Irish Studies (IRISH-GA)

Introduction to the inter- and trans-disciplinary nature of contemporary Irish Studies practice, focusing on issues of historiographic and representational controversy in the interpretation of Irish history and culture.

Students achieve basic conversational proficiency in Irish. Examines major historical and cultural subjects surrounding the language such as its decline, attempts at revival, and its contemporary position.

Survey of the traditions of writing in Ireland from the plantations of the late 16th century to the famine of 1846-1850. Considers the interplay of literature and national identity, and the role of literature and other forms of print culture in a variety of social processes.

Surveys the main currents and individual careers of Irish writers from the mid-19th to the late 20th century, surveying 19th-century fiction, the Irish Renaissance, the literature of the Civil War and Free State periods, and post-War Irish poetry, drama, and fiction.

Emphasis of this course varies by semester and is designed to allow flexibility in course offerings from visiting scholars and specialists in particular fields. Past examinations have included contemporary Irish fiction and poetry, Irish women writers, and Northern Irish poetry

This course will seek to address the most pressing questions facing poetry criticism in the Irish Studies field: the cultural consequences of Irish independence; the relation of poetry to the civil crisis in Northern Ireland; the confining and liberating aspects of tradition and the impact of the Irish Literary Revival; the use of translation as a means of finding voice; the agency of poetry in forcing change within a conservative cultural climate; the challenge of postmodernism to national literatures, and the arrival of prosperity in Ireland and the consequent need to revise our conceptions of Irish culture. The poets we will read include Austin Clarke, Patrick Kavanagh, John Hewitt, Louis MacNeice, Thomas Kinsella, John Montague, Seamus Heaney, Michael Longley, Eavan Boland, Derek Mahon, Eilean Ni Chuilleanain, Paul Muldoon, Ciaran Carson, Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, and Medbh McGuckian.

Designed to allow flexibility in coursework otherwise unavailable via regular course offerings. Requires research proposal, abstract, and regularly scheduled meetings with faculty supervisor for approval.

Preparation for MA thesis in close supervision with their faculty supervisor. Requires research proposal, abstract, and a schedule of meetings to their supervisor for approval.

Survey of musical culture of Irish emigrants to North America from 1750 to the present. Establishes understanding of historical dialogue of musical styles in Ireland and America, opening explanatory paradigms for Irish diasporic experience and for the role of Irish music in North American social, cultural, and political life.

Analyzes events and conditions leading to the Act of Union: Tudor conquest and colonization; Gaelic pushback; Ireland under the Stuarts; the Williamite War and formation of the Protestant Ascendancy; emergence of Irish nationalism; Ireland and the Enlightenment; 18th-century political, economic and societal transformations; Ireland in the age of revolutions.

Examines the impact of the Union and stages of its dissolution on Irish life, role of Ireland in the British empire, nature of civil society in Ireland, the cultural and political dimensions of nationalism and unionism, the role of the Irish diaspora, and Irish experience of urbanization, modernization, and globalization.

Explores the significance of Irish involvements in the larger Atlantic World (maritime Europe, West Africa, and the Americas) as well as the ways in which Ireland responded to—and was affected by—such encounters.

The Irish are one of the most significant ethnic groups to ever migrate from Europe to the United States. Their impact has been disproportionate to their number but this only partially explains our contemporary understanding of “Irish America.” This seminar explores how the history of Irish immigrants and their descendants in the United States has been written over the past century and a half. Using essays, article literature, review essays, fiction and film, students evaluate the major influences on the construction of the narrative of the Irish in America. The goal is to learn how to separate historical content from historiography, see how both can affect popular perceptions of an ethnic people, and then address a research lacuna using primary and secondary sources.

The emphasis of this course varies by semester and is designed to allow flexibility in course offerings by Ireland House faculty and by visiting scholars.

No other European country in the modern era lost so high a proportion of its population overseas as Ireland. Counting those who went to Britain as well as the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, about 10 million Irish men, women, and children emigrated from Ireland since 1700. That number is about twice the population of the Republic of Ireland today and it exceeds the population of Ireland at its historical peak on the eve of the great famine. This course will begin by considering the conditions in Ireland that led to emigration on such a massive and sustained scale. On that basis we will examine different models of migration—as voluntary departure, exile or banishment, and diaspora—and proceed to analyze the principal themes in the history of the Irish abroad, including labor, gender, religion, politics, and nationalism.

Designed to allow flexibility in coursework otherwise unavailable via regular course offerings. Requires research proposal, abstract, and regularly scheduled meetings with faculty supervisor for approval.

This course provides a rich and comprehensive sociological analysis of Irish Politics and Society, focusing in particular on how Irish society evolved to the society it is today. Specifically, the course examines how Irish society was determined by its historical development and social processes, and how change impacted Ireland. The course illustrates how Ireland can be viewed as a ‘holistic entity’ in itself, where interconnecting processes co-exist in the present day. In other words, The Past is Always Present. The course is divided into three time-frames: the Post-colonial (1920s -1950s), Modern (1960s- 1980s), Twenty-First century Ireland (the Celtic Tiger period and its aftermath) (1990 - 2022), and locates for each of those periods, the dominant characteristic (essential structure), which determined all other aspects of Irish life to the present day. To achieve this aim, we will be critically engaging with conceptual frameworks that have been applied to Ireland from within sociology and other disciplines.