University of Galway

This course explores critical scholarship in Irish music, drawing on writings in ethnomusicology, cultural geography, music studies and Irish studies. Emphasis is given to traditional music styles and performances from 1970 to the 21st century in Irish traditional music, examining key canonical figures and significant recordings/events heralding new Irish identities.

This is an Irish language course aimed at students with no prior knowledge of the Irish language. It focuses on listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.

In this course, students study themes of medieval Welsh stories, techniques of the medieval Welsh storyteller, social and historical contexts of medieval Welsh stories, and the application of critical analysis to medieval Welsh texts.

This seminar explores a selection of the writings of Jane Austen (1775-1817). Austen’s current status as one of the best-loved and most critically-admired novelists in English literature can obscure the formative influences and cultural contexts of her work. This course begins with some of Austen’s earliest work, tracing a transition in narrative voice from parody to satire to a distinctive ironic mode. It then traces the refinement of this mode into a powerful tool of ethical commentary through examining two of Austen’s most complex and often-misunderstood mature novels. Students also examine the present-day cultural production of Austen as author through 20th-century cinematic adaptations and literary pastiches.