Béaloideas/Dept of Folklore

                                                                              

MA in Irish Folklore

Irish Folklore has been taught in UCC since 1977. It is acknowledged as an eclectic and diverse subject that has encouraged research on multifaceted topics. The MA in Irish Folklore is an ideal academic platform for postgraduate study on Ireland across a broad spectrum from indigenous Irish studies to popular culture expression, heritage and creativity. Ireland’s second city Cork is acknowledged as the ‘real capital’ situated in the south-west. UCC is a progressive, dynamic University of over 17,000 students, ranked in 2010 in the top two hundred globally. Of these about 3,000 are at postgraduate level at any particular time, including students from 75 countries worldwide. Cork has a strong tradition of and commitment to Irish cultural studies, Irish Studies, folklore and ethnology that reaches into the rich heritage of the past as well as embracing the emerging and creative present. It has produced leading research and publications in the field. It offers opportunities for both Irish and visiting students in its postgraduate programmes to do urban or rural, contemporary or historical ethnography on your chosen topic. The department is bilingual at least and always welcomes students who wish to present their research in the Irish language. The programme also encourages interdisciplinarity and applications are welcome from suitably qualified students in related or cognate disciplines also with a genuine interest in doing cultural research in Ireland. The department is proud to have its own postgraduate magazine, Béascna, edited by postgraduates, some of the founders were visiting students themselves, as well as archival holdings and field research projects based both in the city and the countryside. Others have studied such diverse topics as Irish Traditional Music Sessions, Patchwork and Quilting, The Galway Hooker, The Exorcists, Postmodern Pubs and Plastic Paddies, Orthodoxy, Tradition, and Creativity in Irish Folk Catholicism, Popular Cinema Narrative, Living With Death and Dying in Ireland, The Ethnography of the Dance Event, The Irish Pub Culture in a Dutch Context, The Social Apprenticeship of Photography, The Myth of a Traditional Diet, The Ethnography of the Cobh Taizé Mass, Migrancy and Dislocation, Ancient and Contemporary Rituals Associated with Dying and Death.

This will provide unique opportunities to experience such aspects as the traditional Irish house for example or the diverse tools and technologies. Former destinations have been Bunratty Folk Park and Castle and Inisheer, one of the famous Aran Islands off the West of Ireland. The department of folklore is proud to publish a postgraduate journal of its own called ‘Béascna’ and there may be opportunities to publish, in consultation with the editors, on aspects of your original research.

The MA in Irish Folklore is a full-time programme running for 12 months from the date of registration for the programme. Those with a minimum Second Class Honours standard in an approved primary degree or Masters Qualifying Examination in Folklore. Where there is competition a First Class honours will be given precedence. This may include graduates in Folklore or those from cognate disciplines with an interest in Irish folklore. Applicants should submit a brief but clear proposal outlining their particular interest specifically in terms of method, theory and sources. This must indicate an ability to complete the research in the deadlines outlined. Students take 90 credits from taught modules in the first part and and a dissertation (45 credits) in the second.

Peasants to Natives: The Emergence of Irish Folklore and Popular Culture

This module will introduce the intellectual history and emergence of the collection and study of Irish folklore and popular culture in an ethnological and cultural studies context. The focus will be on the key ideas, moments and interests in the intellectual and popular history of folklore in Ireland. Lectures will cover key moments in the emergence of the study of Irish popular culture and folklore and situate the discipline in the broader context of Irish popular culture and cultural studies in general. The module will discuss the intellectual history of the idea of folklore. Here is a brief summary of the modules.

Popular and Unpopular Culture: Festival, Ritual , Belief and Narrative

This module explores the core elements of Irish popular culture incorporating some of the traditional concerns of the discipline such as ritual, festival, belief and narrative. It aims to discuss the relationship of Irish folklore with popular culture in general and develop a critical awareness of the key concerns and interests. It will introduce in an ethnographic context the content of indigenous Irish or traditional culture, folklore and popular culture studies in general; calendar customs, life cycle ritual, belief and storytelling. It will offer plenty of examples relevant to the appreciation and interpretation of everyday life as a research interest and concern.

Scholars and Schizophrenics: Issues in Writing Irish Culture

This module analyzes a few different examples of research of an ethnological, folkloristic or anthropological nature. It aims to explore the authorship of ethnography or folklore or cultural description in general. It asks questions about the representation of people in and debates issues through dominant themes and topics that have emerged. The module will use texts and examples of folkloristic or ethnographic writing on Ireland. It will discuss and explore selected samples from both the past and the present. Questions of a theoretical nature will be raised. This will enhance the student's own research interest and analytical competency.

The Uses of Folklore: Community, Field and Archive

This module introduces you to a basic element of folklore and ethnology. It offers personal experience of the contexts and practical use of Irish folklore in communities and key offsite locations. It discusses the value of archives and folklore in general in institutional as well as public and community settings. Introduces the Irish National Folklore Collection, outlines its value to Folklore studies and other disciplines such as history, literary studies, geography and Irish studies. This module will comprise primarily of training in the use of archives including the National Folklore Collection, training in field collection techniques including recorded ethnographic interviews, may include fieldtrips if practicable, and the compilation of a research journal.