The Irish: Northern Europeans with Mediterranean Sensibilities

March 16, 2011

With St. Patrick's Day in mind, we asked Stonehill Professor and Irish Studies scholar Richard Finnegan '64 for cultural insight on the country, which he says is "a northern European country with Mediterranean sensibility."

The founding director of Stonehill's Irish Studies Program, Finnegan went on to say that while Ireland's "conversation, exaggeration, stories, music, sociability, sparkling wit and charm are abound; the reserve associated with Northern Europeans is absent. That characteristic, and because the Irish speak English, are reasons why tourists love Ireland."

The first Stonehill professor to hold a Fulbright Distinguished Chair, Finnegan is discharging his Fulbright responsibilities at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic this semester.

He has taught at Stonehill since 1968, and, along with Economic Professor James Wiles, he founded the College's Archive of Irish Government Documents. It is the only comprehensive collection of Irish Government documents in America.

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