January 30th at 4:30 in Harugari 229 (alternate date: February, 6th)
The birth of American popular culture in the 19th century coincided with the arrival of Irish immigrants escaping the Great Famine. The earliest pop culture entertainments—circuses, freak shows, wild west shows, vaudeville—give evidence to the profound ways in which the Irish shaped the development of popular culture and also highlight how Irish-American identity was reciprocally shaped by emerging pop culture.
