The Irish 'Onion' - Intercultural Communication

Abstract or Introduction

This term paper will deal with the culture of Ireland referring to the idiosyncratic cultural norms of it.
Since the relationship between the big topic and the space at my disposal can best be described as unproportional (to say the least), it will, in the end, remain but a very concise (and perforce, somewhat superficial) overlook rather than an in-depth study. One reason for the inadequacy lies in the fact that there are notable divides between the rural people and city dwellers, Catholics and Protestants, Norne Irons (Northern Irelanders) and Irelanders from the Republic, and the Irish-speaking people inside and outside the Gaeltacht (Gaelic speaking regions) and the English-speaking majority population. The culture of the Irish is, thus, far from being homogeneous. In order to meet the conditions of a description of the manifestations of Ireland’s culture at different levels nonetheless, I used Geert Hofstede’s ‘onion diagram’ (hence the title) as a guideline and worked through the layers from the outside to the core (cf. Hofstede 1991: 9). Thus, I will deal with Ireland’s symbols first, move on to its heroes, describe some of the rituals, eventually shed some light at the cultural values and close with displaying some of the more common stereotypes.