R1B, Section 1: Reading & Composition, Topic TBA
4 units
MWF 3-4
187 Dwinelle
Instructor: Dara Hellman
This course satisfies the second half or the “B” portion of the Reading and Composition requirement for the Bachelor’s Degree. Courses taken to fulfill this requirement must be taken for a letter grade.
A detailed description with texts is forthcoming.
Texts: to be announced
Prerequisite: Successful completion of the “A” portion of the Reading and Composition requirement or its equivalent. Students may not enroll nor attend R1B/R5B courses without completing this prerequisite.
R1B, Section 2: Reading & Composition, Irish Drama in a Comparative Context
4 units
MWF 3-4
31 Evans
Instructor: Thomas Walsh
This course satisfies the second half or the “B” portion of the Reading and Composition requirement for the Bachelor’s Degree. Courses taken to fulfill this requirement must be taken for a letter grade.
A detailed description with texts is forthcoming.
Texts: to be announced
Prerequisite: Successful completion of the “A” portion of the Reading and Composition requirement or its equivalent. Students may not enroll nor attend R1B/R5B courses without completing this prerequisite.
16: Introduction to Modern Welsh
4 units
MW 4-5:30
6307 Dwinelle Hall
Instructor: Kathryn Klar
This is an entry level class in colloquial, spoken Modern Welsh. We will be learning the dialect of South Welsh (Cymraeg y De), but the instructor will include information about the differences (not huge) between North and South Welsh.
Welsh is a wonderful and interesting language, and it is something of a “linguistic miracle.” It is now flourishing in Wales, but at the end of the 20th century, many people expected it would completely die out by the year 2000. Instead, a dedicated political movement in Wales brought it back as a language of everyday life. Welsh authors, poets, musicians, journalists, filmmakers, and artists continue (and extend) traditions stretching back more than 1500 years. In addition to the lively main text, the course will be supplemented with materials from the contemporary Welsh arts and literature scene.
The main (required) text:
Cwrs Mynediad (Fersiwn y De by Elin Meek, and accompanying workbook.
Published by the Welsh Joint Education Committee.
Students who know they intend to take the course should order their books immediately from gwales.com. Be sure to order the South Wales (De) version of the texts.
Text: http://www.gwales.com/bibliographic/?isbn=9781860856105&tsid=4
Workbook: http://www.gwales.com/bibliographic/?isbn=9781860856129&tsid=5
Students can also wait until the beginning of the semester if they are not sure they want to take the class, but may have to pay higher shipping costs from Wales.
Note that Cwrs Mynediad will be the text for entire first year (two semesters) of Welsh. Students will not have to buy another text until the second year. The cost of books for this class is, therefore, minimal.
70: The World of the Celts
4 units
MWF 2-3
242 Dwinelle
Instructor: Daniel Melia
L&S Breadth: Historical Studies OR Social and Behavioral Sciences
Did the Druids really burn people in giant wicker statues? Did they worship a mother-goddess? Did they worship trees? Did the Celts build Stonehenge? Was Britain Rome’s Vietnam? Who are the Celts anyway (or were they Kelts?) Who was King Arthur (was there really a King Arthur?)
Celtic Studies 70 is designed to allow you to be able to answer these and other questions about the Celtic world of the past and the present. The course will present an overview of the history of the Celtic-speaking peoples from Indo‑European times to the present, concentrating particularly on questions of assessing evidence. How are we to interpret Roman or Greek views of the Celts? How do we know about languages of which there are no written records? We will discuss the extent to which Celtic culture can be seen as a unitary phenomenon at various periods. The course will cover what we know and what we may be able to reconstruct of Celtic belief systems and social structure. For the later historical period we will discuss Celtic tribal migration, cultural absorption, and linguistic fragmentation.
Course requirements:
1.) 3 short quizzes in class
2.) 1 group report in class
3.) 1 final 3‑hour examination.
Texts:
James, Simon, Exploring the World of the Celts
Cunliffe, Barry, The Celts: A Very Short Introduction
Caesar, Julius, Seven Commentaries on The Gallic War With an Eighth Commentary by Aulus Hirtius, Translated with Introduction and Notes by Carolyn Hammond
Koch, John, The Celtic Heroic Age
Geoffrey of Monmouth, History of the Kings of Britain
Prerequisites: None.
128: Medieval Celtic Culture
138: Irish Literature in Translation
4 units
MWF 12-1
6307 Dwinelle Hall
Instructor: Thomas Walsh
L&S Breadth: Historical Studies OR Social & Behavioral Sciences
This course will begin with a rich reading of the famous sagas of the Ulster and Finn Cycles, to be followed by an overview and close reading of the beautiful lyrical texts of nature- and praise-poetry in the early periods. The instructor’s perspective is that of comparative and world literature, so that students will find a panoramic view of the extensive range of early Irish genres from history, genealogy, law, satire, and gnomic literature. Students from other literary fields are, thus, most welcome. Of particular interest to this course will be the translations of Greco-Roman epic in Irish, a topic that has attracted much recent controversy. As we move from the earliest material, the course will incorporate later textual material from the middle Irish period; we will conclude with a brief section on bardic poetry as it comes to meet the fall of the Gaelic order in the 1700s. We will look, finally, at the way our period is used by the movement called the Irish Revival.
Student work: Student work will include a few short quizzes, 1 short midterm and a final; 1 short paper (due mid-semester) and a term paper (due at semester’s end). In-class presentations will be used to stimulate discussion. This course is taught in English.
Texts:
Thomas Kinsella, The Tain: Translated from the Irish Epic Táin Bó Cualinge. New York: Oxford, 2002 (1969). ISBN-10: 0192803735.
Anne Dooley and Harry Roe, Tales of the Elders of Ireland. New York: Oxford University Pres, 2008. ISBN-10: 0199549850.
Riordan, Maurice. Ed. The Finest Music: An Anthology of Early Irish Lyrics. London: Faber & Faber, 2015
John T. Koch (ed.) with J. Carey, The Celtic Heroic Age: Literary Sources for Ancient Celtic Europe and Early Ireland and Wales. Rev. ed. Aberystwyth: Celtic Studies Publications, 2003. ISBN 1-891271-09-1. [On Hold Shelf in Moffitt.]
Declan Kiberd and P. J. Mathews. 2015. Handbook of the Irish Revival: An Anthology of Irish Cultural and Political Writings 1891-1922. Dublin: Abbey Theatre Press.
COURSE READER: Prepared by the instructor, this text will be available on bCourses. Supporting material will be posted on bCourses.
Prerequisite: None. Course and readings in English.
145A: Modern Irish, Level 3
4 units
TuTh 3:30-5
6307 Dwinelle Hall
Instructor: Imelda White
A continuation of Celtic Studies 85.
The third level course in modern spoken Irish designed for students who have completed two semesters of formal instruction. Continued stress on vocabulary building and reading of texts with intensive conversation drills to activate the learned vocabulary. Idiomatic usage will be reinforced in both oral and written exercises. Class activities will include conversation and discussion of assigned texts in Irish.
Texts: to be announced by the instructor.
Prerequisites: Celtic Studies 15 and 85 or consent of instructor.
168: Celtic Mythology and Oral Tradition
Beginning Fall 2016, Celtic Studies C168 will be taught as Celtic 168. It will no longer be cross-listed with Religious Studies C109.
4 units
TuTh 2-3:30
141 Haas Pavilion
Instructor: Annalee Rejhon
L&S Breadth Requirement: Philosophy & Values OR Arts & Literature
The course will examine the mythology of the Celts—their gods, goddesses, festivals, and belief systems—as it is reflected in medieval Irish and Welsh texts. Following a short presentation of introductory material regarding the history and civilization of the early Celts, the course will begin with the early Irish tale known as The Second Battle of Maige Tuired, a core mythological tale that best exemplifies the pattern of mythological deities and belief systems that pertain to varying degrees in other Celtic tales. These tales will include in Irish, the Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel, the Tale of Macc Da Thó’s Pig, Bricriu’s Feast, the Wooing of Etaín, the Dream of Oengus, the Wasting Sickness of CúChulaind, the Cattle Raid of Fróech, and the Táin, and in Welsh, the Four Branches of the Mabinogi, Culhwch and Olwen, Lludd and Llefelys, the Tale of Gwion Bach and the Tale of Taliesin, and the poems, “What Man the Gatekeeper” and “The Spoils of the Otherworld.” All the readings are in English translation.
Course requirements include a midterm and final examination.
Prerequisites: none.