"Kiss Me I'm Not Irish, but I Wish I Was"

Ethnomusicological works often examine music as an expression of identity. In these studies, music is seen as the product of culture and ethnicity. This thesis reverses this approach and instead explores how musical experiences, rather than only reflecting identity, can produce identity. Within the context of the United States of America, a multicultural society, the Irish music tradition is generally understood to belong to the community of the Irish diaspora. This music is closely associated with a specific population that is delineated by both a common ethnicity and culture. However, this work considers the resulting impact upon identity construction when individuals from outside of this community participate in its music. This thesis examines how and why individuals in the United States, regardless of their ethnic background, incorporate an Irish-American cultural identity into their personal identity through participation in the Irish-American music-culture. This work demonstrates that membership in the Irish-American music community is determined more by musical participation, personal interactions between individual members, and a respect for the tradition than by an Irish ethnic connection. It also shows how Irish music in an American context is uniquely suited for the construction and reconstruction of identity by its participants.