Diploma in Irish History

Course Modules

Week 1 – In the Shadow of the Union

Week 2 – An Emancipated People?

Week 3 – Repeal

Week 4 – Famine 1819-1846

Week 5 – Famine and Rebellion

Week 6 – Fenianism and Irish political violence

Week 7 – Land and Politics

Week 8 – Home Rule and Parnellism

Week 9 – Constitutional Nationalism and slightly Constitutional Unionism

Week 10 – Endgame

Learning Outcomes

Choose from among the following. Homicide. Adultery. Mass murder. Betrayal. Bankruptcy and ruin (mostly of the 19th-century variety). Inflated egos. Some self-sacrifice and nobility but lots of corruption, deceit, incompetence, and a fair quota of violence as well. Ireland under the Union wasn’t really a whole lot different from Ireland today.

You should also get a sense of who we are as a people, and why we are the way we are. We’ll be looking at Ireland from the perspective of the farmer, the shopkeeper, the housewife, the bailiff, the suffragette, as well as the politician and the policeman. From the bottom up as well as the top down. You will get as many opportunities as you need to stop the train, get off, and take a look around. You will be encouraged to inquire ‘what if?’ and then answer your own question. Studying our history is important and it’s useful. But above all, it must be fun.

Course Award

City Colleges Diploma

Assessments/Examinations

A pass grade on the written assignment will be required for awarding of the Diploma.

Lecturer

Myles Dungan

Myles Dungan is a broadcaster and journalist with more than forty years experience of working in Irish radio and TV, as a presenter and programme maker. He has, since 1980, presented Five Seven Live, Rattlebag, Today with Myles Dungan, The History Show and Prime Time on RTE Radio and TV. In 2012 he received a PhD in History from Trinity College, Dublin and has taught at undergraduate level and as an adjunct lecturer in the University of California, Berkeley, Trinity College, Dublin, University College, Dublin, the Dublin Institute of Technology as well as City Colleges.

He is the author of more than a dozen books on Irish and American History, including Irish Voices from the Great War and Conspiracy: Irish Political Trials. He is the recipient of two Fulbright Awards to the University of California, Berkeley as a researcher (2007) and a teacher (2011). He is also the recipient of numerous awards for his radio work, including a Jacob’s Award in 1988 for the 13-part radio documentary series, Vietnam. He is the programme director of the annual Hinterland Festival.

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