International Summer School in Irish Studies

The 31st International Summer School in Irish Studies 

‘The Western World's Furthest Shore:Landscape, Memory and Irish Identity’

Dates: 4th July – 31st July 2010

Welcome from the Directors

As Directors we welcome you to the 31st International Summer School in Irish Studies at University College Cork.  The School is one of the most successful in Ireland.  Annually it attracts students with an interest in Irish studies providing them with an ideal location in which explore the varied aspects of Irish history, literature and culture.  It offers expert tuition, optional courses in Irish language and a varied social programme of field trips, traditional Irish dance and music concerts.

Course Description

Introduction:

The theme of the 31st International Summer School in Irish Studies is The Western World’s Furthest Shore: Landscape, Memory and Irish Identity. The School will examine how a communal sense of shared tribulations and triumphs and individual recollections of the past, shaped contemporary Ireland. Participants will explore Irish Literature and History from early Christian texts to modern writers in their cultural and historical context. The School runs for four weeks in the month of July: the first two weeks will be given over to History and the last two weeks to Literature.  

History:

Writing towards end of his life, the Irish missionary and man of letters, St. Columbanus (†615), saw his homeland as ‘the western regions of the earth’s farther strand’. Yet despite its remoteness, a remarkably vibrant and sophisticated culture emerged on the island. The many who left Ireland in the course of its history brought with them this learning and contributed to the cultural enrichment of the lands where they settled. The History lectures and seminars of the first two weeks of the School will explore an identity that was shaped by a sense that the Irish inhabited ‘the lands beyond which no one dwells’. Many chose to leave the island ‘at the ends of the earth’ and aspects of the history of migration – a feature of life in Ireland throughout its history – will be examined.  

Literature:

The Literature of the School will examine the work of two of the most important figures in modern Irish writing, James Joyce and William Butler Yeats. Joyce’s work has the reputation of being difficult and intimidating for the student who comes to it for the first time. However, in his novel Ulysses he offers us a work which on the surface seems of extreme complexity and yet is one of the most enjoyable and accessible novels to emerge from the twentieth century. In class we will read Ulysses and Joyce’s collections of short stories Dubliners. Yeats was one of the architects of the revolution in Irish writing known as the Celtic Renaissance and his poems on nation, on love and on the spiritual world mark him as one of the crucial figures in modern literature.   The Summer School in Irish Studies at UCC aims to provide a unique learning experience by combining a vigorous introduction to major academic themes in the development of Irish identity with an opportunity to encounter Ireland’s rich cultural landscape.

Credits:

The School welcomes students who take the course for credit and those who choose not to enrol from credit. Students who wish to register for credit are expected to have a GPA of 2.85 or above. Students who attend the School for four weeks may take the course for up to six credits, three in literature and three in history. Students intending to take credits need to indicate this clearly on the enrolment form. Students should also forward a transcript of courses already completed at their own university or college clearly stating their GPA. They should forward the address of their home institution for processing of completed credits. For further information contact the Administrator, Ms. Karen McSweeney, International Education Office, UCC.

Teaching:

The Summer School draws on the expertise of Faculty members, established scholars in their field, to deliver lectures. Lectures are followed by discussion-based teaching in seminars of small groups where Teaching Assistants develop the themes of the lectures. These Assistants also give students guidance and encouragement with their work. There is a series of field trips to the places associated with the texts and personalities discussed in lectures and seminars.

Cost:

The cost of attending the School for non-EU citizens is €2200 which covers single room accommodation from Sunday, 4th July – Friday, 30th July 2010, inclusive, tuition, certain social events, field trips and meals on field trips, but excludes daily meals.

For further information on the Summer School please contact:

Karen McSweeney, International Education Office, UCC. Tel: + 353-21-4904727; Fax: + 353-21-4904735; Email: k.mcsweeney@ucc.ie 

Mary Breen, Director, Department of English, UCC. Tel:  + 353 21 4903291

Dr. Damian Bracken, Director, Department of History, UCC. Tel: + 353 21 4902950