Irish Studies Courses Fall

Monday, Wednesday, 1:40-2:55 PM
Instructor: Sarah Covington
Class Number: 61522
Location: Powdermaker Hall 156

Ireland is a country with an intense historical consciousness, and one that finds its way into the stories of myths and folklore. This class will explore the intersection of history and memory with those stories throughout the centuries, focusing on case studies including St. Patrick, the arch-fiend Oliver Cromwell, the Famine, and the Easter Rising of 1916. But we will also look at fairy lore, ghost stories, and Celtic origin tales, to understand the workings of a popular imagination that has been marked by trauma as well as survival.​

Tuesday, 6:30-9:20 PM
Instructor: Patrick McGough
Class Number: 5225
Location: Kiely 417

This course will ex​amine 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. 

Monday 6:30-9:20 p.m.
Instructor: Jeff Cassvan   
Location: Kiely 173

In this course we will explore the work of Seamus Heaney (1939-2013), winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature and one of the most important, popular and influential poets of the English language in the last fifty years. In addition to working through the different periods of his powtic career, we will consider Heaney’s prose and his translations in the context of Irish history and culture.

Tuesday, 6:30-7:45 
Instructor: Thomas Ihde 
Course Number: 6325
Location: TBA

We will study the basic grammar of Modern Irish by doing oral and written exercises.  In addition, we will be listening to radio and television programs and watching at least one Irish language film. This beginning course counts towards the language requirement if you commit to taking three consecutive semesters of Irish language courses. The textbook is Colloquial Irish: The Complete Course for Beginners by Thomas Ihde.