for approval and
before 10/26 trip to library.
Week 6
October 13
HOLIDAY
Week 7
October 20: Telling Stories the Way We Remember Them
Class: Discuss Charming Billy
Assignment for November 2:
Read McCourt’s Angela Ashes
Week 8
October 27
Research Session in Library
Class Part I
Meet at Bobst Library
Class Part II
Twentieth Century Immigration –
Discuss Daniel Hartigan memoirs/interviews from Archive and Almeida/Kenny readings
Week 9
November 3
Memoirs and oral history
Class:
Discuss Angela’s Ashes
Discuss differences between memoirs and oral history. Does it matter who tells the story?
Preview BC tapes case
Assignment:
Essay #2 on memoirs, details on line
Due: November 9
Read for 11/9:
See website: https://bostoncollegesubpoena.wordpress.com/ and instructions for reading on line
BC Tapes article in History Ireland
Week 10
November 10
Facts vs. Truth: Significance of Oral History
Legal Issues
Stewardship/Preservation/Archiving
BC/IRA tapes case
Class:
Discuss significance of oral histories: value as evidence, resource
Discuss Boston College case and role of university in housing the tapes
Review Archives of Irish America
How are oral histories collected, archived. Review existing examples, including Archives of Irish America,
Ellis Island, Aisling Center, Mick Moloney, Myriam Nyhan
Read for November 16:
Steven Erie and Chris McNickle excerpts on line
Assignment for November 23:
Film Reviews by Students (written and oral) – How reliable is film as a reflection of a community, details
on line.
Week 11
November 17
In their Own Words: Preserving a Community with Oral History
Neighborhood tour of West Village: A day in the life of a waterfront family.
Class:
Local Politics
Discuss Erie and McNickle
November 24
Thanksgiving holiday
Film review due.
Assignment:
Read Doubt for December 7
Week 12
December 1
Film Critiques
Class:
Student presentations of film critiques (November 9 assignment)
Week 13
December 8
The Irish in the Church: Vocations and Legacy
Class:
Discuss Doubt, listen to interviews from archives from priests and nuns
Week 15
December 15
Final Projects
Class:
Present final projects