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PUBS, PUNTERS, AND PINTS: ANTHROPOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS ON PUB LIFE IN IRELAND

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Date Issued:
2009
Abstract/Description:
Ireland is a country with a rich and unique cultural heritage. It is difficult to imagine that certain facets of Irish culture (e.g. Saint Patrick's Day, the Blarney Stone, or the Ring of Kerry) can ever be taken for granted since they are so widely recognized internationally. One common feature of Irish life that possibly warrants more scholarly attention is the public house or pub. Much has been written about pubs as quaint institutions in popular literature and fiction. Curiously, they remain largely overlooked as vital aspects of Irish culture by anthropologists and others in the social sciences. In many ways, socio-cultural research on pub life in Ireland is woefully under examined. In an effort to better evaluate the significance of traditional pub life to Irish culture, my thesis seeks to integrate and critically assess the existing socio-cultural literature on Irish pub life. Such work will not only help highlight both the commonalities and discrepancies within this area of study, it will more significantly identify those areas of Irish pub life that can benefit from further academic investigation. Two recent trips to Ireland in September 2004 and May 2006, allowed me to observe important aspects of pub life first hand. It became apparent from these encounters that, like the history of Ireland itself, local pubs have a rich historical foundation. Many of the pubs that I visited have been in existence or operational since the Middle Ages. Based on this longevity, one can reasonably argue that pubs in Ireland function largely as locales of social significance and cultural reproduction, not just centers of recreational drinking. Using my travel experience as a starting point for the critical analysis phase of this thesis project, I have developed three general research questions that I will explore to varying degrees in the context of this work. These are: (1) what are the origins of pubs in Ireland?; (2) what explicit and implicit functions do pubs serve in Irish communities?; and (3) what possible developments are likely to affect Irish pubs in the near and distant future?
Title: PUBS, PUNTERS, AND PINTS: ANTHROPOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS ON PUB LIFE IN IRELAND.
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Name(s): Cucchiara, Jason, Author
Matejowsky, Ty, Committee Chair
University of Central Florida, Degree Grantor
Type of Resource: text
Date Issued: 2009
Publisher: University of Central Florida
Language(s): English
Abstract/Description: Ireland is a country with a rich and unique cultural heritage. It is difficult to imagine that certain facets of Irish culture (e.g. Saint Patrick's Day, the Blarney Stone, or the Ring of Kerry) can ever be taken for granted since they are so widely recognized internationally. One common feature of Irish life that possibly warrants more scholarly attention is the public house or pub. Much has been written about pubs as quaint institutions in popular literature and fiction. Curiously, they remain largely overlooked as vital aspects of Irish culture by anthropologists and others in the social sciences. In many ways, socio-cultural research on pub life in Ireland is woefully under examined. In an effort to better evaluate the significance of traditional pub life to Irish culture, my thesis seeks to integrate and critically assess the existing socio-cultural literature on Irish pub life. Such work will not only help highlight both the commonalities and discrepancies within this area of study, it will more significantly identify those areas of Irish pub life that can benefit from further academic investigation. Two recent trips to Ireland in September 2004 and May 2006, allowed me to observe important aspects of pub life first hand. It became apparent from these encounters that, like the history of Ireland itself, local pubs have a rich historical foundation. Many of the pubs that I visited have been in existence or operational since the Middle Ages. Based on this longevity, one can reasonably argue that pubs in Ireland function largely as locales of social significance and cultural reproduction, not just centers of recreational drinking. Using my travel experience as a starting point for the critical analysis phase of this thesis project, I have developed three general research questions that I will explore to varying degrees in the context of this work. These are: (1) what are the origins of pubs in Ireland?; (2) what explicit and implicit functions do pubs serve in Irish communities?; and (3) what possible developments are likely to affect Irish pubs in the near and distant future?
Identifier: CFE0002578 (IID), ucf:48255 (fedora)
Note(s): 2009-05-01
M.A.
Sciences, Department of Anthropology
Masters
This record was generated from author submitted information.
Subject(s): Anthropology
beer
pubs
Ireland
public house
sociology
liquor
licensing
intoxicating
pub life
Anthropological reflections on pub life in Ireland
pub
punters
pints
pint
Guinness
Irish
alcohol
alcohol studies
cultural anthropology
liquor licensing law
Dublin
drunk
drinking
drinking cultures
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002578
Restrictions on Access: public
Host Institution: UCF

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