Week One: Céad Míle Fáilte!
9/26 9 – 11 Molly Sweeney (Brian Friel)
1:30 – 4:00 Program Introduction (Sean)
9/27 10 – 1 Irish Pre-Celtic History; Film: The Celts
9/28 10 – 12 Starting the Irish Language (Sean)
1:30 – 4:00 Ancient Ireland: Liminality, Language and Poetry (Sean)
Assignment for week two: The Táin (pronounced “TAW-in”) and pages 5 – 39 of The Cultural Conquest of Ireland (on closed reserve in the library). The assignment attached to the end of each week's schedule refers to expectations for the COMING week. So come to next Thursday’s seminar prepared to discuss what you have read. Check here for tips on how to approach The Táin.

Your first “written” assignment is to join the Ireland program listserve: send a blank message from the e-mail address you check most frequently (nothing in the subject line or the body of the message) to join-irish@lists.evergreen.edu. You will receive an automatic reply message telling you that you have successfully joined the listserve. This will ensure that you receive all important program information all year (assuming that you check your e-mail frequently, which you should). This will not be used to send spam or forwarding Bing Crosby jokes; it is strictly for program issues and communication to the group from the members of the group. Do this by Friday the 29th.

Note that next Friday night (October 6) is a céilí in the Evergreen Longhouse. It will cost you $5 to enter; you are all expected to attend! Maldon Meehan and Ronan Regan of Ireland will be “calling” the steps so you’ll know what to do. Also, Maldon and Ronan will come to class on Thursday afternoon to give a workshop on sean-nós dance from Connemara. Wear hard-soled shoes that make noise when they hit a wooden floor!

Week Two: Ancient Ireland: Living Between Worlds
10/3 9 – 11 The Irish Language in Practice: Personal Names and Place Names (Sean)
1:30 – 4:00 Bardic and Druidic Traditions; Senses of Place (Sean)
10/4 10 – 1 The Death of CúChulainn (W.B. Yeats), Film: Celtic Trilogy
10/5 10 – 12 Seminars
1:30 – 4:00 Dance Workshop: Maldon Meehan and Ronan Regan (CRC 116)
10/6: evening Attend the céilí tonight! Maldon and Ronan will be calling steps!
Assignment for week three: The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog; The World of the Celts, ch.1-6. Your book response paper is due at Thursday’s seminar; be prepared to discuss what you have read and written. Begin to think about your first five-page integrative essay (on ancient Ireland); it’s due on Friday, 10/20 in your seminar leader’s mailbox (not in e-mail form; typed, double-spaced hard copy only).

Week Three: Ancient Ireland: Spirituality
10/10 9 – 11 The Brehon Laws, Gender Issues, and Sexuality (Sean)
1:30 – 4:00 Indigenous Spiritualities (Patrick Hill)
10/11 10 – 1 Film: The Secret of Roan Inish
10/12 10 – 12 Seminars
1:30 – 4:00 Catholicism and Power; Film: The Warrior Queen
Assignment for week four: Oxford Illustrated History of Ireland, ch.1-2; second half of The World of the Celts, ch.7-11. Your first five-page integrative paper (on ancient Ireland) is due on Friday, October 20 in your seminar leader’s mailbox. Don’t forget to check the website (under “assignments”) to be sure you understand what is expected of you. Your book response paper is due at Thursday’s seminar; be prepared to discuss what you have read and written.

Week Four: Ireland, Scotland, and Wales through the Conquests
10/17 9 – 11 Who is Tom Rainey: an Introduction to Family History (Tom)
1:30 – 4:00 Music Traditions of the Ancient Irish, Scots, and Welsh (Sean)
10/18 10 – 1 Film: Braveheart
10/19 10 – 12 Seminars
1:30 – 4:00 The Celts in History: Patterns of Conquest and Assimilation: Roman, German (Anglo-Saxon) and Norman (Tom)
10/20 FIRST ESSAY DUE (seminar faculty mailbox, 4 pm)
Assignment for week five: Oxford Illustrated History of Ireland, ch.3, The Scotch-Irish: a Social History, ch.1-8. Your response paper is due at seminar; be prepared to discuss what you have read and written. Send a “how’s it going” e-mail to your seminar leader on 10/27.

Week Five: The Conquest of Scotland and Ireland
10/24 9 – 11 Lowland Scots in 1600: From Feudalism to Plantation (Tom)
1:30 – 4:00 Highland Scots: The Perils of Union, Loyalty and Religion (Tom)
10/25 10 – 1 Film: 1641 and The Curse of Cromwell; Conquest of the Irish People and Land (Sean)
10/26 10 – 12 Seminars
1:30 – 4:00 Translations (Brian Friel)
Assignment for week six: Paddy’s Lament, ch.1-11; Oxford Illustrated History of Ireland, ch.4; The Scotch-Irish: A Social History, ch.9-11. In contrast to your other responses, this is the week to develop a (two-dimensional) visual response to the Famine. Come to seminar prepared to discuss what you have read and created. Your second integrative essay is due on Friday, 11/17 in your seminar leader’s mailbox (not in e-mail form; hard copy only). Make sure you have an appointment with Dunstan to have a one-on-one discussion about your writing (this is a required meeting). Come to your meeting with a written paragraph stating what, exactly, about your writing, that you would like to discuss. Also, bring your first integrative essay with faculty comments; seminar papers are suggested as well.

Week Six: The Great Hunger – An Gorta Mór
10/31 9 – 11 Poems and Songs of the Famine (Sean)
1:30 – 4:00 The Famine from the Inside: Understanding the Story (Sean)
11/1 10 – 1 Film: The Hanging Gale
11/2 10 – 12 Seminars: bring your two-dimensional work to discuss
1:30 – 4:00 ‘Damned Defeats’: Drogheda, the Boyne, and Culloden Moor (Tom)
Assignment for week seven: Oxford Illustrated History of Ireland, ch.5; The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats; Robert Burns: Selected Poems. Select six different poems that “speak” to you at a gut level (three from each poet); discuss two poems in detail in your response paper. Your response paper on the poetry is due in seminar; be prepared to discuss each of the six poems you chose.

Week Seven: The Celtic Revival I
11/7 9 – 11 W.B. Yeats, J.M. Synge and the Celtic Twilight (Sean)
1:30 – 4:00 British Imperialism, the Clearings, Industrialization, and the Political Economy of Starvation; The Enduring Legacy of Robert Burns, National Poet of the Scots (Tom)
11/8 10 – 1 The Politics of Home Rule (Tom)
11/9 10 – 12 Seminars
1:30 – 4:00 Riders to the Sea (J.M. Synge); Irish language quiz; getting performance groups together for the final collaborative presentations
Assignment for week eight: Three Dublin Plays. Your response paper is due in seminar; be prepared to discuss what you have written. Work on your presentations.

Week Eight: The Celtic Revival II
11/14 9 – 11 Seán O’Casey and Irish Nationalism (Sean)
1:30 – 4:00 The Easter Uprising of 1916, the Black and Tans, and the impact of WWI (Tom)
11/15 10 – 1 Film: Juno and the Paycock (Seán O’Casey)
11/16 10 – 12 Seminars
1:30 – 4:00 The Plough and the Stars (Seán O’Casey)
11/17 SECOND ESSAY DUE (seminar faculty mailbox, 4 pm)
Assignment for week nine: Dubliners. Read the entire set of short stories; this is the place to get deeply inside issues of men and women, and parents and children. Your response paper on Dubliners is due in seminar; be prepared to discuss what you have read and written. Continue rehearsals of your final presentations. Send Tom a progress report about your family history (by e-mail to raincart[at]comcast.net) on 11/30.

Week Nine: The Celtic Revival III
11/28 9 – 11 The Art of James Joyce and Irish Tenors (Sean)
1:30 – 4:00 Irish Nationalism and the Rising of the Political Moon after the
Uprising of 1916 (Tom); James Joyce's The Dead
11/29 10 – 1 Film: Michael Collins
11/30 10 – 12 Seminars
1:30 – 4:00 The Rising of the Moon, Spreading the News (Lady Gregory)
5:30 – 8:00 All-program Potluck Dinner at the Organic Farmhouse!
Assignment for week ten: Prepare your presentations and poems that you expect to recite for your evaluation. You MUST stay within the allotted time for your production (1/2 hour per group); any time you need to spend on set-up is taken away from the presentation.

Week Ten: Collaborative Presentations
12/5 9 – 11 Film: The Informer; writers' workshop (Dunstan)
1:30 – 4:00 Collaborative Presentation rehearsals
12/6 10 – 1 Collaborative Presentations, groups 1-5
12/7 10 – 12 Collaborative Presentations, groups 6-8
1:30 – 4:00 Collaborative Presentations, groups 9-12