Celtic Studies

The Great Hunger or An Gorta Mór (1845-52) was the single most transformative event in modern Irish history and proportionally one of the most devastating famines to occur anywhere in the modern era. This famine led to the loss of one million lives and the emigration of two million refugees from a population of eight and a half million. The humanitarian crisis of the late-1840s and early-1850s marks the creation of a global Irish diaspora and a lasting memory of social change. This course explores key debates surrounding the famine and its resonances across Irish and global history, tackling topics including the role of government relief, epidemic disease, mass displacement, and the social revolution which fundamentally reshaped Ireland.

The course examines magical belief and supernatural entities in Scotland. This complex and much-neglected aspect of our cultural heritage is explored through a combination of empirical data (provided by case studies and archive holdings) and theoretical contextualization. A dominant theme is the identification and interpretation of vestiges of supernatural belief still extant and deeply embedded in Scottish cultural life. Comparative material from other Celtic-language cultures and Scandinavia also feature.

This course explores the theme of the three-dimensional or physical manifestations of Scotland's traditional culture systems through a series of thematic case studies. Emphasis is placed upon the examination of material culture exchange and development in relation to such issues as status, ethnicity and identity. Within this framework, form and function, aesthetics and semiotics are explored from an ethnological stance. 

This course examines the way Scotland portrays and has portrayed itself through visual media. The course provides an understanding of the contribution of visual productions in concepts like nationhood, identity, heritage, tradition, and cultural difference. Students also gain an appreciation of the power, resonance, and continuing influence these productions exert. Drawing upon a wide range of examples from films, documentaries, and other visual media past and present, the course explores how Scotland presents itself to itself, how Scotland presents itself to an external audience, and how Scotland is represented visually by an external audience.

This course gives students with no previous knowledge of Scottish Gaelic a general introduction to the language and a general overview of the history and culture of Gaelic Scotland. Students gain a basic competence in spoken and written Scottish Gaelic and acquire a general understanding of the history and culture of Gaelic Scotland.