University College Dublin

What made Ireland the country it is today? The course addresses that question by examining Irish history, culture, and society in an interdisciplinary and interactive manner. Students are introduced to key themes, debates, personalities, influences, and events that help to provide a greater understanding of how Ireland evolved into the country it is today. From the arrival of Christianity to post-Celtic Tiger Ireland, attention is focused throughout on fundamental issues related to religion, gender, sexuality, language, literature, politics, society, music, sport, film, and material culture. The course is structured around key topics which address a series of relevant issues relating to Ireland. Each topic is addressed in an associated lecture by an expert in that particular field. 

This course enhances students' understanding of "The Forgotten Irish" by addressing various sectors of society which have often been cast aside from the stereotypical view of what it means to be Irish. Topics such as religion, colonial connections, gender, and sexuality, traveler culture, and the role of "New Irish" immigrant communities are explored in a multi-modal context including literature, print, film, art, music, and original source documents.

This course considers key themes, topics, debates, and controversies in Irish culture, focusing particularly on the representation of Irish-ness and Irish culture in literature, film, drama, and art history. Key issues explored include cultural nationalism; the literary revival; the myth of the West; Dublin in cultural representation; gender and nation; commemoration and memory; institutional abuse scandals; race and immigration; and class prosperity, recession, and austerity.
 

This course examines expressions of popular or vernacular religion and associated practices which exist apart from, but alongside, the strictly theological and liturgical forms of official religion. Ideas, beliefs, and narratives about the Christian supernatural as well as supernatural beings outside of (but often influenced by) the Christian pantheon, will be discussed, as well as fairy belief and legends. Possible explanatory frameworks for folk belief in the supernatural, and the relationship between belief and narrative creativity, is also examined. The course examines a wide range of verbal genres, including apocryphal stories about Christ and the saints, humorous anecdotes about religion, fairy legends, religious laments, prayers, and charms. A variety of traditional practices associated with folk religion and belief are also dealt with.

This is an elective course designed as an introduction to Italian culture from a variety of perspectives. It is designed for non-specialists, so students do not need to be familiar either with Italian language or with the country of Italy before taking this course.

The course introduces fluvial (river), estuarine, and coastal environments from a geomorphic systems perspective. Geomorphology is the study of landforms, and the materials and processes involved in landform formation and change. The principal geomorphological focus of this study is the river catchment, which includes valley hillslopes, river floodplains, and river channels themselves. The course also considers links to transitional waters (e.g. estuaries) and geomorphic process environments found in the coastal zone. Students learn about the key themes and approaches employed by geomorphologists to understand these settings, and they gain an understanding of the variety of landforms found in a range of catchment and coastal settings.