Ireland

In this course, students receive an introduction to the worlds of politics and political science. The lecture series introduces students to the key concepts, theories, and ideas that political scientists use to analyze the politics of historical states and the countries of today, both individually and in an interactive context.

This course introduces and discusses the key principles and concepts in computational social science (CSS). Some of the main approaches in the field are introduced beginning with a historical background to the main developments, up to and including an introduction to the most recent developments and applications of the methodological approaches discussed. In particular, this course provides the student with an overview of four main areas in the CSS field: automated social information extraction, social network analysis, social complexity theory, and social simulation modeling. Where possible the discussion of topics in this course are enhanced by presentation and discussion of some empirical examples and applications from industry, NGOs, and the public sector.

Students examine classic and contemporary theory and research in the field of social psychology and apply this knowledge to a wide variety of different real-world situations. The course has a dual focus on research and application.

This course critically evaluates the concepts and the research that underpin positive psychology, and their application to coaching. This course examines the theory and practice of positive psychology, its application to coaching and the paradigm shift from pathology to strength based psychology, as well as exploring the nature of human strengths and virtues which contribute towards individuals and communities thriving. In addition students are given opportunities to apply positive psychology practices to their lives.

In this course students engage with a range of Irish writing from the late 18th century to the present. Students consider a number of approaches to the study of Irish literature, broadly structured around three core topics: the condition of cultural "in between-ness," recurrent notions of national revival, and the relationship between gender and nation. Drawing widely on postcolonial, feminist, and cultural materialist critical methodologies, the course encourages students to think about alternative ways of configuring the story of Ireland. Texts include: Eavan Boland's THE LOST LAND; Maria Edgeworth's CASTLE RACKRENT; John P. Harrington's MODERN IRISH DRAMA; James Joyce's ULYSSES; John McGahern's THAT THEY MAY FACE THE RISING SUN; Conor McPherson's THE WEIR; IRISH WRITING: AN ANTHOLOGY OF IRISH LITERATURE IN ENGLISH 1789-1939; Jonathan Swift's GULLIVER'S TRAVELS; and YEATS'S POETRY, DRAMA, AND PROSE.

In this course, students explore the techniques used in environmental risk assessment and auditing. Topics include environmental and health risk assessment (background, techniques, and case studies); integrated risk assessment; definition and purpose of environmental audits; and procedures for undertaking an audit.

In this course students discuss and examine the emergence of film noir in 1940s American cinema. Students analyze its historical and sociopolitical origins as well as its complex connections to American hard-boiled fiction, the gangster genre, French Poetic Realism, German Expressionism, and existential philosophy. The course addresses the difficulties in categorizing film noir as a genre and asks whether it is better understood as a given historical cycle of films, a formal style, or an aesthetic sensibility. The course traces the influence of noir across genres and maps the many diverse paths it takes in cinema and other media forms from the late 1960s onward. The course examines the narrative patterns distinctive to film noir and identify key characteristics of noir iconography, sound, and performance. Students analyze the problematic philosophical questions that noir poses about gender, sexuality, identity, and the stability of the self. The course also addresses complex problems of temporality that are uniquely to the fore in film noir. Finally, the course attends to the diverse philosophical and critical impulses within noir and examines its significance in relation to psychoanalysis, existentialism, and affect theory.

This course explores the works of Charles Dickens, from his journalistic essays to his longer novels, and how his books have been adapted. It examines how Dickens both imagines and critizes his world as a journalist and novelist.

This course surveys the development of traditional music and dance in Ireland from the mid-19th century to the present. It explores the key moments and leading figures in the movement of these expressive forms from a traditional setting to a modern context, and examines the consequences of these changes. In particular, revival, as a process and ideology, is explored.