Celtic Studies (CELTIC)

Terms offered: Spring 2019, Spring 2014, Spring 2013
Reading and composition course based on works of Celtic writers both in English and in translations from Celtic languages. In addition to training in textual analysis and descriptive and argumentative writing, the courses will discuss the notion of Celtic "voices": distinctive modes of cultural expression chosen by important authors from a Celtic milieu. Readings will be chosen from a variety of modern Irish, Welsh, highland Scots, and Breton writers. R1A satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition requirement, and R1B satisfies the second half.
Voices of the Celtic World: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Summer 2024 Second 6 Week Session
Reading and composition course based on works of Celtic writers both in English and in translations from Celtic languages. In addition to training in textual analysis and descriptive and argumentative writing, the courses will discuss the notion of Celtic "voices": distinctive modes of cultural expression chosen by important authors from a Celtic milieu. Readings will be chosen from a variety of modern Irish, Welsh, highland Scots, and Breton writers. R1A satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition requirement, and R1B satisfies the second half.
Voices of the Celtic World: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2021, Fall 2019
A beginning course in Modern Irish. Students will be learning the basics of Irish grammar, and developing ability to understand, speak, read and write the language.
Elementary Modern Irish: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2022, Fall 2020
Introduction to modern Welsh conversation and grammar. Emphasis in the first-semester class is on pronunciation, mastering consonant mutations, using several tenses (present, perfect, imperfect, past), and the acquisition of basic vocabulary and idiom. Simple written materials based on traditional Welsh stories will supplement classroom oral-aural work.
Introduction to Modern Welsh: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
An overview of the history of Celtic-speaking peoples from Indo-European times, including linguistic/archaeological evidence for the emergence of the Celtic language group in 1st millenium B.C. Europe. Celtic religion and comparative Indo-European mythology. Discussion of the validity of classical reports of the Celtic culture. Celtic tribal migrations in the historical period; the foundation of Brittany. The decline and suppression of modern Celtic languages; Celts in the New World.
The World of the Celts: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2022, Spring 2020
The second semester of Modern Irish. Continuing instruction in speaking, comprehension, reading and writing skills. By the end of this semester, students will have become acquainted with all of the central grammatical constructions of Irish, and will be ready to begin reading accessible Irish prose.
Intermediate Modern Irish: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2021, Spring 2017
Continuation of Celtic Studies 16, emphasizing progress in conversation, grammar, and idiom. Using tenses previously learned, students will learn how to ask and answer many types of questions and will learn conjugated prepositions and idiomatic uses of prepositions. Future and conditional tenses and simple relative clauses will be introduced. Level-appropriate written materials will supplement class work, and students will begin learning about Welsh culture as they learn the language.
Intermediate Modern Welsh: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Group study of selected topics not covered by regularly scheduled courses.
Directed Group Study: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2023, Fall 2017, Spring 2017
Directed individual study on special topics approved by Celtic Studies.
Supervised Independent Study and Research: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2012, Fall 2007, Fall 2003
This course will teach students to speak, read, and write modern literary Breton. We will follow the curriculum established by the only good introductory Breton text in English, which I will supplement with exercises and readings from current Breton publications and contemporary literature. Students will have covered most of the grammar of Breton by the end of the course.
Elementary Breton: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2008, Spring 2004, Spring 1997
Advanced readings in Breton. Continuation of Celtic Studies 102A. This course will teach students to speak, read, and write modern literary Breton. It will follow the curriculum established by the only good Breton text in English, which will be supplemented with exercises and readings from current Breton publications and contemporary literature.
Advanced Breton: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2019, Spring 2017, Spring 2015
A detailed introduction to the orthography, phonology and grammar of Old Irish designed to provide the student with the subsequent capacity to read with comprehension and to translate (with the aid of dictionary or glossary) any edited text in Old Irish or Middle Irish.
Old and Middle Irish: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Fall 2014, Spring 2013
A selective study of major surviving works of Welsh prose and poetry of the Middle Ages, with special attention to the development of the legendary history of King Arthur in Europe. All work will be read in English, but course will be coordinated with 106A-106B for those who wish to do some of the readings in Welsh.
Welsh and Arthurian Literature of the Middle Ages: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2010, Spring 2006, Spring 1999
A selective study of major surviving works of Welsh prose and poetry of the Middle Ages, with special attention to the development of the legendary history of King Arthur in Europe. All work will be read in English, but course will be coordinated with 106A-106B for those who wish to do some of the readings in Welsh.
Welsh and Arthurian Literature of the Middle Ages: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2022, Spring 2019
A selective study of key themes in modern Irish literature. Texts will include novels, short stories, and poetry and will concentrate on translations of works originally written in Irish. All work will be read in English, but the course will be coordinated with 75 or 115A-115B for those who wish to do some of the reading in Irish.
Irish Literature in Translation: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2023, Fall 2020
A study of medieval Celtic culture, its society, laws, religion, history, and the daily life of the Celtic peoples, as they are reflected in a selection of texts ranging from medieval literary works to legal texts and historical chronicles. All works will be read in English translation.
Medieval Celtic Culture: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
A comparative introduction to modern Celtic cultures: principally Irish, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Breton. The development of the distinctive cultures of the Celtic "nations without states" from 1500 to the present; an examination of the role of minority cultures and minority languages in larger political cultural entities. Theme topics will vary, but will include folklore, nationalism and linguistic history from time to time.
Aspects of Modern Celtic Cultures and Folklore: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025
This course offers an interdisciplinary approach to Irish music, through which we will explore the music of Ireland and its diaspora utilizing a range of scholarly lenses such as music history and theory, ethnomusicology and ethnography, literature and memoir, etc. In addition to such recent groundbreaking studies as Deirdre Ní Chonghaile’s collecting music in the Aran Islands and Tes Slominski’s Trad Nation, we will also be engaging with the music itself, from traditional Irish music to contemporary music genres like punk and hip-hop.
Introduction to Irish Music: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2023, Fall 2021, Fall 2019
Gaelic literature 700-1800 (in translation). Study of the prose saga-cycles, satire, classical lyric poetry, and bardic poetry, developing the mythological and traditional background of modern Irish literature.
Irish Literature: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2022, Spring 2020
Irish literature 1800 to the present.
Irish Literature: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2015, Fall 2013
This course continues the Celtic Studies 16-86 sequence. Advanced grammatical concepts are introduced and vocabulary building (especially idioms) is emphasized. Students read materials such as magazines, newspapers, catalogues, and popular novels. Regular language laboratory attendance is required.
Modern Welsh Level 3: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2014, Spring 2010
This course continues the Celtic Studies 16-86-144A sequence. Emphasis is on mastering the fine details of Welsh grammat (including prepositional idioms), accent reduction, and acquiring conversational ease. Dialect information is introduced. Supplementary reading will introduce students to the standard literary languages; brief compositional exercises will be based on this material.
Modern Welsh Level 4: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2020, Fall 2018
The third level course in modern spoken Irish designed for students who have completed two semesters of formal instruction. Continued stress on vocabulary building and reading of texts with intensive conversation drills to activate the learned vocabulary. Idiomatic usage will be reinforced in both oral and written exercises. Class activities will include conversation and discussion of assigned texts in Irish.
Intermediate Irish Language: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2015, Spring 2013
The fourth semester of Modern Irish. Readings in Irish literature will be a major focus of the curriculum, but will also be accompanied by advanced grammatical instruction and conversational practice.
Modern Irish Level Four: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2022, Spring 2020
Selected works of medieval Welsh prose and poetry are read in Middle Welsh. Grammar instruction and in-class translations accompany lectures on important themes in medieval Welsh literature.
Medieval Welsh Language and Literature: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2014, Fall 2012
A selection of medieval Welsh prose and poetry is read in Middle Welsh in conjunction with lectures on key themes in medieval Welsh literature and tradition.
Medieval Welsh Language and Literature: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2015, Fall 2012, Spring 1999
Topics in the linguistics of the Celtic languages. Likely subject matters include synchronic structure of a Celtic language or languages, history of the Celtic language family, philology and paleography of older Celtic texts, sociolinguistics of the modern Celtic languages, linguistic characteristics of Celtic poetic, and oral traditional literature.
Celtic Linguistics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2022, Fall 2021
The course will introduce students to the pre-Christian beliefs of the Celtic and Indo-European worlds, to the historical narratives in which such beliefs are embedded, and to the methodology of investigating ancient and medieval belief systems.
Celtic Mythology and Oral Tradition: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2015, Spring 2015
Topics in this course will be offerings on areas of Celtic language and culture which are not covered in other Celtic studies courses. Topics might include (but would not be limited to) the Celtic romantic tradition, the Celt in films, Celtic art, nationalist politics in Celtic regions, and current trends in Celtic research.
Topics in Celtic Studies: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2014, Spring 2012, Spring 2011
From the Classical age to the 21st century, Celts have fascinated people. This course explores the different ways in which Celtic peoples have been perceived by outsiders, and the ways in which Celts have presented themselves to the world. The recurring themes of freedom and independence, as well as the warrior and druid types, are stressed. The course also explores the ways in which the Romantic idealizations of Celts have been appropriated by native nationalist political movements and by European imperialist ventures. All readings in English.
Celtic Romanticism: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2021, Spring 2019
This course considers the evidence for the presence of early Christian believers in the so-called "Celtic" areas of western Europe. Students will examine how the Celtic peoples received Christianity in the context of native (pagan) religion; they will look specifically at how the Roman Church doctrine influenced the doctrinal stands of the early Celtic church(es), and vice versa, with particular attention to the Pelagian controversy, the date of Easter, the monastic tonsure, and the use of penitentials. The period covered is approximately 70 CE to 800 CE.
Celtic Christianity: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Course may take one or two semesters at the option of the instructor and student with credit to be earned upon completion of a successful thesis. Successful completion of the course will normally, but not necessarily, mean the awarding of honors.
Honors Course: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Course may take one or two semesters at the option of the instructor and student with credit to be earned upon completion of a successful thesis. Successful completion of the course will normally, but not necessarily, mean the awarding of honors.
Honors Course: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2017
Directed group study on special topics approved by Celtic Studies.
Directed Group Study: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2021, Fall 2019, Fall 2017
Directed individual study on special topics approved by Celtic Studies.
Supervised Independent Study and Research: Read More [+]