Courses & Content

IRISH HISTORY & SOCIETY

(a) Objectives

(b) Course Contents

The physical and political geography of Ireland

the components of the Irish landscape and their making - bog, forests, fields, cities, towns, villages, buildings, demesnes, communications, mining and power.

Prehistoric settlement and archaeology

- early settlement, Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages).

Early Christian Ireland

- monasteries, high crosses, illuminated manuscripts, metalwork, Irish missionaries abroad, the viking raids, civil and political society, the first towns.

Norman invasion and Gaelic recovery

- military conquest and Irish resurgence; government, legal and ecclesiastical reform; mottes, castles, monasteries, cathedrals, parish churches, towns; rural settlement; social and cultural life.

Early modern Ireland, 1500-1800

- Tudor conquest and Gaelic reaction; reformation and counter-reformation; plantation; towns; language, surnames, science, cartography, placenames; catholic confederacy and Cromwellian conquest; restoration society; Jacobite wars, protestant ascendancy, roads, canals and barracks, Georgian architecture and art; Irish relations with Europe; Ireland and the American Revolution; the United Irishmen and 1798; sectarian divisions.

Ireland under the Union

- the Act of Union, catholic emancipation and mass politics; population, poverty, famine, emigration, landlords and tenants; Ireland and the American civil war; the Fenians, the Land Acts, Parnell and Home Rule, Yeats and cultural nationalism, the catholic revival; the Irish language; the First World War, 1916, the war of Independence and the Anglo-Irish treaty.

Ireland since 1922

- the Irish Free State, the deValera years, economic and cultural malaise, World War II neutrality and postwar foreign policy, Lemass and economic expansion; EU membership, the modernisation of Irish society,' the Celtic tiger,' the crisis in Northern Ireland.

(c) Bibliography

The Oxford Illustrated History of Ireland (Oxford, NewYork, 1969).

R.F Foster (ed.)

Guide to the National Monuments of Ireland (Dublin 1970).

Peter Harbison

The Illustrated Archaeology of Ireland (Dublin 1991).

Michael Ryan. (ed.)

Ireland 1912-1985 (Cambridge, 1989).

J.J Lee

Irish Art and Architecture from Prehistoric to the Present (London 1978).

Peter Harbison, Homan Potterton and Jeanne Sheey (eds.)

Offaly: History and Society (Dublin 1998).

William Nolan and Timothy O'Neill (eds.)

Atlas of Irish Rural Landscape (Cork 1997).

F.H.A Aalen, Kevin Whelan and Matthew Stout (eds.)

IRISH LITERATURE & CULTURAL STUDIES

(a) Objectives:

(b) Course Contents

Irish Fiction:

An introduction to nineteenth and twentieth century Irish fiction, including works by Maria Edgeworth, James Joyce, Flann O'Brien, John Banville and Patrick McCabe. The core text will be 'Dubliners'by Joyce. Students will engage in a close reading of some stories, and will watch and critique John Huston's film of 'The Dead'

Irish Drama:

The history of drama in Ireland, including reference to the works of some of the following: William Congreve; Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Oliver Goldsmith, William Butler Yeats and the Irish Literary Theatre, Irish theatre after 1922, modern playwrights including Samuel Beckett, Brian Friel and Stephen MacDonagh. The course will include readings of extracts from 'Waiting for Godot' and 'Philadelphia Here I Come' and a viewing and critique of the film version of John B. Keane 'The Field'.

Irish Poetry:

Bardic poetry; the aisling the problems of translation; the politicisation of poetry; William Butler Yeats, Patrick Kavanagh, Austin Clarke; contemporary poetry, including works by Seamus Heaney, Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, Derek Mahon, Eavan Boland, Paul Muldoon and John Montague. The students will hear tapes of some of the poets reading their own works.

Film:

A brief history of film in Ireland; how the Irish have been portrayed in British and American film, with particular reference to David Lean's Ryan's Daughter' and John Ford's 'The Quiet Man'. Students will watch and critique Neil Jordan's 'The Crying Game', and if time allows extracts from 'Angel'.

Irish Language:

A series of short language classes in spoken and written Irish, to include the structure of the language, conversation, greetings, informal letter writing, etc.

Music & Dance:

An introduction to various styles of Irish music, including seannos, ballads, Sean O'Riada, The Cheiftains, Irish ceili bands, and contemporary music including U2 and Riverdance. Students will be taught ceili dances such as The Siege of Ennis and The Walls of Limerick. They will listen to a wide variety of audio and video taped music and dance.

Sport:

A history of the Gaelic Athletic Association; basic rules in hurling and Gaelic football. Students will watch edited highlights of some All-Ireland Games.

(c) Bibliography