Trinity College Dublin

This course looks in detail at a number of key Renaissance artists including Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Albrecht Dürer, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian. It examines the works of these artists within the context of early modern society, investigating the conditions of artistic patronage, and pursuing the theme of the ‘revival of antiquity’ alongside the changing religious demands placed on artists in the light of the Reformation. It also explores critically a number of themes and questions such as the ‘idea of the Renaissance’, whether there was a Renaissance for women, or if the Renaissance was multi-cultural? Other topics examined include ‘the rise of the artist’, the theory of ‘disegno’, artistic exchanges between Italy and northern Europe, the nature of different artistic centres in Italy (like Bologna, Milan or Venice as well as Florence and Rome), the growth of the genre of portraiture, and the experience of dreaming, melancholy or falling in love as described in the visual arts.

The course introduces the concepts of textuality and method, studying classical definitions of theology from Gregory of Nyssa, Anselm and Aquinas through to, and concentrating on, more recent formulations of theology’s task from modern theologians such as Jurgen Moltmann, Elizabeth Johnson, and Willie James Jennings. The different methodological approaches to the study of religion and the different ways of conducting the task of theology are introduced. The course draws attention to patterns of continuity or discontinuity, agreement and conflict in the texts studied. The course trains students to integrate critical, conceptual and historical skills in the reading of theological texts.

The twelfth century was a period of rapid change in Ireland as the English conquest and the resulting foundation of an English colony remade the political, social and economic landscape of the island. This development, and in particular the presence of a significant population of colonists, led to major shifts in the way that the Irish envisioned themselves as a group and the way in which they were described by their English neighbors. This course traces the ways in which the ethnic identities of Irishness and of Englishness (to which it was so often opposed in contemporary sources) evolved through the high and later middle ages. Students analyze primary sources from the period to reflect on questions of identity, the terminology of ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’, and what it meant to be ‘Irish’ in the middle ages.

World War I and World War II were the key events in twentieth-century history, shaping the contemporary world. Societies mobilized for “total war” and aimed for unconditional victory, sacrificing unprecedented amounts of blood and treasure. Through lectures and tutorials using primary and secondary sources encompassing the latest scholarly perspectives, this course analyzes these formative events. Through these wars, the contemporary world came into being, and this course helps to understand the wars as interrelated processes of social transformation.

This course describes and outlines the major theoretical approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders. It considers the historical development of the concept of mental illness/psychological disorder and examines the various lenses through which it is currently viewed. The course identifies contemporary diagnostic criteria for a range of disorders and critically evaluates the role of biological, social, cultural and economic influences in defining and diagnosing mental health. The course examines the application of various research methodologies to studying the causes of mental illness, along with current best-practice psychological and pharmacological interventions. Finally, ethical and legal implications of approaches towards psychological disorders are also considered.

This course presents key theoretical models and related empirical evidence that shape our understanding of how labor markets work. The focus is mostly on the micro-level and the lectures build around the evidence provided by the most recent empirical research in the field. The following topics are typically covered: introduction to labor economics, labor supply, labor demand, labor market equilibrium, human capital, migration, labor market discrimination, and unemployment.

This course examines how the 1960s saw enormous transformations in both the matter and the forms of American prose writing. It considers how writers and artists battled for new freedoms, and sex and sexuality began to be featured in books published by mainstream publishers for the first time. Accompanying the famous revolutionary political movements that marked the decade, and responding to many of the same cultural and political pressures, were various revolutions of the word. The 1960s saw a widespread reaction against a now-institutionalized modernism, and the first great statements of what would come to be thought of as literary postmodernism (Thomas Pynchon, John Barth). This course discusses how critics like Susan Sontag argued for the continued validity of the modernist project, and for the need to extend it; and novelists like Saul Bellow and Mary McCarthy sought to extend the traditions of realism and modernism in novels like Herzog (1964) and The Group (1963). American prose writing of the 1960s was also shaped and informed by the sexual revolutions that marked the decade, and writers such as Ursula Le Guin began to use the tools of imaginative writing to interrogate embedded cultural assumptions about gender, sexuality, patriarchy, and power. This course considers how in many ways, all of the key streams of 20th century American literature converged in the 1960s. The decade and its key texts explores issues central to American studies more broadly: American exceptionalism, the utopian promise underwriting the American experiment, the legacies of modernism, the meaning(s) of postmodernity, the political transformations of the postwar era, and the “hangover” of the early 1970s.

This course discusses how languages are related to one another and how they change over time. It provides familiarization with reconstruction and the comparison method, as well as the importance of analogy in the shaping of language histories. The course gives an introduction to descriptive and theoretical aspects of historical linguistics, covering phonetic, phonological, morphological and syntactic change with data from European and non-European languages.

This course introduces embodiment theory and practice in arts education. Taking a praxial approach, where theory informs practice and reflection to create new understandings, the course encourages engagement with and reflection on the principles of embodied pedagogy and their implications for teaching and learning through the arts. Embodiment conceptualizes learning as a process not limited to the thinking brain, but one that is situated in the body and activated through presence, experience and reflection-in-action. An embodied approach to pedagogy can help learners access knowledge beyond words, which is particularly beneficial for students who find verbal language challenging, exploring engagement through movement, imagination, emotions and creativity. The course considers embodiment from an inclusive perspective, covering areas such as embodiment and multilingualism, embodiment in forced migration educational settings, and embodiment in the context of learning and intellectual disabilities.

Standard economic theory assumes that individuals make choices to maximize their utility, using the information available, and acting in their own self-interest. However, experiments in both the psychology and economics literature show that individuals are time-inconsistent, care about others, form “irrational” expectations, and use heuristics to solve complex problems. These deviations can be systematic, mathematically modelled, empirically tested, and incorporated into economics. This course explores the implications of these new assumptions for economic analysis and understanding.