Learning outcomes:
This course has been designed to enable you to:
- Develop a comprehensive knowledge of the history of the island of Ireland over the last one hundred years.
- Be introduced to a range of contemporary source materials, and learn how to read this material critically, responding to the specific contexts of Irish history.
- Be introduced to a range of historical perspectives, and will learn about the competing interpretations of Irish history which continue to shape historical research on modern Ireland today.
Course sessions:
1. Statebuilding, 1921-39
This class explores the first decades of both the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland, introducing students to the contexts which shaped the histories of the communities in each polity, and the political challenges facing political leaders who sought to achieve very different ends. Particular attention will be paid to the interactions of religion, economy, and empire. Northern Ireland avoided civil war, but the Irish Free State was confronted with a military crisis which ruptured communities, and exacerbated the long shadow of animosities caused by partition.
2. Consolidation, 1939-59
This class introduces students to the history of Ireland during the Second World War and its aftermath. While Northern Ireland, as part of the UK, was a major belligerent in the war, southern Ireland remained neutral. We will explore the impact of the new welfare state on Northern Ireland, and examine how this period witnessed the consolidation of religious identities across the island, particularly examining the growing power of the Catholic Church in southern Ireland during a period of conservative government and economic insecurity.
3. Reset, 1959-79
The 1960s created enormous political, social, and economic challenges for the Irish governments. Both southern and northern governments were faced with radical new political and social ideas, as well as a need to respond to growing economic dislocation. The outbreak of violence in Northern Ireland re-orientated the political and social dynamics of both territories, leading to the collapse of the Northern Irish government and new challenges for the Republic. Students will engage with these complex developments using a breadth of unionist and nationalist, Catholic and Protestant, perspectives.
4. Confrontation, 1979-98
This period witnessed the essential normalisation of violence within the UK, while the Republic of Ireland became increasingly central to achieving a resolution to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. This class will focus on the various initiatives for peace which led to the Belfast Agreement in 1998, considering a wide range of perspectives on these issues. It will contextualise these developments within the growing influence of American and European politics in Irish affairs, and explore the ongoing economic crisis of the 1980s which served to further consolidate a global diaspora which informed the international response to the Troubles.
5. Transitions, 1998-2021
The late 1990s were years of economic prosperity for the Republic of Ireland, while Northern Ireland sought to respond to the challenges of peace in a divided society. This class will explore this economic success of the Republic, which culminated in the crash of 2008, IMF-EU bailout, and austerity. It will consider how the rising liberalism of the Republic displaced the long-standing influence of the Catholic Church, and how ideas of identity shape politics and society in Northern Ireland. Political, social, and religious developments across the island will be examined, and the course will conclude by asking what the twin contexts of Brexit and the pandemic tell us about Ireland’s recent history.
Non-credit bearing
Please note that our Virtual Summer Festival of Learning courses are non-credit bearing.
Certificate of Participation
A certificate of participation will be sent to you electronically within a week of your Summer Festival course(s) finishing.
