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IRST30140

Academic Year 2026/2027

The Forgotten Irish (IRST30140)

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

Curricular information is subject to change.

This module enhances students' understanding of 'The Forgotten Irish' by addressing various sectors of society which have often been cast aside from the stereotypical view of what it means to be Irish. Topics such as religion, colonial connections, gender and sexuality, Traveller culture and the role of 'New Irish' immigrant communities will be explored in a multi-modal context including literature, print, film, art, music and original source documents. Students meet twice a week to discuss the course material and are required to participate in class discussion based on this material and the module topics. Each student will be required to lead a discussion by delivering a short presentation on one of the module themes.

*Traffic Light Red: Students are not permitted to use generative artificial intelligence (AI) in this module.*
The Module Coordinator may request an in-person discussion to review the student's knowledge of the material submitted. The outcome of any such meetings may impact the grade awarded.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of this module, students should be able to:
1. Demonstrate in-depth knowledge, critical understanding and authoritative interpretation of the key themes and theories addressed in the module;
2. Assess the 'othering' of various marginalised groups from mainstream debates on Irishness;
3. Present both orally and in writing aspects of various current and historical debates on Irishness;
4. Demonstrate the skills required for original analysis of primary and secondary sources;
5. Deliver an oral presentation on a key topic;
6. Prepare a 3,000-word research paper.

Indicative Module Content:

Week 1: Introduction; Cultural and Collective Memory

Week 2-3: Irish Protestants and Unionists

Week 4-5: The Irish in the British Forces

Week 6-7: Queer Irelands

Week 8-9: Irish Travellers

Week 10-11: The 'New' Irish

Week 12: Course summary

UNESCO highlights a set of key competencies that support individuals in their development and support society in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UCD has adapted these competencies and is combining them with others to form a general framework of learning competencies. This module will help you develop the competencies below to the levels specified. 
Learning Competency Additional Information Level

Collaboration

The ability to learn from others; to understand and respect the needs, perspectives and actions of others (empathy); to understand, relate to and be sensitive to others (empathic leadership); to deal with conflicts in a group; and to facilitate collaborative and participatory problem solving. Proficient

Critical Thinking

The ability to question norms, practices and opinions; to reflect on one’s own values, perceptions and actions. Proficient

Self-awareness

The ability to reflect on one’s own role in the local community and (global) society; to continually evaluate and further motivate one’s actions; and to deal with one’s feelings and desires. Proficient

Digital Literacy and Judgement

The ability to access, evaluate, create and communicate information in digital environments; to engage critically, ethically and responsibly with digital technologies and digital information; to understand their opportunities, limitations, risks and impact on individual’s digital identities; and to exercise informed judgement in digital participation and decision-making. Proficient

The United Nations identified seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as core to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and UCD contributes in general to SDG 4 Quality Education. Further SDGs explored within this module if relevant are listed below. A scale of 1 - 5 indicates the extent to which the SDG is covered.


 

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

44

Autonomous Student Learning

34

Seminar (or Webinar)

22

Total

100


Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This module will include:
- seminars
- in-class discussions
- active learning
- critical analysis
- case-studies
- essay writing
- reflective writing
- student presentations

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
Assignment(Including Essay): A final Research Paper (c. 3,000 words) Week 12 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
50
No
Individual Project: A Presentation (10-15 minutes) on a specific module topic Week 3, Week 5, Week 7, Week 9, Week 11 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
20
No
Reflective Assignment: Online Learning Journal on Module Topics Week 2, Week 4, Week 6, Week 8, Week 10, Week 12 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
30
No

As part of UCD's student support, under the Additional Consideration policy, extensions may be available for the following assessments in the module: Assignment (including essay/poster), Portfolio, Reflective Assignment, Report(s), and Individual Project.


Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Autumn 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?

Learning Journal: Group feedback in class; Individual feedback online through Brightspace. Presentation: Individual feedback post-assessment. Essay: Individual feedback on essay plan/draft; Individual feedback post-assessment.

Required reading and additional texts for each topic are provided through Brightspace. An extensive list of further sources is provided below.

Ballin, M. Irish Periodical Culture, 1937-1972: Genre in Ireland, Wales and Scotland (New York, 2008)
Bartlett, T. (ed.), Irish Studies: A General Introduction (Dublin, 1988)
Beckett, J.C., Confrontations: studies in Irish history (London, 1972)
Billings, C. ‘The first minutes: An analysis of the Irish Language within the official structures of the Gaelic Athletic Association, 1884-1934’, Éire-Ireland (Spring/Summer 2013, 32-53)
Brady & Walsh (eds.), Crossroads: performance studies and Irish culture (Basingstoke, 2009)
Boyd, E., Ireland’s Literary Renaissance (London, 1923)
Brown, T., Ireland: A Social and Cultural History, 1922-2002 (London, 2004)
Butler, C., Interpretation, Deconstruction and Ideology (Oxford, 1984)
Campbell, M. Ireland’s New Worlds: Immigrants, Politics and Society in the United States and Australia, 1815-1922 (Wisconsin, 2008)
Cairns, D. & Richards, S., Writing Ireland: Colonialism, Nationalism and Culture (Manchester, 1988)
Connolly, C. Theorizing Ireland (Hampshire, 2003)
Coulter, C., The Hidden Tradition: Feminism, Women and Nationalism in Ireland (Cork, 1993)
Cronin, M. and Ó Cuilleanáin, C. (eds.) The languages of Ireland (Dublin, 2003)
Crotty, W. ‘The Catholic Church in Ireland and Northern Ireland: Nationalism, Identity, and Opposition’, in Manuel, Reardon and Wilcox (eds.), The Catholic Church and the Nation-State. Comparative Perspectives. Washington, D.C., 2006, 117-130)
Dean, J.F., Riot and great anger: stage censorship in twentieth-century Ireland, (London, 2004)
Deane, S., Strange Country: Modernity and Nationhood in Irish Writing since 1790 (Oxford, 1997)
Donaldson, L. E., Decolonizing Feminisms: Race, Gender and Empire-Building (London, 1992)
Elliott, M. When God took sides. Religion and Identity in Ireland: Unfinished History (Oxford, 2009)
Fanning, B. (ed.), Immigration and social change in the Republic of Ireland (Manchester, 2007)
- The quest for modern Ireland: the battle of ideas 1912-1986, (Dublin, 2008)
- Racism and social change in the Republic of Ireland (Manchester, 2002)
Fanning et al. (eds.), Theorising Irish social policy (Dublin, 2004)
Ferriter, D. Occasions of Sin. Sex and Society in Modern Ireland. London, 2009)
Frawley, O. (ed.), Memory Ireland. Vol. 1, History and modernity (New York, 2011)
Foster, R.F., Paddy and Mr Punch: Connections in Irish and English History (Harmondsworth, 1993)
Grubgeld, E., Anglo-Irish autobiography: class, gender, and the forms of narrative (New York, 2004)
Harvey, D., The condition of post modernity: An enquiry into the origins of cultural change (Oxford, 1989)
Horgan, J. Irish Media: A Critical History since 1922 (London and New York, 2001)
Irish Studies Review: Special issue on Organised spaces: revival activism and print culture (Vol. 22, No. 1, February 2014)
Irish University Review: a journal of Irish studies: special issue on literature, criticism & theory (Vol. 27, No. 1, Spring/Summer 1997)
Kiberd, D. and Mathews, P.J. (eds.) Handbook of the Irish Revival. An Anthology of Irish Cultural and Political Writings 1891-1922 (Dublin, 2015)
Kirby, P., Gibbons, L., and Cronin, M., Reinventing Ireland : culture, society and the global economy (London, 2002)
Larkin, F. and O’Brien, M. (eds.) Periodicals and Journalism in Twentieth-Century Ireland. Writing Against the Grain (Dublin, 2014)
Lee, J.J. Ireland, 1912-1985: Politics and Society (Cambridge, 1989)
Leerssen, J., Mere Irish and Fíor-Ghael, (Cork, 1996)
McDowell, L., Gender, identity and place: understanding feminist geographies (Cambridge, 1999)
McGrath, F.C., Language, Illusion and Politics: The (Post) Colonial Drama of Brian Friel (New York, 1999)
McLaughlin, J., Location and dislocation in contemporary Irish society: emigration and Irish identities, (Cork, 1997)
McMahon, T. ‘“All Creeds and Classes”? Just who made up the Gaelic League?’, Éire-Ireland (Vol. 37, 2002, 118-168)
Mills, S., Gender and colonial space (Manchester, 2005)
Morash, C. A History of the Media in Ireland (Cambridge, 2010)
Munck & Fanning (eds.), Globalization, migration and social transformation: Ireland in Europe and the world (Farnham, 2011)
Murray, C., Twentieth Century Irish Drama: Mirror up to a Nation (New York, 2000)
Ní Úrdail, M. The scribe in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Ireland: motivations and milieu (Münster, 2000)
Nilsen, K.E. ‘The Irish Language in New York, 1850-1900’, in Bayor and Meagher (eds.), The New York Irish (Baltimore and London, 1996, 252-274)
Ó Conchubhair, B. ‘The GAA and the Irish Language’, in Cronin, Murphy and Rouse (eds.) The Gaelic Athletic Association 1884-2009 (Dublin and Portland, OR, 2009, 137-155)
O’Leary, P. The Prose Literature of the Gaelic Revival 1881-1921. Ideology and Innovation. (Pennsylvania, 1994)
Potter, S.J. (ed.) Newspapers and Empire in Ireland and Britain (Dublin and Portland, OR, 2004)
Rouse, P. ‘The Politics of Culture and Sport in Ireland: A History of the GAA Ban on Foreign Games, 1884-1971. Part 1: 1884-1921’, The International Journal of the History of Sport (Vol. 10, Issue 3, 1993, 333-360)
Smyth, G., The novel & the nation: studies in the new Irish fiction (London, 1997)
- Decolonisation and criticism: the construction of Irish literature (London, 1998)
Tracy, R., The unappeasable host: studies in Irish identities (Dublin, 1998)
Uí Chollatáin, R. ‘Crossing Boundaries and Early Gleanings of Cultural Replacement in Irish Periodical Culture’, Irish Communications Review (Vol. 12, 2010, 50-64)
Ward, M. ‘A Terrible Beauty? Women, Modernity and Irish Nationalism before the Easter Rising.’ in Walsh (ed.) Knowing their place? The intellectual life of women in the 19th Century (Dublin, 2014)
Whelan, A. ‘Language revival and conflicting identities in The Irish Independent, 1905-1922’, Irish Studies Review (Vol. 22, No. 1, February 2014)
- ‘‘Irish Ireland’ and the Irish Independent, 1905-22’, in O’Brien and Rafter (eds.) Independent Newspapers: A History (Dublin, 2012, 67-80)
Whelan, K., ‘Between: The Politics of Culture in Friel's Translations’, Field Day Review, Vol. 6 (2010), pp. 6-27

Name Role
Mr David McKinney Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Aoife Whelan Lecturer / Co-Lecturer

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Spring Seminar Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Mon 14:00 - 14:50
Spring Seminar Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Wed 16:00 - 16:50