FORS3605 — The Irish Landscape
Study abroad in Ireland. This course focuses on the natural, cultural, and literary history of Ireland, with a particular emphasis on the intersection of science and the humanities. The last Ice Age left its marks on the Irish landscape, and, human communities over millennia have left their imprints as well. The stages of human settlement over time have adapted to postglacial climate change and associated changes of flora and fauna. The evolving landscape and coastlines and the archaeological record of human history from the paleolithic period to modern times make the Irish landscape a fascinating field stie. Moreover, the Irish literary tradition from the ancient oral cultural to the beginning of literacy in the early Middle Ages has a long, rich, often locally-based heritage of nature writing. The assigned literature wll connect postglacial history and climate change to the natural systems and environments and to the history of human adaptation over time. Students will visit important geographic and cultural sites and learn how cultural evolution remains a powerful presence in modern Ireland. pre-req: WRIT 1120 or equivalent, EES or GEOL 1110 or EES or GEOL 1610 or GEOG 1414, instructor consent