Latest Module Specifications
Current Academic Year 2025 - 2026
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Description In the period covered by this module, Ireland was home to multiple different peoples with distinct cultures and identities. The two most prominent of these were the Gaelic Irish, who had inhabited the island from the dawn of the historical period, and the English of Ireland, whose colonisation of the island had begun in the wake of the conquest begun by Strongbow and Henry II in the late twelfth century. But there were others, too, including the Ostmen, descendants of the Scandinavian vikings who established Dublin and Ireland’s other port cities, as well as Scottish immigrants who began to arrive and settle during the thirteenth century. Each of these groups possessed and professed a distinct cultural identity, which they expressed in a variety of different sources, from official government documents to bardic poetry to historical writing. This module will engage with sources of this kind to examine how the peoples of later medieval Ireland expressed their cultural identities and how these identities and expressions shifted over time. In doing so, it will examine contested analytical categories, particularly ‘race’, ‘ethnicity’, and ‘nationality’, and will discuss how these concepts overlap and intersect with other forms of identity, including class, gender, and sex. This will be done through engagement with the relevant historiography of medieval Irish and European cultural identity, as well as key primary texts (in modern translation). Ultimately, this course will raise questions about Irish identity as it is and has been understood throughout history. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Learning Outcomes 1. Demonstrate clear knowledge of this history of Irish history in the later medieval period. 2. Provide informed analysis of primary sources from later medieval Ireland. 3. Engage with and interrogate the arguments of historians of medieval Ireland. 4. Appreciate the diversity of medieval Irish culture and the contributions of different ethnic groups to Irish history and identity. 5. Construct a clear argument well supported by historical evidence. 6. Deliver considered historical arguments in written formats. 7. Demonstrate verbal communication skills in the delivery of a presentation. 8. Engage in self-directed learning through sustained independent research on a topic of personal interest. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml
Indicative Content and Learning Activities
| Gaelic Cultural identity before the English Invasion International perceptions of the Gaelic Irish in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. A Gaelic 'nation' in the fourteenth century? English, Anglo-Norman, or Cambro-Norman? The identity of the invaders The 'Middle Nation'? The English of Ireland The Ostmen, origins and destinies The first Irelandmen
Indicative Reading List | Books:
Articles: None
Other Resources | None
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