Learning Communities Ireland: The Literature of a Nation, the Quest for a Nation
Photo Gallery
View snapshots from the Spring '09 trip to Ireland.This learning community (LC) links a Political Science course and an English course and features a 9-day trip to Ireland, with stops at major Irish literary and political sites. Course reading provides a rich context for our literary/political tour.
In the west, we will visit W. B. Yeats' tower, Thoor Ballylee, and grave; Coole Park (the estate of Lady Augusta Gregory); and the city of Galway. In the east we will spend time at the Writer's Museum in Dublin, the Joyce Museum, the National Museum, and literary sites around Dublin, including the Abbey Theatre. In the north we will visit the Northern Ireland Assembly in Belfast and the site of Bloody Sunday in Derry.
Students will enjoy academic lectures on the literature and politics of Irish independence and development and will attend theatre productions and poetry readings.
Possible Activities
Dublin
National Library, Trinity College and the Book of Kells, National Photographic Archive, Newman House, play at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin Writers' Museum, James Joyce Museum, National Museum, Dublin Castle, Shelbourne Hotel, Kilmainham Gaol, music and story performance, poetry reading, political lecture at University College Dublin, Gaelic Athletic Association Museum, Irish film.
The North
Stormont Castle, Belfast City Hall, Europa Hotel, tour of Belfast neighborhoods, Giant's Causeway, walls of Derry and tour of Derry city, meeting with members of Bloody Sunday Trust, Troubles sites, political murals.
Galway and the West
Sligo, St. Angela's College, walking tour of Galway, lecture on Irish language and culture at the University of Galway, play at the Druid Theatre, Thoor Ballylee, Coole Park, cliffs of Moher.
Registration
This LC will be offered in Spring 2010.
Related Courses
EN349 A - Topic: The Importance of Being Irish
Prof. George Piggford, C.S.C.
PS354 A - Irish Politics
Prof. Richard Finnegan.
Faculty Quotes
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"The study of Ireland’s literature and politics was made all the more real and powerful for the students by the experience of being in the places where the words and actions of the Irish poets and political figures shaped Irish history." -- Professor Richard Finnegan -
"No experience could possibly replace following in the footsteps of James Joyce’s characters through Dublin, retracing the route of the Bloody Sunday march in Derry, or peering through the mist towards W.B. Yeats’ fabled lake isle of Innisfree." -- Prof. George Piggford, C.S.C.