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IRFL20090

Academic Year 2024/2025

Folklife & Ethnology (IRFL20090)

Subject:
Irish Folklore
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
Irish, Celtic Stud & Folklore
Level:
2 (Intermediate)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Dr Tiber Falzett
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

This course explores the tangible manifestations of tradition through a broad range of material culture in Ireland and beyond, including vernacular architecture, furniture, traditional crafts and technologies, foodways and clothing. The creation, application, transmission and transformation of vernacular forms of material expression in time and space reveal as much about our present as they do our past. Together we will listen to the stories these everyday objects have to tell us by highlighting their power in narrating the lives of those who create and utilise them. From a recipe that gathers family and friends around the kitchen table to the lone creations of unknown street artists on centuries-old cityscapes, each object demonstrates individual agency and collective aesthetics in the innovation and adaptation of vernacular material culture. The impacts of family and social structure and the effects of the global economy on local lifeways are met with these vernacular lifeways’ ability to provide tested and resilient strategies in our contemporary lives.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of the module, the student will be able to:
1. Define various forms of vernacular material culture in Ireland and their international counterparts;
2. Contextualise the creation of material objects as tangible traditions whose forms and functions are transmitted and transformed across time and space;
3. Develop ethnographic methods in documenting material culture in its various forms;
4. Engage in ethnographic collections within both museums and archives in documenting material culture in Ireland and internationally;
5. Describe traditional lifeways in the cycles of farming and communal subsistence, and identify the principal forms and regional characteristics of vernacular architecture in Ireland;
6. Research, compose and communicate material object biographies, and present a biography for a particular traditional object, drawing on primary and secondary research materials.

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

50
Autonomous Student Learning

30
Lectures

22
Total

102

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Teaching in the module is geared towards the promotion of a spirit of enquiry among students and towards encouraging them to develop a reflective approach to their studies. Teaching is carried out in lectures and, when staff resources allow, in small-group tutorials.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Exam (Take-Home): Midterm Guided Writing Assessment Week 6 Graded No
25
 No
Exam (Take-Home): Open-book take-home examination Week 14 Graded No
35
 No
Assignment(Including Essay): Objects in Action Analysis: ~1,500-word Object Biography + 5-minute prerecorded presentation Week 12 Graded No
40
 No

Carry forward of passed components
No
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Autumn Yes - 2 Hour
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.

Name Role
Dr Kelly Fitzgerald Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Ryan Lash Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Brendan O'Neill Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Anita Radini Lecturer / Co-Lecturer

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Thurs 11:00 - 11:50
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Tues 12:00 - 12:50
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