NEWSLETTER

November 6, 2020

AVAILABLE COURSES IN IRISH STUDIES FOR WINTER 2021

For more information or registration help, contact Matina ([email protected] ; 514 848 2424 x 8711)

What’s that Tune? A Music Appreciation Course in Irish Traditional Music / IRST 298 B (3 credits)

Prof. Kate Bevan-Baker / Tuesday, Thursday 10:15-11:30

Irish traditional music is a defining feature of Irish culture and is appreciated by audiences across the globe. This music appreciation course is dedicated to understanding Irish traditional music performance and performance practices. Throughout the course, students will develop music appreciation skills by examining the repertoire, instruments, playing techniques, and performance practices of this complex genre, which is both ancient and contemporary. Interactive learning and teaching will be emphasized through in-class demonstrations and guest performances. Students will acquire an understanding of Irish traditional repertoire by identifying various tune types and by comparing different versions of the same tune/song. Three critical domains of Irish traditional music will be explored—ethnomusicological, spatial and compositional. The course will emphasize academic and performance aspects of Irish traditional music by critiquing performance contexts and cross-fertilization among performers, teachers, composers, and listeners. Moving beyond the music itself, the course will also explore perspectives such as revival, innovation, and globalization in Irish traditional music, song and dance. No prior knowledge of music is necessary to take this course.

Independent Ireland from the Civil War to the Celtic Tiger / IRST 314 A / HIST 398 G (3 credits)

Prof. Gavin Foster / Tuesday 11:45-14:30

This course examines political, social and cultural life in the post-revolution southern Irish state formed by the Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921) and Irish Civil War. Key themes include state formation and post-civil war politics; Fianna Fáil and “the republicanization” of society; church and state; Irish neutrality and Anglo-Irish relations; the political and social character of “De Valera’s Ireland”; post-war economic and social change; external relations and influences; the Republic’s responses to Northern Ireland and the post-1968 Troubles; globalization and the rise and fall of the Celtic Tiger economy.

Classics of Irish Theatre / IRST 344 A / ENGL 398 F / PERC 398 F

Prof. Kate Bligh / Wednesday, Friday 16:15-17:30

This course traces a colourful history from the mid-19th century to the present, exploring, amongst other works, the melodramas of Dionysius Boucicault; the pithy plays of Oscar Wilde; the arguably propagandistic work of W B Yeats and Augusta Gregory; the existentialism of Samuel Beckett; the Hiberno-Greek tragedies of Marina Carr; and the Tarantino inspired comedies of Martin McDonagh. Illuminating the politics – national, postcolonial, gendered and global – present in Irish theatre, this course shows that when theatre holds a mirror up to the Irish nation, a wider world is reflected back.

Irish Cultural Traditions in Quebec / IRST 371 A / HIST 398 F (3 credits)

Prof. Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin / Monday, Wednesday 11:45-13:00

For over three centuries, the Irish have played a seminal role in the political, economic, religious, and cultural life of Quebec. During the eighteenth century, Irish Wild Geese soldiers arrived in New France as part of the French military and colonial establishment. A century afterwards, Irish ideologues, journalists, and revolutionary figures helped shape the political contours of both patriotic Quebec and the emergent Canadian confederation, while victims of the Great Irish Famine added a new and tragic chapter to the history of the province. Throughout the twentieth century, Irish communities continued to flourish in rural and urban Quebec, while individual Quebecers of Irish origin made formidable contributions to the life of the province. Drawing on historical, ethnographic, musical, and literary sources, this course will explore the story of the Irish in Quebec since the early 1700s, from small community settings in the Gaspé peninsula and the Gatineau Valley, to larger working class and mercantile enclaves in metropolitan Montreal, Quebec City, and Sherbrooke. Particular attention will be given to Irish commemorative practices in Quebec and the manner in which Irish communities have shaped and maintained their own sense of cultural memory and historical place in La Belle Province.

IRISH NETWORK OF LEGAL HUMANITIES

Photos: Trinity College Dublin Library, AFP-Getty Images

‘Citizenship: An Exploration in Law and the Humanities’, the second event of the Irish Network of Legal Humanities will be free, online and available to watch on Friday 27 November from 3pm-4:30pm. The event is a series of short recorded talks and a poetry reading, and it will be followed by a live YouTube comment Q&A with the speakers. It will be introduced and concluded by Professor Eugene McNulty (School of English, Dublin City University) and Dr Adam Hanna (English Department, University College Cork). This event has been made possible by a grant from the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences at University College Cork. More info here.

School of Irish Studies

Concordia University

1455 de Maisonneuve Ouest

H 1001

Montréal (Québec) Canada H3G 1M8

Tel: (514) 848-2424 ext. 8711

Website: concordia.ca/irishstudies

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