Winter 2004 Syllabus (as of 1/5/2004)

Schedule:

Monday
11 – 12:30 book seminars
12:30 – 2 lunch with your colleagues
2 – 4:30 all-program meeting

Tuesday
11 – 12:30 all-program meeting
12:30 – 2 lunch (plus Gaelic at 1:30) with your colleagues
2:30 – 4:30 film and discussion

Thursday
11 – 12:30 all-program meeting
12:30 – 2 lunch (plus Gaelic at 1:30) with your colleagues
2 – 3:30 integrative seminars
3:30 – 4:00 final gathering

Book List:
Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
How the Irish Became White (Noel Ignatiev)
Banished Children of Eve (Peter Quinn)
Erin’s Daughters in America (Hasia Diner)
Irish on the Inside: In Search of the Soul of Irish America (Tom Hayden)
Love in Chaos (Mary McAleese)
The Heart Aroused (David Whyte)
Waiting for Godot (Samuel Beckett)
The Penguin Book of Contemporary Irish Poetry (Fallon and Mahon)

Comments about Irish America and the final production: Each of you will be a member of a collaborative group; we anticipate the creation of four to six groups. Your collaborative group will be the people you work most intensively with all quarter, from intensive seminars to the development and performance of a one-act play in tenth week. During winter quarter, each group will divide the Irish American reading assignments (the books by Ignatiev, Quinn, Diner, and Hayden) so that at least two people will be responsible for reading a single book much earlier than anyone else in the group, and for leading the group in the discussion of that book when the time comes. When your group is brainstorming about ideas for the final production, at least two members of your group will have read one of the upcoming books and should be able to add comments and ideas from those books to the brainstorming sessions.

Assignment for Week One: Read Angela’s Ashes. Your book response paper on Angela’s Ashes is due by e-mail to your small-group colleagues by 6 pm Sunday the 4th of January. Come to Monday’s seminar prepared to discuss what you have read and written.

Week One: THE DEVIL’S ERA
1/5 11 – 12:30 Book seminars (come prepared with McCourt and response paper)
2 – 4:30 Film: “The Field”
1/6 all day SNOW DAY!
1/8 11 – 1 Developing a Collaborative Project (Doranne)
2 – 3:30 Integrative seminars
3:30 – 4:00 Final gathering
Assignment for next week: Read How the Irish Became White. Your book response paper is due by e-mail to your small-group colleagues by 6 pm Sunday. Come to Monday’s seminar prepared to discuss what you have read and written. Your project group should be doing background research and gathering ideas together for determining the shape of your final production.

Week Two: IRISH AMERICA
1/12 11 – 12:30 Book seminars (come prepared with book and response paper)
2 – 4:30 Film: “Out of Ireland”
1/13 11 – 12:30 Play Reading: “Philadelphia, Here I Come!” (Brian Friel)
2:30 – 4:30 Overview of Irish America (Patrick)
1/15 11 – 1 Eugene O’Neill; film: “Emperor Jones” (Doranne)
2 – 3:30 Integrative seminars
3:30 – 4:00 Final gathering
Assignment for next week: Read Banished Children of Eve. Your book response paper is due by e-mail to your small-group colleagues by 6 pm Sunday. Come to Monday’s seminar prepared to discuss what you have read and written. At this point, your group should have a significant collection of ideas and themes so that your playwright(s) can gather everything together into a script in the next few weeks.

Week Three: IRISH AMERICA
1/19 all day NO CLASS MEETING: MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY
1/20 11 – 12:30 Black and Green and the Civil War (Patrick)
2:30 – 4:30 Black and Green Perspectives on Minstrelsy
1/22 11 – 1 Songs of American Minstrelsy and the Civil War (Seán)
2 – 3:30 Integrative seminars
3:30 – 4:00 Final gathering
Assignment for next week: Read Erin’s Daughters in America. Your book response paper is due by e-mail to your small-group colleagues by 6 pm Sunday. Come to Monday’s seminar prepared to discuss what you have read and written. Your group should know the number of characters, the motivation, action, follow-through, and resolution of the play.

Week Four: IRISH AMERICA
1/26 11 – 12:30 Book seminars (come prepared with book and response paper)
2 – 4:30 Film: “The Molly Maguires”
1/27 11 – 12:30 Georgia O’Keefe (Doranne)
2:30 – 4:30 Film: “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”
1/29 11 – 1 Film: “The Last Hurrah”
2 – 3:30 Integrative seminars
3:30 – 4:00 Final gathering
Assignment for next week: Read Irish on the Inside. Your book response paper is due by e-mail to your small-group colleagues by 6 pm Sunday. Come to Monday’s seminar prepared to discuss what you have read and written. Your script should be more or less finished except for minor ideas and adjustment; prepare to do a “cold reading” in your group this week, leaving room in your schedules for the completion of the working script.

Week Five: IRISH AMERICA
2/2 11 – 12:30 Book seminars (come prepared with book and response paper)
2 – 4:30 Songs of Emigration, Exile, and Irish-American Identity (Seán)
2/3 all day Student meetings with faculty
2/5 11 – 1 Student meetings with faculty
2 – 4 Project Development
Assignment for next week: Read Love and Chaos. Your final book response paper is due by e-mail to your small-group colleagues by 6 pm Sunday. Come to Monday’s seminar prepared to discuss what you have read and written. Turn in the working script for your final production by Friday, February 6 at noon in your faculty

Week Six: THE NORTH
2/9 11 – 12:30 Book seminars (come prepared with book and response paper)
2 – 4:30 Justice and Reconciliation (Patrick)
2/10 11 – 12:30 Songs about the Troubles (Patrick and Seán)
2:30 – 4:30 Film: “Understanding Northern Ireland;” “Corrymeela”
2/12 11 – 1 Film: “Some Mother’s Son”
2 – 3:30 Integrative seminars
3:30 – 4:00 Final gathering
Assignment for next week: Read The Heart Aroused. Begin rehearsals of your final production, and complete work on the details of set/props/costumes/printed program.

Week Seven: IRELAND IN/AND EUROPE
2/16 all day No class meeting (President’s Day Holiday)
2/17 11 – 12:30 Irish Popular Music in Gaelic and English (Seán)
2:30 – 4:30 Film: “In the Name of the Father”
2/19 all day Project Development and Rehearsals
Assignment for next week: Continue rehearsals for your final productions. Read Waiting for Godot and complete the artistic response project (details to be announced).

Week Eight: IRELAND AND/IN EUROPE
2/23 11 – 12:30 Book seminar (come prepared with book and artistic response)
2 – 4:30 Samuel Beckett (Doranne)
2/24 11 – 12:30 The European Union and Irish Identities (Patrick)
2:30 – 4:30 Film: “Riverdance” (original and NYC versions)
2/26 all day Rehearsals
Assignment for next week: Read The Penguin Book of Contemporary Irish Poetry. Bring five of the most meaningful poems with you to seminar on Monday, and be prepared to read and discuss these poems with the members of your small group (no response paper necessary). Complete your dress rehearsals and final “clean-up” of your collaborative productions.

Week Nine: CONTEMPORARY IRISH POETRY
3/1 11 – 12:30 Poetry seminars (come prepared with poetry)
2 – 4:30 New Poets in Gaelic and English (Patrick and Seán)
3/2 all day Rehearsals
3/4 11 – 1 Summative Words and Final Details (Patrick, Doranne, Seán)
2 – 4 Rehearsals
Assignment for next week: Prepare your final collaborative presentations and the five poems that you expect to recite by heart for your evaluation.

Week Ten: PERFORMANCES AND EVALUATIONS
3/8 11 – 12:30 Performances
2 – 4:30 Performances
3/9 11 – 12:30 Performances
2 – 4:30 Performances
3/11 all day Evaluative Meetings
3/12 all day Evaluative Meetings