Trinity College Dublin

In the aftermath of the Act of Union with Great Britain, Irish society and its political system was transformed. Change was not immediate however, transformation came slowly. Beginning with Catholic Emancipation and the Ordnance Survey (both dating to 1829) and ending with the onset of the Plan of Campaign (1886) this module explores the relationship between the people and the land on which they lived and labored, and the ways in which they were subject to, and interacted with, the British state. Rural unrest, the tithe war and periodic crises of famine and disease foreshadowed the catastrophe that took place during the Great Famine (1845-52) when the population of the country dropped by over a quarter, from around 8 million to around 6 million. Death and emigration became drivers of change that saw a rise in living standards in the two decades after the Famine ended. Despite this, conflict in the form of the ‘Land War’ (1879-81) erupted, and thus began the decline of landlordism in Ireland. These decades are crucial in understanding the development of Irish society and politics in the period up until independence in 1921.

This course begins by considering the Irish context of Shakespeare's The Tempest. It then moves to Ireland itself and examines the many different ways in which Shakespeare's work has been appreciated and appropriated in the country over the centuries. Topics include the history of Shakespeare productions in Ireland; the publication of his plays in the country; appropriations across a broad political spectrum; and the influence of Shakespeare's work on Irish writers. The course includes a number of out-of-classroom sessions at various venues, including Smock Alley and the Pearse Museum.

The course introduces students to the main theoretical perspectives in a deliberate chronological order of their ‘appearance’ within the discipline. It begins with the structural functionalism of, for example, Emile Durkheim and Talcott Parsons, followed by the rediscovery in the early 1970s of Marxism, Weber and Critical Theory and the emergence of feminist critiques. Lastly, it introduces the various ideas associated with postmodernism and poststructuralism and education. The course builds on this introduction to explore a range of contemporary social issues, such as gender, socio-ethnic linguistics, ethnicity, inclusion and social disadvantage, as they relate to schooling and education.

Political leaders use architecture to convey power, to express political ideas, and to influence how people think and act. In twentieth-century Europe, political ideologies including fascism, communism, colonialism, and democracy influenced the creation of new buildings and cities. This course explores those ideologies through the spaces that they produced, and a selection of examples spanning between Hitler’s plans to transform Berlin to public swimming pools in post-war Britain. Under the banner of democracy, it also explores how forces within Irish politics impacted the Dublin cityscape. This is a history of modern Europe told through the mark left by political actors upon architecture and cities. This same course exists as a 5-credit option - UCEAP Course 133A.

This course takes a close look at a number of important ‘long poems’ and poetic sequences from the later decades of the twentieth century to the present. Considering nine representative poets from the United States, Great Britain, and Ireland, it discusses the formal and thematic decisions made by poets in the creation of their works. The course looks to define the length of a ‘long poem’ and examines the relationship between the long poem and the poetic sequence. It considers whether all ‘long poems’ or poetic sequences function as ‘epics’, and explores the relationship between the long poem and the lyric. It also addresses the concept of the ‘novel in verse’. Following Berryman’s Dream Song 354, the course engages with the idea of ‘The Care & Feeding of Long Poems’, focusing on influence and the role of sources in the critical engagement with longer poetic works. It examines how such works are maintained and sustained through reading and interpretation, and considers the cultural effects of long poems and poetry more broadly, including their potential harm or benefit to culture.

This course considers the most prestigious literary award in the world: the Nobel Prize in Literature. Starting with an overview of the award’s history and the way in which it has been administered, the course then examines the contemporary cultural contexts of Great Britain, Ireland, the United States, Russia and Czechia. The Nobel Prize in Literature, first awarded in 1901, has been intended for ‘the person who shall have produced…the most outstanding work of an ideal tendency’. Engaging with the literary scenes of the five countries under review, the course discusses the work and legacy of some of these ‘persons’ – including W. B. Yeats (who received the Prize in 1923), Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1970), William Golding (1983), Jaroslav Seifert (1984), Toni Morrison (1993), and others. It considers these outstanding literary artists’ most significant works, evaluating their contribution to the world of letters, and to humankind. The course concludes with an informed discussion about the relationship between literature and society, and the role of literature in our contemporary world.

Earth’s surface is constantly changing. Understanding how and why these changes occur is a key skill for those across the Earth Sciences, from physical and human geographers to geo- and environmental scientists. This course focuses on the role of water in the evolution of Earth’s landscape. Through investigating water-driven processes and sediment transport, students gain first-hand experience in constructing simple models to help them estimate the rate and magnitude of surface processes. Students also practice sediment classification, quantitative problem solving, and map making.

This course has two components, each exploring a different topic in philosophy.

Component 1: Transformative Experience. This course explores several challenging philosophical questions regarding transformative experience. Considering becoming a parent, getting married, going to university, choosing a career, or emigrating to a new country involves major life decisions that are typically transformative choices. They concern transformative experiences that change who people are and what they care about, and it may not be possible to know what it would be like for at the time of choosing. But, if so, how can a rational decision be made to become a parent, for example, if doing so changes what is cared about, and it is only possible to know what it would will be like once it occurs? Would it be wrong for a friend, family member, or romantic partner to try to stop someone from making a transformative choice, such as getting married? What role do transformative choice and experience play in other dimensions of life, such as art, religious experience, and social identity, as well as in broader philosophical debates over skepticism, the possibility of moral knowledge, and medical ethics?

Component 2: Emotion and Rationality. This course examines a few philosophical theories of emotion, drawing where appropriate on work in cognitive science, to enrich the philosophical investigation. An ancient picture of our psychology contrasts rationality with emotion. Both are central to human life. To be rational involves, in part, being sensitive to reasons on which people reflect and deliberate. But what is it to have emotions like fear, anger, joy, guilt and so on? How do they relate to other states of mind like belief, pleasure, intention, or desire? What’s the point of having various emotions? Do emotions inform people in some way about the world? Are emotions themselves rational or justified, and can they contribute to making certain actions rational? Or are emotions a distorting form of interference in an otherwise orderly psychology? Confronting these questions about the nature of emotion sheds light on and forces people to consider issues about the nature of rational agency.

Because Ulysses rewards careful attention to detail, the main focus of this class is a slow, patient, and close reading of Joyce’s novel. It begins with Ulysses and ends with a few classes that present an introduction to Finnegans Wake. The general theme for the class is the evolution of Joyce’s artistic sensibility contrasted with Joyce’s representation of that evolution. But that is not an exclusive focus, it also approaches the texts from a variety of perspectives: Joyce as an “Irish writer”; Joyce as an “English writer”; Joyce as a “European writer”; the poetics of style and form; the politics of style and form; style as humor/humor as style; modes of ideology (race, religion, gender, and nation); framing a literary tradition; the production and reception of Modernism; etc. It also discusses the composition of Ulysses as is indicated on the NLI Ulysses drafts.

Employing literary sources as well as inscriptions, funerary art and ancient iconography, and other archaeological finds, this course investigates the religious beliefs and practice of the various peoples and civilizations of the ancient Mediterranean from ancient Egypt to Imperial Rome, focusing on the study of ancient rituals (e.g., burial customs, animal and human sacrifice) and on Mediterranean myths and mythologies (e.g., dying-and-rising deities in Egypt, Syria and ancient Greece). Students reflect on the methodological challenges of studying ancient religions, focusing on the problem of interpreting fragmentary evidence, understanding ancient definitions of religion and magic, and distinguishing between private and public devotion in ancient societies. The course provides an opportunity to think about such questions as: "Did people in antiquity believe in their myths?",  "Why did the Egyptians mummify their dead?", "What is the significance of the ancient myths of Osiris, Gilgamesh and Baal?", and "Did the ancient Phoenicians and Carthaginians practice human sacrifice?"