Shane O'Halloran

Profile

• Academic Background

  • 1999: B.Sc. Economics and Management, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
  • 2005: M.A. International and Development Economics, Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin (HTW)
  • 2025: M.A. Irish Mythology and Folklore, University College Cork (UCC)
  • Since 2025: Doctoral researcher at the Seminar for Cultural Anthropology and Cultural History, Friedrich Schiller University Jena
  • Working title of dissertation:
    Fairies, Festivals, and Folklore: Cultural Continuity and Heritage in 21st-Century Ireland
• Research Profile

  Shane O’Halloran is a doctoral researcher in cultural anthropology with a focus on cultural continuity, narrative practices, and intangible cultural heritage. His research pays particular attention to the contemporary life of folk traditions in Ireland, including belief systems, seasonal festivals, and vernacular cultural practices.

  His doctoral project explores how traditional narratives, beliefs, and festive practices are maintained, adapted, and re-framed within modern social, ecological, and heritage contexts. Methodologically, his work combines archival research, digital corpus analysis, and qualitative interviews.

  Alongside his academic research, he brings professional experience in community-centred project design, participatory approaches, and digital transformation, which informs his interest in applied and publicly engaged anthropology.

• Research Interests

  • Narrative transmission and transformation
  • Intangible cultural heritage
  • Contemporary vernacular belief practices
  • Seasonal festivals and ritual calendars in Ireland
  • Sensory and digital ethnography
  • Eco-cultural imaginaries and human environment relations
  • Heritage, authenticity, and identity
  • Community-centred documentation and co-curation