University of Galway

This course critically examines the archaeology of Ireland during the high medieval period from c.1100 until the second half of the 14th century. The background to the coming of the Anglo-Normans to Ireland in 1169 and the impact they had on the landscape are discussed in depth in the first part of the course. Themes for this section of the course include the role of castles, the manorial economy, trade, the foundation of villages, rural boroughs, and towns by mostly English immigrants and the growth of certain cities. Dispersed settlement in Anglo-Norman parts of eastern Ireland are also explored. In particular, in the first part of the course, the interplay between castle, town, and countryside in Anglo-Norman Ireland is examined in detail.

This course explores topics and questions in political and moral philosophy, such as: What, if anything, legitimizes governmental authority and the exercise of political power? What is justice? What is the nature of citizenship? Is a free market a necessary component of a free society? What principles ground our fundamental notions of property rights, freedom, and equality? To explore these questions, students read extracts from the Ancients, primarily Plato. Students then examine the ideas of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean Jacques Rousseau. Finally, students review texts by 19th-century authors, like J.S. Mill and Karl Marx. 

The course examines authors’ use and adaptation of folkloric and mythological material in their works. The course examines a variety of early modernist and contemporary texts alongside earlier materials alluded to or explored by those texts. Straddling the perceived divide between popular fiction and classic literary works, the course considers the writing of W. B. Yeats and other authors of the Irish Revival as well as J.R.R. Tolkien, James Joyce, John Updike, and Kazuo Ishiguro. The course enables students to query the nature of literary production and reception across different time periods. It allows them to explore why authors choose to underpin their works by references to well-known narratives, and, conversely, why authors choose to revive forgotten legends.