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Centre for Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

GS01 GENDER: History, Culture and Representation

‘The story is no longer about the things that have happened to women and men and how they have reacted to them; instead it is about how the subjective and collective meanings of women and men as categories of identity have been constructed.’ (Joan Scott, Gender and the Politics of History, New York, 19988, p.6). This lecture-only module will examine the histories and representations of gender, seeking to understand how gender is constructed by societies, institutions and individuals, through the critical analysis of texts, works of art and public actions. Gender, its role, its construction and it historiography will be brought together by scholars across the school in an interdisciplinary module. The operation of gender ‘as a tool of analysis’ will be examined in histories of the body, sexuality, medicine, religion, politics, institutions and representations in a variety of texts and contexts which will show the inherent instability and elusive nature of many gendered identities.

Classics

SC11 Roman Art and Architecture

This lecture-only module is an introductory survey of the development and major artistic and technical achievements of Roman architecture, sculpture, and painting. The course places art and architecture in its social, political and cultural context. It explores themes such as the representation of the human form, the use of narrative and mythology in art, and urbanization, and it looks at the works of individual artists. It traces the development of architectural forms, such as temples, theatres and Roman baths with attention to many of the iconic buildings and sites of the ancient world, including the Parthenon, Delphi and Olympia, the Colosseum, the Pantheon and Pompeii.

SC12 Introduction to Roman History

This lecture-only module provides an introductory survey of the history of the Greek and Roman world, from the Greek Archaic age (c.700 BC) to the death of Augustus in AD 14. The main trends and issues of this period will be explored including colonisation, imperialism, war, the Athenian invention of democracy, the rise of Alexander, and the emergence of Rome as a major power in the Mediterranean. There will also be discussion of the main historical sources.

SC13 Greek and Roman Mythology and Religion part 2

What is myth? How do myths deal with fundamental human concerns about who we are and the world we live in? What is the relationship between myth and religion? Why did the Greeks and Romans worship many gods, believe in oracles, or perform animal sacrifice? This lecture-only module is an introduction to the major myths and religions of the classical world using the full range of primary source material: literary, artistic and archaeological. It explores the functions of myth within society and the various theories of myth. The first half of the course will focus on themes such as the creation of myths in the wider context of Near Eastern mythology, the character of the Olympian gods, heroes and their monstrous opponents, divine-human relations, and the major mythic cycles of the Trojan war, and the Atreus and Theban sagas. The second half of the course will explore the nature of Greek and Roman religion in its social context. It considers key elements of ritual action: sacrifice, rites of passage, festivals, as well as the diverse ancient beliefs on death and the afterlife and the role of mystery religions. This lecture-only course will be illustrated.
Lecturer: Dr Suzanne O’Neill

SC14 Writing the past (Herodotus’ Histories)

Who we think we are, what sense we make of ourselves and of our present, to a significant extent depends upon what we choose to remember. To remember, in turn, is always to construct. This module explores Herodotus’ Histories, the first written prose account of the past that explores the entire know world in a series of interweaving stories that ultimately aim to explain the Greco-Persian Wars and answer a question at the heart of history: why?

Extramural students, please note: this course is centred on close engagement with Herodotus’ Histories itself — the written text —which through open-ended text-based lectures (supported by handouts rather than PowerPoint), directs Herodotus' readers to the ideas, themes, and contexts that reveal Herodotus’ world and the roots of historical storytelling.

History Of Art And Architecture

SA09 Introduction to the History of Art 2

This lecture-only module offers a survey of Western painting and sculpture from c.1520. It provides an introduction to the critical analysis of artworks and considers such matters as the iconography of major religious and mythological subjects, issues of style, the functions of works of art and architecture, as well as the range of technical methods employed by artists. Art works are considered in the context of influential factors such as historical period, geographic location, and the prevailing social, political and religious environments.

SA10 Introduction to the History of Architecture 2

This lecture-only module offers a survey of Western architecture from c.1520. It provides an introduction to the critical analysis of building types. The module considers such matters as issues of style, the functions architecture, as well as the range of technical methods employed by architects in the context of influential factors such as historical period, geographic location, and the prevailing social, political and religious environments.
Lecturers: Various staff from the Department of History of Art and Architecture

SA11 Themes in Irish Art 2

This module presents a thematic introduction to the Irish art, architecture and design in its broader international context. Subjects will be connected cross periods and styles – the focus not on presenting individualised summarized histories but rather considering how aspects of Irish visual history are connected and have evolved over time.
Lecturers: Various staff from the Department of History of Art and Architecture

SA12 Cultural Intersections in Art History 2

This course examines the influence of different global cultures on the history of Western art from the medieval period to the twentieth century. Organized thematically, it will consider how different factors such as religious conversion, trade and the age of discovery on artistic styles and techniques and introduced new fashions to Western art and architecture.

SA16 The Art of the Renaissance

This course will look in detail at a number of key Renaissance artists including Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Albrecht Dürer, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian. It will examine the works of these artists within the context of early modern society, investigating the conditions of artistic patronage, and pursuing the theme of the ‘revival of antiquity’ alongside the changing religious demands placed on artists in the light of the Reformation. It will also explore critically a number of themes and questions such as the ‘idea of the Renaissance’, whether there was a Renaissance for women, or if the Renaissance was multi-cultural? Other topics to be examined include ‘the rise of the artist’, the theory of ‘disegno’, artistic exchanges between Italy and northern Europe, the nature of different artistic centres in Italy (like Bologna, Milan or Venice as well as Florence and Rome), the growth of the genre of portraiture, and the experience of dreaming, melancholy or falling in love as described in the visual arts.
Lecturer: Dr Benjamin Thomas

SA17 The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer

The module will examine some of the wealth of artistic production in the Netherlands in the seventeenth century. The module will be based around the study of Rembrandt and Vermeer as contrasting and complementary figures who represent some of the diverse tendencies of the time. This will entail the study of the development of individual styles and subject matter ranging from history painting to portraiture, landscape and genre painting. The distinct artistic character associated with centres of production, even ones that were geographically close, will be assessed with an emphasis on Amsterdam, Delft and Utrecht. The module will also look at the posthumous reputations of Rembrandt and Vermeer, examining questions of attribution, authenticity, canonicity and rediscovery. So far as is possible the module will use examples now in the National Gallery of Ireland or formerly in Irish collections.
Lecturer: Dr Philip McEvansoneya

SA07 Architecture and Politics in Twentieth Century Europe

Political leaders use architecture to convey power, to express political ideas, and to influence how people think and act. In twentieth-century Europe, political ideologies including fascism, communism, colonialism, and democracy influenced the creation of new buildings and cities. We will explore those ideologies through the spaces that they produced, and a selection of examples spanning between Hitler’s plans to transform Berlin to public swimming pools in post-war Britain. Under the banner of democracy, we will also explore how forces within Irish politics impacted the Dublin cityscape. This is a history of modern Europe told through the mark left by political actors upon architecture and cities.
Lecturer: Dr Hannah Malone

History

SHH09 Conquest and Colonization: Early Modern Ireland

The early modern period c.1500-c.1800 is a crucial and transformative one in Irish History. From 1500, after centuries of neglect, the English state takes a growing interest in Irish affairs, and finally completes the military conquest by the end of the Nine Years War. For the next two centuries, Ireland undergoes an intense phase of colonization and ethno/religious discrimination. Periodic opposition results in genocidal polices of suppression and the complete replacement of Irish Catholic landowners with Protestant settlers from England and Scotland. Systematic economic exploitation enables England and then Britain to plunder Ireland of much of its wealth, fuelling in the process the rapid growth of the imperial project on a global scale. This module, co-taught by Professor Micheál Ó Siochrú and Dr Patrick Walsh, adopts a chronological framework, exploring key political, military, religious, economic, and social themes across three centuries, primarily through the framework of Anglo-Irish relations, though engaging with both Europe and Wider World at different stages.
Lecturer: Professor Micheál Ó Siochrú

SHH10 Debating Modern Britain: Conflict, Change, and Society

Between 1688 and 1832, Britain emerged from a period of chronic instability to become a global power and the world’s first industrial nation. This module examines some of these transformations, exploring the political, social and economic changes of the period and considering the impact of change on the everyday lives of the men, women and children who lived through it.

Most aspects of Britain’s evolution towards ‘modernity’ are contested by historians and a core aspect of the module will be the development of critical skills in relation to these debates. Students will consider, for example, the appropriateness of the term ‘revolution’ with regards to industrial developments; the validity of the ‘moral economy’ with regards to popular protest, and the significance of the ‘bloody code’ as a tool of social discipline and control. They will also examine ideological developments in the period and their broader social and cultural significance, focusing on issues such as the growth of ‘politeness’ and new concepts of male and female behaviour.
Lecturer: Professor Susan Flavin

SHH11 Earthly pasts: an introduction to environmental histories

This introductory lecture-based module introduces students to the crux of environmental histories: the material world. In one way or another, environmental historians are always tracing what Ellen Stroud called the ‘dirt’, i.e. the material stuff of human daily life. Even when environmental historians are interested in ideas and ideologies – as is often the case – their approach always situates cognition and culture within the material ecologies. From considering historical sources as bodies (or surviving material structures) to the discussion about the role of location as a shaper and driver of history, this module presents environmental history as an approach to the past, including traditional historical topics such as revolution, imperialism and social hierarchies. A core concern is to make students comfortable with the idea that material features – soils, landforms, rivers, climates, flora, fauna and the very body of humans – are as much historical as any philosophical or political principle, thus preparing them to engage with the wealth of environmental history modules offered later in the History course.
Lecturer: Dr Diogo De Carvalho Cabral

SHH12 Empire, Oil, and Revolution: The Middle East in the 20th Century

This module will introduce to students the broader historical outlines of the emergence of the modern Middle East. After providing a discussion of the Ottoman background, the module will largely focus on the post-WWI period, tracing political, socio-economic, and cultural developments that have intimately shaped the history of the region. Students will be introduced to major themes in the history of the region, such as colonialism, decolonization, nationalism, authoritarianism, and socialism, and study key episodes such as the system of mandates, the Arab Cold War, the politics of oil, and the Arab Spring, in understanding the histories of modern Middle East.
Lecturer: Dr Ramazan Öztan

SHH13 Famine, Land and People: Ireland 1830s-1880s

In the aftermath of the Act of Union with Great Britain, Irish society and its political system was transformed. Change was not immediate however, transformation came slowly. Beginning with Catholic Emancipation and the Ordnance Survey (both dating to 1829) and ending with the onset of the Plan of Campaign (1886) this module explores the relationship between the people and the land on which they lived and laboured, and the ways in which they were subject to, and interacted with, the British state. Rural unrest, the tithe war and periodic crises of famine and disease foreshadowed the catastrophe that took place during the Great Famine (1845-52) when the population of the country dropped by over a quarter, from c.8 million to c.6 million. Death and emigration became drivers of change that saw a rise in living standards in the two decades after the Famine ended. Despite this, conflict in the form of the ‘Land War’ (1879-81) erupted, and thus began the decline of landlordism in Ireland. These decades are crucial in understanding the development of Irish society and politics in the period up until independence in 1921.

SHH14 Imperialism, Neo-colonialism and Decolonisation in Modern East Asian History

Empires shaped the world we live in today, and the after-effects of imperialism continue to be felt around the globe, not least in relations between China and the countries that once sought to colonise it. This module introduces the major empires of East Asia, beginning with empires before western imperialism, then exploring the nineteenth-century Scramble for China between multiple European and American powers, and the popular cultural manifestations of imperialism, such as the Sinophobic character Fu Manchu. Next, we study twentieth-century Japanese imperialism, before interrogating the idea of a communist empire, and concluding with an examination of neo-colonialism. This module is essential for anyone wanting to learn about the forces of empire and its legacies.
Lecturer: Dr Isabella Jackson

SHH15 Northern Ireland since 1921

Northern Ireland, like the Irish Free State, was born of revolution and civil war. Like much of contemporary Europe it was also indelibly marked by the experience of the Great War and the post-war break-up of empires. Though remaining part of the United Kingdom, it was a markedly different society from England, Scotland and Wales. This module explains the origins of Northern Ireland, the violence that marked its birth and how the memories of this shaped society thereafter. It examines how both the majority and minority communities viewed their society and how they perceived southern Ireland and Britain. While the importance of religious difference will not be underestimated, lecture and gender as well as politics will be examined. Work, leisure, sport and the day to day lives of ‘ordinary’ people will feature as much as political division. The question of structural discrimination and gerrymandering will be examined as well as how both communities viewed these questions. The course and consequences of the conflict after 1969 will naturally form a major part of the latter stages of the module.
Lecturer: Dr Brian Hanley

SHH16 The Hundred Years War

The Hundred Years War was in reality a series of wars, on both land and sea, arising primarily from the political and dynastic conflicts of the kings of England and France. The war was fought mainly in France but also engulfed Brittany, Scotland, the Iberian kingdoms, the Netherlands and other countries. The first part of the wars is retailed in considerable detail by the contemporary chronicler, Jean Froissart, whose powerful portrait of warfare and political rivalry is set against a backdrop of chivalric endeavour and glory.

SHH17 The World Wars, 1914-1945

World War I and World War II were the key events in twentieth-century history, shaping our contemporary world. Societies mobilized for “total war” and aimed for unconditional victory, sacrificing unprecedented amounts of blood and treasure. Through lectures and tutorials using primary and secondary sources encompassing the latest scholarly perspectives, this module analyses these formative events. Through these wars, our contemporary world came into being, and this module helps to understand the wars as interrelated processes of social transformation.
Lecturer: Professor Patrick Houlihan

School Of Histories And Humanities

SCH100 Material Witnesses: 16 objects and the shaping of history (one term)

Material Witnesses endure not only in museums, but in the art, architecture and texts left behind by people. Each carved statue, work of art, sacred manuscript, monumental structure or historical document is more than an artifact; it is a witness to human lives. These objects speak not just of empires, ideologies, and revolutions, but of the humanity within them: the aspirations, fears, and questions that have shaped our shared story.

Spanning Ireland, Europe, and beyond, this interdisciplinary lecture series – led by scholars from History, Classics and History of Art, centres on the human experience embedded in material culture. From grand monuments to intimate letters, devotional art to state documents, each object reveals how people have navigated power, identity, belief, and memory.

Across eight continuing talks, Material Witnesses considers how materials have shaped, challenged, and preserved human stories—reminding us that history is not only recorded in events, but in the enduring traces people leave behind.

SO02 Introduction to Irish Family (one term)

This is a continuation class from semester 1 – you must have completed semester 1 to take part in semester 2.

Family History isn’t just about the past: learning about our origins allows people to get down to the granular details of our ancestors’ lives. It enables people to construct their own family narrative and their personal identity. This lecture-only module is taught through a series of eight lectures per term over two terms by Fiona Fitzsimons & Brian Donovan of the Irish Family History Centre (Eneclann). The course covers a broad sweep of Irish history (1650s to 1950s), and is deeply rooted in the sources. The focus is on the records generated by churches, central and local government, enterprises, families and individuals; exploring what section of the Irish population is documented in these records, and how to interpret the evidence. Where record collections were destroyed, do any collateral records survive that contain relevant information?

The fee includes free access to the largest Irish collection online, www.Findmypast.ie It will also provide support for all participants to construct a simple family history portfolio over sixteen weeks, including creating a family profile; research to collect documentary evidence; building a family tree; and writing a simple report.

Please note: This is a lecture-only course and does not include access to computers on campus. Participants must have access to their own computers at home for follow up clinics and research.

SO03 Irish Family History Intermediate (one term)

This is a continuation class from semester 1. You must have completed semester 1 to take part in semester 2.

Building on the theoretical foundations of the first year, we begin to move into experiential learning with the option of project work in term 2. We explore the Irish diaspora in all its aspects (military, mercantile, civilian, political and criminal exiles and convicts, adventurers, orphans) anywhere they went, and where sources survive, in Irish and overseas archives. In term two we will turn a spotlight on demographic groups that are more challenging to trace: finding women in the sources; researching Irish Travellers before 1950; and children in care 1840s to 1952. There will be a continuing emphasis on the appropriate methodology to use in family and social history, for a successful research outcome.