Irish Studies Course Descriptions

3 hrs; 3 credits
Description:This course traces the development of Irish society from the initial settlement by foraging peoples through the development of agriculture and metallurgy to the origins of chiefdoms and states.  Special attention is given to the Celtic Iron Age Society. 3hr; 3 cr. Prereq.: English 110. Six credits in social science or sophomore standing.

English 365: Celtic Mythology and Literature.
3 hrs; 3 credits
Description:This course is a study of the Celtic literature of Britain and Ireland, focusing mainly on the heroic sagas of Ireland and Wales. Attention is given to the relationships among Celtic, English, and Continental literatures. All readings in English translation.

English 366: Introduction to Irish Literature
3 hrs; 3 credits
Description:This course will provide a thorough introduction to the most interesting and important works of Irish literature from the Middle Ages to the present, with a special focus on the continuity and transformation of tradition as well as on the shifting aesthetic, political and social contexts in which Irish literature has been produced.  Readings will include Old and Middle Irish saga and poetry, satire from the 18th century, and selections from the work of W. B. Yeats, J. M. Synge, James Joyce and Seamus Heaney.  We will also focus on the ways a number of the major trends in literary theory and criticism have been applied to the interpretation of this diverse material.  This will include an exploration of the question of the relationship between the study of literature, mythology and history and of the concept of tradition itself.

English 367: Modern Irish Literature
3 hrs; 3 credits
Description:A study of the great modern Irish writers–Yeats, Joyce, and Beckett–in relation to Irish culture and to some of their important contemporaries, such as Synge, O’Casey, O’Connor, and O’Brien. An important focus will be on the distinctively Irish nature of these writers’ materials, attitudes, and language.

English 368W: Irish Writers
3 hrs; 3 credits
Description:Detailed study of a major writer, such as James Joyce, W. B. Yeats, or a group of writers, such as the contemporary Ulster poets, who have created a literature of considerable significance. Topic varies each semester.

History 230: Ireland from the Earliest Times to 1690
3 hrs; 3 credits
Description:A study of Irish culture from ancient times to the Norman Conquest, the second wave of colonization in the Elizabethan period, and the wars of the seventeenth century.

History 231:  Ireland since 1690
3 hrs; 3 credits
Description:This course surveys the major political, economic, and social developments in Ireland from the Treaty of Limerick to today’s “Celtic Tiger” economy in the Republic and the peace process in Northern Ireland.  Events highlighted in the early part of this course include the Penal Era, the emergence of “Protestant Nationalism,” the birth of Irish Republicanism among Ulster Presbyterian Radicals, the Act of Union, Catholic Emancipation, and the causes and consequences of the 1840’s Famine.  The survey of post-Famine Ireland covers the development of modern Nationalism and Unionism with an examination of why Ireland was partitioned along apparently religious lines in the 1920’s.  An overview of Ireland since Partition concludes with an analysis of the current economy in the Republic and the prospects for continuing peace and devolved government in Northern Ireland.

History 229: Politics and Religion in Early Modern England and Ireland
(PLAS course: Reading Literature and European Traditions).
3 hrs; 3 credits
Prerequisites: none
Description: This class will explore the major religious, political, cultural, and intellectual developments that took place in England and Ireland over the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Not only was the age a crucial one for both countries, together and separately, but so does it continue to be one of the most contested, controversial, and debated periods among historians of any time or place. Students will become acquainted with literature and religion as they reflected and shaped historical developments. Students will also come to engage critically with the past through close readings of primary sources and other documents. By mastering the broad developments of one of the most important periods in history, students will deepen their understanding of the past and present, further sharpening their skills and critical facilities as historians.

History 304: Northern Ireland since 1968
3 hrs; 3 credits
Description: This course will examine the conflict in Northern Ireland from the start of the Civil Rights Movement, through the war, peace negotiations, and power sharing of Catholics and Protestants in the current government.  The armed struggle among official state forces and paramilitary groups from both Protestant and Catholic communities will be studied alongside the efforts of the various political parties to negotiate, share power, and recognize the civil rights of all. We will study economic and cultural conditions within Catholic and Protestant communities, and the varieties of politics within them. We will pay particular attention to such movements as Field Day, which sponsored theatre throughout the countryside in order to try to create political reflection and understanding on all sides. A tragic period in Irish history, the “Troubles” also inspired a wealth of literature that attempted to express the grief over the loss of life, and the desire to move the culture beyond armed conflict. This synthesis course will help students understand the relationships between memory and history, symbolism and politics, as well as the way all of these are represented and critically reflected upon in literature and film.

History 352: History of the Celtic World
3 hrs; 3 credits
Description:This class will trace the history, literature and culture of the Celtic world from its heyday in the first millennium B.C., through its medieval and early modern periods, when it became transformed by such factors or influences as Christianity and colonization. Though some attention will be paid to the Celts on the continent, most of our focus will rest on Ireland, Wales, and (to a lesser extent) Scotland, particularly as those nations expressed themselves through literary and poetic, written and oral, means. In this sense, we will study not only the history of the Celts but their “pseudo-history” as well, including the myths and legends that served to construct a particular identity, or idea of “Celticity” that remains a powerful idea to this day. Finally, we will end the course with a survey of the way in which Gaelic identity was harnessed toward nationalistic purposes in the modern age, providing the means in which to create an “imagined community.”