L.008.32470 Ireland and Europe: Imagined Communities

Lehrende: Dr. Sara Strauß

Veranstaltungsart: Seminar

Orga-Einheit: Anglistik/Amerikanistik

Anzeige im Stundenplan:

Semesterwochenstunden: 2

Unterrichtssprache: Englisch

Min. | Max. Teilnehmerzahl: - | 33

Voraussetzungen und Empfehlungen:
You need to have passed the following courses before participating in this seminar:
Introduction to Cultural Studies
Methodische Grundlagen: Cultural Studies

Literatur:
Jan Carson, The Fire Starters, Dublin: Penguin/Black Swan Ireland, 2019. ISBN: 978-1-7841-6384-6

All further material will be made available on
Panda: https://panda.uni-paderborn.de/

For the second lesson please read the excerpts from Maria Edgeworth’s The Absentee (1812) provided on PANDA.

Kommentar:
In this seminar we will concentrate on Ireland within Europe. As a member state of the European Union, the Republic of Ireland plays a significant role after the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU in 2020. As a result of Brexit, both Ireland and Northern Ireland, their politics, societies, economies, and cultures are now shaped by a new EU-external border. In order to understand Ireland’s special role in this regard, we will investigate its colonial past under British rule, the partition of Ireland and the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1921 and 1922, and the time from its accession to the European Community in 1973 until today. A major focus will also be on Northern Ireland and “The Troubles”, i.e. the civil war in Northern Ireland from 1969-1998 and the present situation on the Irish Isle. In our analyses of literary texts and cultural products we will trace and discuss ideas of community: Irish, Northern Irish and European community and the values and ideas associated with Europe.

For the second lesson please read the excerpts from Maria Edgeworth’s The Absentee (1812) provided on PANDA and purchase Jan Carson’s novel The Fire Starters (2019) to be read later in the semester. As part of the module "Project and Exploration" this seminar will include work on a project in research groups, in which you will examine Irish cultural products and contemporary discourses about Ireland and Europe in detail. The seminar therefore requires your willingness to read historical and contemporary theoretical and literary texts as well as your active participation in classroom discussions and in the research projects.