My name is Rory McCabe and I like to read and think and write. I’m also an occasional musician and full-time islander living on Clare Island, a small Irish island. I live here with around 150 other people but that number changes, both up and down, depending on the year and the season. (You can check out the key facts and details about Clare Island on the community website)

I’m a lifelong learner obsessed with the world of books and ideas, but also with an uneven attitude towards schooling. Even so, I followed my need for growth and learning into the world of academia. I studied music at University College Cork and a few years later did a Masters in Ethnomusicology—think, anthropology of music. Then in 2021, I completed a PhD at the Centre for Irish Studies, NUI Galway. During my PhD I had the privilege of being both an Irish Research Council Scholar (2016-2020) and an Ireland Canada University Foundation Scholar (2019).

Some things I share on this site developed directly from my doctoral research—an ethnographic study of music-making and community life on Clare Island. If you want to learn more about this research, check out this YouTube video of me describing the project. (The video is from an online lecture hosted by the Institute of Island Studies at UPEI Canada in January 2021.)

Despite this body of research, much of what I share on this site comes from a lifetime spent with other islanders and an outlook focused through an island environment. I expect this site—its content, my ideas and the writings—to develop over time. As such, Islandisms is also partly a space where I explore my growth as a writer. Specifically, as a writer and thinker building connections to the outside world while living in a remote island environment. So welcome to my site and to my journey!