Tim Walsh and I had the pleasure of attending this lecture enttitled, “Ireland from Boom to Bust-what’s next after the Celtic Tiger?” in Boston back in April. A very engaging speaker, Professor Lee covered Ireland’s 20th century economic history leading up to the prosperous ’90’s and the current slump related in part to the world wide economic crises. Professor Lee observed that prior to the Celtic Tiger, Ireland aligned its economic system almost exclusively to the UK. The Celtic Tiger saw more alignment with the US, and Professor Lee emphasized the need for stronger alignment with the US with respect to the Irish economy.
Professor Lee is currently the Director of Glucksman Ireland House at New York University. He is the author of many books, including The Shifting Balance of Power: Exploring the 20th Century.
My colleague, Tim Walsh, and I are collaborating for the first time on teaching a semester long Irish Studies course. While in the midst of reinventing the wheel, we realized that other teachers in high schools around New England, the US and beyond had such courses already in place. We hope this blog will be a venue for inviting, collecting, and cataloging ideas, syllabi, and resources for teachers of courses similar to ours. We also hope this blog will facilitate a collegial network of teachers from many schools.
Working from our personal, Irish-American history, our elective for graduating seniors begins by looking at Ireland’s ancient history and myths and ends with the Celtic Tiger. As we tie myth and story to history and literature, our discussion focuses on understanding the unique contributions of Ireland to Western culture. For this first semester through we have chosen to use Malachy McCourt’s History of Ireland, for its informal but comprehensive treatment of our scope.
Do you teach Irish literature, history, and/or culture? Do you have resources or comments on the subject that will be helpful to other teachers creating courses at the high school level? Please a comment with links or material that you would like to share and I will try to incorporate your resources into this blog.
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