Celtic History and Contemporary Culture
Examples and Suggestions

Based on feedback from previous GLC students, we have found that a list of examples and suggestions of topics and resources such as books and films can help you choose topics and resources that will help you in this course.  Click here to view the current list. 

This listing is by no means exhaustive, nor is any of it required –it his here only to spark your own thoughts and ideas.

The SCC Library staff can help you find these works and MANY others (including other media such as encyclopedias and web sources) that might interest you and be useful for this course.

NOTE:

Topics

 ·        Ancient Celtic Culture/History

·        The “Celtic Tiger” (Ireland) in the Modern European Union

·        The Viking Invasions

·        Irish Monasteries and the preservation of European Culture

·        Christianity and/or Druidism in Celtic lands

·        Celtic art and its continuing influence

·        The British Empire in Ireland and/or Scotland

·        The “Troubles” in Northern Ireland

·        Terrorism and the Irish Republic

·        The Great Famine in Ireland

·        Modern Efforts at Scots Independence

·        Important Figures (political, religious, literary, popular, military, etc)

·        Important Places (battlegrounds, castles, natural features, etc)

·        The Recent Adoption of the Euro in Ireland

·        Folk Culture

·        The Role of the Tartan in Scots Culture

·        Preservation of Gaelic Language (Irish and/or Scots)

·        Catholic and Protestant Interactions

·        Irish/Scots Literature and Art

·        The role of brewing/distilling in Irish/Scots culture

·        Celtic folk tales and fairy tails

·        Celtic mythology

·        How Irish Literature Portrays Political Ideas

Books

Nonfiction

·        A Field Guide to the Buildings of Ireland : Illustrating the Smaller Buildings of Town & Countryside

·        Gaelic: A Complete Course for Beginners

·        Glendalough: A Celtic Pilgrimage

·        *How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe

·        How the Irish Speak English

·        *Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt) – memoir of 20^th Century Ireland

·        *How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe’s Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything in It

·        Paddy’s Lament: Ireland, 1846-1847: Prelude to Hatred

·        Scotland, A Concise History

·        The Art of Jack B. Yeats

·        Almost There: The Onward Journey of a Dublin Woman (memoir by Nuala O'Faolain)

·        The Course of Irish History

·        Confession of Saint Patrick

Fiction

·        Beowulf (new translation by Seamus Heaney)

·        Poetry of Robert Burns (Scots)

·        Poetry of Keats (Irish)

·        *Poetry of Wm. Butler Yeats (early 20^th century Irish)

·        *Poetry of Seamus Heaney (modern Irish)

·        Trinity (Leon Uris) – Historical fiction of the “troubles” in Northern Ireland

·        *1921 (Morgan Llewellyn) – Fictionalized account of the Easter Rising through the Irish Civil War

·        *The Lion of Ireland (M. Llewellyn) – Fictionalized account of the rise of Brian Boru, the first (and only) to unite Ireland and drive out the Vikings

·        Novels by James Joyce (Irish)

·        *Works of Oscar Wilde (Irish; plays, poems, novels, essays)

Films

·        *Michael Collins – fictionalized account of the man who lead Ireland to freedom after the Easter Rising (stars Liam Neeson)

·        *Waking Ned Devine – quintessential Irish comedy/folklife

·        The Quiet Man – John Wayne film shows Irish folk life and countryside in early 20^th century

·        The Commitments – Film about working-class Dubliners forming a R&B/soul band in the late 20^th century

·        *Braveheart – fictionalized account of William Wallace’s efforts to rid Scotland of the English (stars Mel Gibson)

·        *Rob Roy – fictionalized story of the Scots hero Rob Roy MacGregor (stars Liam Neeson)

NOTE: many of the literary works cited under “books” are also available as film adaptations, audio books, or dramatic readings

Music

·        Irish Folk Music

·        Scots Folk Music

·        Celtic Music

·        *Riverdance/Lord of the Dance

·        *The Chieftains (contemporary/traditional Celtic)

·        The Clancy Brothers (traditional Irish)

·        Songs/airs written by Turlough O’Carolan (18^th century Irish)

  PDLs

·        Annotated photo journal of important places (or people, or movements, etc)

·        Illustrated timeline, using photos and other materials from places visited

·        Annotated photo or video montage that shows traditional Celtic culture juxtaposed with modern European culture

·        An important person/group, event, movement as expressed in book, film, as experience on tour and how they interact to form a whole perception or experience

·        Illustrated poster presentation of the use of Gaelic in modern Ireland

·        Web pages that illustrate a theme based on the course contents/tour

·        Annotated CD collection of musical pieces related to regions visited or Celtic history/culture or appropriate themes (such as struggle vs. the English, the famine, etc.)

 This page updated 04/01/07.