2026/27

The course aims to provide students with an overview and insights of the history, politics, culture, literature and language of the island of Ireland. Students will examine Irish and Northern Irish identity and society from a range of perspectives, including historical, linguistic, political, literary and ethnographic. Particular emphasis is placed on understanding Ireland?s role as an emerging independent nation, as well as part of the wider matrix of British and global history. Attention is further given to the extraordinary contribution to English-language literature by writers such as Wilde, Yeats, Joyce, Beckett, Bowen, McGahern, Heaney and Edna O?Brien. Students also have the opportunity to study in depth the ?problems? of Northern Ireland, gaining insights that can be applied to divided societies around the world from the peace process in the region.