School of Humanities
Discipline
Course Title
Module Coordinator
Module Title
Lecture times
Teaching Format
Brief outline of
content
Irish Studies
MA in Irish Studies
Mary Harris and Niall Ó Dochartaigh
IS107 Divided Ireland: Politics and Society since 1921
10 two-hour seminars
The module explores key issues and developments in Northern Ireland
and in the independent Irish state. These include political divisions and
identities, north and south; the influence of the Catholic Church on
Irish society; mid-century debates on new directions for Irish politics
and society; the changing roles of women in Irish society; the Northern
Ireland conflict. The end of the module explores issues of continuity
and change in twentieth-century Ireland.
Students become familiar with the sources and methods used by
historians, sociologists and political scientists to explore these issues.
They are introduced to significant controversies and are encouraged to
examine these issues from a variety of perspectives.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this module students should be able to
Outline the steps taken to consolidate power in Northern Ireland
and the Irish Free State
Comment on the relationship between religion and identity
decades following partition
Discuss issues of conflict in Northern Ireland from different
perspectives
Identify key areas of continuity and areas of change in modern
Ireland
Write essays presenting coherent arguments using tools of
relevant disciplines [history/sociology/political science.
Assessment Types
and Deadlines
Two essays
Required Texts
Bew, Paul, Ireland: the politics of enmity 17892006 (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2007)
Brown, Terence, Ireland: A Social and Cultural History, 1922-
2002 (London: Harper Perennial, 2004)
Girvin, Brian, Between Two Worlds: politics and economy in
independent Ireland (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1998)
Keogh, Dermot and McCarthy, Andrew, Twentieth-Century
Ireland: Revolution and State Building (Dublin: Gill and
Macmillan, 2005)
Mulholland, Marc, The longest war: Northern Ireland's troubled
history (Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2002)