What does it mean to be Irish American today?

Are we tethered, in any way, to those ancestors who carried our history, language, and culture across the great ocean? What are our commitments in relation to our history and identity? The questions are endless, and yet so are the opportunities for the reclamation of knowledge that is under real threat of obscurity and loss.

Stories from Irish America, founded in 2024, seeks to ask some of the most pressing questions relating to Irish American life, both past and the present. It is maintained by Jordan Kennedy Rice, an Irish American and descendent of Gaels whose ancestors survived An Gorta Mór and settled outside of Boston and in Nova Scotia and Ontario, Canada. She is a member of Gaeltacht an Oileáin Úir, the only permanent Gaeltacht outside of Ireland.

While initially the plan for the project was to conduct academic-style oral histories, Jordan’s vision shifted after realizing that there are enough academic oral histories, and that what really interests her is reciprocal conversation. She plans to conduct audio and video interviews with elders, immigrants, descendants, leadership of cultural organizations, historians, archivists, and more. Her core belief about this work as that in order to continue to be a people, unique and contiguous, we must make the case to the next generation that our histories and stories are good, beautiful, and worth handing on.

Go raibh míle maith agaibh for visiting the project. If you would like to take part, have questions, or just want to chat, you can email Jordan at jkyrice@proton.me.