Blarney in St. Louie: Performing Irishness at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 1904

The dynamics of power between the privileged and those who must be subordinate to them was glaringly apparent at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. While natives from many countries were displayed in ethnographic villages, the Irish were represented in the Irish Industrial Exposition concession on the Pike. A group of ninety performers came from Ireland to show their skills this concession; among these were a troupe of actors from Dublin. The Dublin troupe was engaged to perform AE’s <em>Deirdre, </em>but left before they had been at the exposition for a month because they felt that the Irish were not being well represented in the Irish Industrial Exposition. The performances given in this exhibit expounded on a view of the Irish that both challenged and conformed to prominent stereotypes of the time. By employing James C. Scott’s <em>Domination and the Arts of Resistance, </em>I reveal the complex and multifaceted power dynamics involved in the performances at the Irish Industrial Exposition.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Theatre Studies

Year dc:date.available

2015

Author dc:creator

• White, Cassandra L.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Jay Ball
• Michael Smith
• Jason Knirck

• Deirdre (Legendary character)
• George William Russell
• Ireland
• Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904 : Saint Louis
• Mo.)
• Anthropology
• Celtic Studies
• Fine Arts
• Theatre and Performance Studies
• Theatre History

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/etd/269

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.cwu.edu:etd-1265