HIS42460 Pop Culture in Modern Ireland

Academic Year 2023/2024

This module will explore popular culture in Ireland between the Great Famine and today. The history of Irish popular culture (including music, drink, dance, fashion, cinema, television, sport, media and more) is shaped by multiple influences, local, national and international. Using readings, podcasts, film and a range of primary sources, this module will offer an insight into the nature of popular culture in Ireland and will examine the many and complex forces that have shaped it. The module will examine how divides over politics and identity have been influential, and will also examine the conflict, both real and imagined, between ‘tradition’ and ‘modernity’ in the evolution of popular culture. The module will further explore how Irish popular culture has been shaped by urbanization, religion, the spread of associational culture, the rise of youth culture, the media, technological change, the growth of disposable income and globalization. Throughout the module students will also be introduced to themes and approaches to the study of popular culture and it meanings.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of the module students should:
a) have developed study, writing and communication skills appropriate to Level 4;
b) have developed a critical understanding of popular culture in Ireland;
c) be able to assess a range of approaches to the study of popular culture;
d) be familiar with the main themes in the historiography of Irish popular culture;
e) be able to handle historical sources and to evaluate a range of primary sources and their potential use to historians of popular culture.

Indicative Module Content:

Week 1: An introduction to ideas of Popular Culture
Week 2: Identity and Popular Culture
Week 3: Money and Modernity
Week 4: The Everyday, 2011
Week 5: Online Cultures
Week 6: Reading Week
Week 7: Popular Culture and Visions of the State
Week 8: Music and Society
Week 9: The Street
Week 10: Moving Statues: Religion, Sex and Control in Twentieth Century Ireland
Week 11: Review, Overview and Research Project

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Seminar (or Webinar)

20
Specified Learning Activities

95
Autonomous Student Learning

95
Total

210
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This is a small-group, seminar-based module. It is taught through a weekly two-hour seminar. The seminar is focused upon individual active / task-based learning by means of class debates, discussion and student presentations. Advanced research, writing and general historiographical skills are developed through in-class exercises and a semester-long 4,000 word research project. Autonomous learning is advanced through student-led debate and discussion of set primary and secondary sources and / or student presentations each week. 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Continuous Assessment: Attendance, class presentation, group work and contribution to seminar discussions Throughout the Trimester n/a Graded No

50
Assignment: A 4,000-word essay to be submitted Week 12 n/a Graded No

50

Carry forward of passed components
No
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback on the mid-term Essay Assignment is given in writing on the returned hard-copy. Feedback on the end-of-semester Essay Assignment will be given by appointment in one-to-one meetings.

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
 
Autumn
      
Seminar Offering 1 Week(s) - Autumn: All Weeks Mon 14:00 - 15:50