Collecting Irish Folklore at Home and Abroad

CELTIC 161 Subject & Catalog Number

Description

This course explores the history of Irish folkloristics and the collecting of folklore and popular tradition in Ireland and abroad. Students will examine the work of early collectors in Ireland and North America, the contributions of key figures in the field, and the changing methods and theories that have shaped folklore scholarship from the late eighteenth century to the present. Throughout the course, students will work directly with primary sources, including the National Folklore Collection, UCD’s online archive Duchas.ie and the rich Irish manuscript holdings of Houghton Library, gaining hands-on experience in archival research on the collection of Irish folklore in Ireland and America. Representative oral narratives from the Gaelic tradition will be read in translation, offering insight into the stories, beliefs, and cultural worlds preserved in the folklore record.