Ireland: Isle of Saints and Heroes

2019 2020

WYATT EXPLORATION PROGRAM

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• Guest Lecturer: John Ellis, Tuesday, October 29 The Celtic Origins of Halloween

• Film Showing: ‘71, Thursday, November 7• Guest Lecture: Robert Savage, Thursday, November 14

A Return to Troubles? Bexit and the Threat to the Northern Irish Peace Process

• Film Showing: Man of Aran, Thursday, November 21• Travel Applications Due: Friday, December 6

Application forms can be picked up from and submitted to;

Audrey Beauchesne, 220 French Hall

2019-2020 Wyatt Events• Kick-Off Celebration: Thursday, September 19• Guest Lecturer: Sean Moran, Tuesday, October 8

Dublin’s Easter Rising and the Politics of Redemption

• Film Showing: Michael Collins, Thursday, October 17• Guest Lecturer: Caoimhin De Barra, Thursday, October 24

A Celtic Conflict: The Irish War of Independence

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Guest Lecture Series

A central part of the Wyatt Exploration Program is our guest lecture series. During the course of the fall and winter semesters, the program will bring celebrated scholars from around the nation and world to our campus to speak on that year’s theme. This is a great opportunity to meet and learn from acknowledged experts in their field while developing a sense of history as an intellectual community, endeavor, and discipline. For history majors and minor, participa-tion in the guest lecture series is expected of all potential candidates for the travel expedition. Although we understand that students may not be able to attend all of these sessions, please try to attend as many of these events as possible to maximize your potential as a travel expedition participant.

Coursework and Extra-Curricular Activities

A list of affiliated courses will match the subject of exploration for that year. Although primarily history courses, this list may also include courses in other disciplines that complement the theme. Students will have the opportunity to take some of these courses during the academic year. If students have already taken any of these courses in previous years, this will also be recognized in the selection process for the Wyatt Travel Expedition. The exploration program provides a wonderful opportunity for additional depth of instruction and experience for those students who are taking or have taken one or more of these courses. However, history majors and minors are still viable candidates for the travel expedition even if they have not taken any of these affiliated courses and they are encouraged to participate in other on-campus explora-tion activities instead. In addition to the guest lecture series and formal coursework, the Wyatt Fellow may organize co-curricular activities and discussion sessions devoted to the year’s theme. All students are invited to these activities and participation will be considered in the selection process for the travel expedition.

Wyatt Exploration Passports

To chart student participation in Wyatt events, history majors and minors will receive a Wyatt Exploration Program Passport. Bring this passport to any Wyatt Exploration Program event or activity, and you will receive a stamp that verifies your attendance. Students will then submit this passport along with their travel application, and the number of stamps they have collected will be considered in the selection process for the travel expedition. Be sure to retrieve your passport each year from the history department after the competition is over, as you can contin-ue to use it for the following year. Stamps collected in previous years will be considered in the travel expedition selection process. So, start collecting stamps!

For more information on the Wyatt Exploration Program visit up online at:

www.umflint.edu/history/wyatt

Wyatt Exploration Program

About the Program

Each year, the Wyatt Exploration Program provides a unique and exciting opportunity for students and faculty to join together in the intellectual exploration of the human past. Organized by the Department of History with financial support from the Wyatt Endow-ment, the program focuses on the history and culture of a specific place or on a particular historical topic. This theme changes on an annual basis, allowing our explorations to span the history of our country and the world beyond. The department’s Wyatt Fellow, a faculty member who is an expert in the field under exploration, plans and organizes the program. Featuring affiliated course offerings, special extra-curricular events on campus, and a competition to participate in a university-funded student travel expedition, the Wyatt Exploration Program enriches and deepens our understanding of the world and its history. The Department of History is thrilled with this unique opportunity for learning and enrichment that the Wyatt Exploration Program provides at the University of Michi-gan-Flint. The department’s faculty looks forward to sharing these incredible experiences with our students and hopes that all of you will share in our excitement as we explore the history of the world around us.

Wyatt Travel Expedition

The culmination of each year’s exploration will take place in either the spring or summer semester with a student travel expedition led by our Wyatt Fellow. Selected from our history majors and minors (including TCP and Honors), a group of students will be invited by the History Department to participate in this trip. Most student travel expenses will be fully funded by the Department of History. Selection will be based on several factors, including the student’s academic record and coursework in the field under study. However, the primary factor to be considered will be active participation in that year’s on-campus Wyatt Exploration events. You don’t need to have the highest GPA or to have taken courses in the subject under exploration to be selected. Rather, we are looking to assemble a diverse team of students who have demonstrated their enthusiasm and engage-ment with the on-campus exploration activities, who are most likely to benefit from the travel experience and who will work together most effectively as a group. Every history major or minor is truly a potential candidate for selection and we encourage all of our students to participate and apply. Students will complete and submit an application form to be considered for the selection process at the end of the fall semester.

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In addition to attendance at events, completion of any of the following affiliated courses will be considered in the application process for the travel expedition. You can have taken these courses at any time, but HIS 325 (Fall 2019) and HIS 326 (Winter 2020) will be offered in the 2019-2020 academic year. Registration for those courses will also be considered. HIS 325 History of the British Isles to 160 HIS 326 History of the British Isles to 1919 HIS 374 History of the British Isles since 1919 HIS 380 History of the British Empire

Affiliated Courses

Led by Dr. John Ellis, our expedition will travel across the Ireland for approximately three weeks in May 2020. We will travel through both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (United Kingdom). Some of the sites we intend to visit include:

Medieval Dublin:

Founded by Vikings on the east coast of Ire-land in 841, Dublin has a rich medieval past. We will walk the oldest streets of Dublin, visit Christchurch Cathedral, explore the ancient and medieval artifacts at the National Museum of Ireland (Kildare St.), and gaze upon the illuminated glory of the Book of Kells at Trinity College. We will close a full day with an evening of Irish food, drink and traditional story telling at the city’s oldest pub, the Brazen Head.

Revolutionary Dublin:

Dublin was at the center of the great revolution for Irish independence between 1916 and 1922. Through a tour of its streets and buildings, we will follow the battles of the 1916 Rising, Anglo-Irish War and Civil War. We will study the exhibitions and artifacts on Irish rebels and soldiers at the National Museum of Ireland (Collins Barracks ) before touring Kilmainham Jail, where the leaders of the Rising were executed, and Glas Nevin Cemetery, the national burial ground of the nation’s leaders and heroes.

Ireland: Isle of Saints and Heroes

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Boyne Valley:

Thirty miles north of Dublin, the Boyne River runs through a valley steeped in ancient ruins, myth and history. We will trace the prehistoric foundations of Irish history as we travel through the Boyne Valley, visiting the mysterious Neolithic tomb at Newgrange, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the nearby ancient royal capital of Tara, with its mounds, ruins and fabled Stone of Destiny.

Glendalough: In the Wicklow Mountains south of Dublin, the great monastic settlement of the storied St Kevin stood along the lakes of Glendalough. During the early middle ages, when Irish society was entirely rural and lacked any cities or towns, Glendalough served not only as a religious site but as a center of trade, manufacture, learning and justice. Surrounded by the beauty of forested lakes, we will explore Glendalough’s substantial ruins, including St. Kevin’s “kitchen” and iconic round tower.

Killarney: We will travel to the southwestern county of Kerry and the town of Killarney. From the historic Lake Hotel (with its own castle ruin in the back yard!), we will take a horse pulled jaunting car up to the medieval ruins of Muckross Abbey and the Victorian splendor of Muckross House. The following day, we will take a scenic drive of the famous Ring of Kerry, stopping at Derrynane, the house of Daniel O’Connell, the civil rights leader of Victorian Ireland known as “the Great Liberator”. We will then board a fishing boat for a cruise around Skelling Michael, the craggy nesting ground of sea birds that was once the remote home of early medi-eval monks whose stone huts can still be seen standing on its cliffs. The historical and natural importance of the island has been recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Galway: Along the Corrib River on the coast of Ireland’s wild western county of Connacht, we will visit Galway. A maritime and fishing town once dominated by “tribes” of powerful Hiberno-Norman families, known for its feud with the ferocious O’Fla-hertys and celebrated for its trade with Spain during the Middle Ages, Galway fell on hard times in the modern period, but today is a lively tourist town and cultural center which hosts the expansive University College, Galway. We will search out the remnants of Galway’s past in the city’s streets, in the exhibitions of the Galway City Museum, and on a cruise up its river and inland lakes on the Corrib Princess. From Galway, we will explore the Gaeltracht (Gaelic speaking) region of the west with seminars on the Gaelic language and culture, with stops at Aughananure Castle, the home of the feared O’Flahertys, and Dungaire Castle, where we will dine at a medieval banquet.

Aran Islands: Situated in the midst of Galway Bay and looking out into the Atlantic, the Aran Islands are the craggy home to Gaelic speaking fishing communities known for their hard living, traditional ways and hand crafted woolens. The islander’s struggle to survive against the forces of nature were famously recorded in the 1934 film Man of Arran. We will take a ferry to Inis Mor, the largest of the islands, where a native island-er will give us a tour of the villages, sites of cultural importance and natural beauty. A highlight of the day will be Dun Aengus, a prehistoric stone fort dramatically perched on top of a high sea cliff.

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Belfast:

Located in the United Kingdom’s Northern Ireland, Belfast was the prosperous heart of modern Ireland, its largest city and the world’s leading manufacturer of linen and ships. Like most of Northern Ireland, it is a city dominated by a Protestant majority but with a substantial and oppressed Catholic minority. During the “Troubles” of the 20th century, the city became infamous for its violent clashes between Protes-tant and Catholic communities and the bomb-ing campaigns of the IRA and UVF. Today, after more than two decades of reconciliation and peace, Belfast is a vibrant post-industrial city enjoying a renaissance as a growing college town and burgeoning film location. We will be staying at the Europa Hotel, known for being the most bombed hotel in European history and within sight of the Crown Liquor Saloon, Ireland’s most famous and ornate Victorian gin palace. We will examine the history of Belfast’s industrial society through the Titanic Experience, a massive and immersive museum that not only celebrates the famous ship and the tragedy of its sinking but examines the social and economic history of the city that built her. We will then focus on the history of the Troubles with a Black Taxi Tour of the Catholic and Protestant enclaves in the Falls and Shankill Roads, the Peace Wall that separates the two communities, and the many political murals that mark the area. We will also have plenty of time to explore the lively Cathedral District with its famous entries, narrow and winding alleyways that contain some of the oldest pubs and best restaurants in Belfast. Just outside Belfast, we will spend a day at the Ulster Folk Museum, an open-air, living history museum of over 100 acres portraying Irish village and rural life as it would have been in Ulster 100 years ago.

Atrium Coast: Driving along the spectacularly scenic Antrim coast in Northern Ireland, we will stop for a tour and a dram at the Bushmills Distillery, the oldest licensed whiskey distillery in the world. We will take a look at the Giant’s Causeway, a stunning coastal rock formation of basalt columns said to have been built by the heroic giant, Finn Mac Cumhaill and recognized by UNES-CO as a World Heritage site. We will

continue on to Dunluce Castle, the banshee ridden cliff top fortress of the Macdonnell clan, who dominated the Antrim coasts of Ulster and the western isles of Scotland during the 16th and 17th centuries.

Derry: The city of Derry (or Londonderry) has become a tragic symbol of the violent and tragic history between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. During the Williamite wars of the turbulent 17th century, Derry was the scene of a long, desperate and bloody siege that pitted the region’s Cath-olics and Protestants against each other. During the 20th century, the city erupted with the violence of the Troubles. Years of communal rioting culminated in 1972 with Bloody Sunday, a massacre where British soldiers gunned down 28 peaceful Catholic protestors. During our visit, we will walk the wonderfully intact medieval walls of Derry and contem-plate the city’s history at the Tower Museum and the Siege Museum. Just outside the city walls in the Catholic neighborhood of the Bogside, we will tour the streets where the riots and massacre took place, pay our respects at the Bloody Sunday Memorial and contemplate the history of conflict and reconciliation at the Free Derry Museum.

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Wyatt Lecture Series

Dublin’s Easter Rising and the Politics of Redemption Seán Farrell Moran, Ph.D. Director of MALS and Associate Professor of History, Oakland University Tuesday, October 8 4:30 PM , 251 French Hall

Ireland’s Easter Rising of 1916 was the most important political event in modern Irish history. But it was far more than an attempt to liber-ate Ireland.  This talk will consider not only the politics of the Rising, but its spiritual and psychological relationship to Irish nationalism.    

Sean Farrell Moran is the Director of the Masters of Liberal Studies Program and an Associate Professor of History at Oakland University. Dr. Moran is an expert on revolutionary violence and nationalism in Ireland with research interests in the history of ideas, theology and psychoanalytic theory. He is the author of Patrick Pearse and the Politics of Redemption: The Mind of the Easter Rising, 1916 (1994) and has written numerous articles on Irish, British and Scottish history as well as on the practice of history.

A Celtic Conflict: The Irish War of Independence Caoimhín De Barra, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of History, Gonzaga University Thursday, October 24 4:30 PM , 251 French Hall

One hundred years ago, Irish nationalists began a war of indepen-dence against the United Kingdom that resulted in the creation of an independent Irish state. They did so in the belief that Ireland possessed a distinctive Celtic culture that made it incompatible with the Anglo-Saxon identity of England. In this talk, we will explore

how and when Irish people came to see themselves as “Celts,” and how a sense of “Celticness” was used as a propaganda weapon by both sides in the struggle for Irish freedom.

Caoimhín De Barra is an assistant professor of history at Gonzaga University. His areas of re-search are modern British and Irish history, and the relationship between language and national identity. He is the author of The Coming of the Celts, A.D. 1860: Celtic Nationalism in Ireland and Wales (2018) and Gaeilge: A Radical Revolution (2019).

The Celtic Origins of Halloween John S. Ellis, Ph. D. Professor of History, University of Michigan-Flint Tuesday, October 29 4:30 PM , 251 French Hall

Today, Halloween is an enormously popular American holiday that is being exported across the world. Halloween, however, find its origins amongst the ancient Celts of Europe and many of its traditions are rooted in the folk customs once observed by Irish, Scottish and Welsh peasants. This presentation will explore the Celtic origins, traditions and customs of our contemporary Halloween.

Professor John S. Ellis is a Professor of History and is the organizer of this year’s exploration on Ire-land. He is an expert on national identity in the British Isles and publishes on Welsh and Irish histo-ry.  His work includes Investiture: Royal Ceremony and National Identity in Wales, 1911-1969 (2008) and a literary biography of Welsh nationalist, adventurer and author Owen Rhoscomyl (2016).

A Return to Troubles? Brexit and the Threat to the Northern Irish Peace Process Robert Savage, Ph.D. Professor of the Practice of History, Boston College Thursday, November 14 4:30 PM , 251 French Hall

The summer of 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the start of ‘the Troubles, a thirty year period of political violence that claimed over 3,500 lives. The 1998 Good Friday Agreement ended a conflict that had for decades seemed intractable. Although communities in Northern

Ireland remain divided, peace has come to Northern Ireland. The British Army no longer patrols the streets, paramilitaries have ‘decommissioned’ their weapons and the border between north and south is now invisible. This lecture will address the origins and persistence of ‘the Troubles’ and address why Brexit threatens Northern Ireland’s hard earned but fragile peace.

Robert Savage teaches Irish, British and Atlantic World history at Boston College. He is the author of four books that explore contemporary Irish and British history including The BBC’s Irish Troubles: Television, Conflict and Northern Ireland (2015) short-listed for the 2015-2018 Christopher Ew-art-Biggs Memorial Prize and A Loss of Innocence? Television and Irish Society 1960-1972, Winner of the 2011 James S. Donnelly Sr. Book Prize from the American Conference for Irish Studies.

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Man of Aran (1934) Thursday, November 214:30 PM251 French Hall

In this blend of documentary and fictional narrative from pioneer-ing filmmaker Robert Flaherty, the everyday trials of life on Ireland’s unforgiving Aran Islands are captured with attention to naturalistic beauty and historical detail.

“It is… impossible not to get swept up in Flaherty’s romantic view of islanders locked in an eternal struggle with nature. Po-tatoes must be farmed with little or no soil, cliffs must be climbed to facilitate fishing, and those basking sharks won’t gut them-selves.”- Tara Brady

Film Showings

Michael Collins (1996) Thursday, October 17, 4:30 PM251 French Hall

A historical biopic of Irish revolutionary Mi-chael Collins, the man who led the IRA against the United Kingdom in the Anglo-Irish War (1919-21), helped negotiate the creation of the Irish Free State (1922), and led the National Army during the Irish Civil War (1922-23). “Michael Collins paints a heroic picture of the Irish Republican Army’s inspired strategist and military leader, who fought the British Empire to a standstill and invented the techniques of urban guerrilla warfare that shaped revolu-tionary struggles all over the world.”- Roger Ebert

‘71 (2014)Thursday, November 7, 4:30 PM251 French Hall

A young British soldier is accidentally abandoned by his unit following a terrifying riot on the streets of Belfast in 1971. Unable to tell friend from foe, the raw recruit must survive the night alone and find his way to safety through a disorienting, alien and deadly landscape.

“It’s a rare film that locates viciousness and kindness on both sides of Northern Ireland’s Troubles.” – Kyle Smith

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Wyatt Fellow, 2019-2020Professor John S. Ellis

I am excited to lead this year’s exploration of Irish history and culture. I first visited Ireland while working in archives in Dublin and Belfast for my doctorate back in the early 1990s. Times were tough economically back then and the Troubles were still raging. I have visited Ireland several times since and am impressed at the extensive progress I have seen. It is a revitalized Ireland that we will be touring, bolstered by a period of sustained economic growth, a fragile if lasting peace and a new harmony between the Republic of Ireland and Britain’s Northern Ireland. We will be visiting at a crucial time, as the implications of Britain’s “brexit” from the European Union

threaten the conditions of prosperity and peace that have ushered in this new, happier chapter of Irish history.

Ireland has long been known as an isle of saints and heroes. But Ireland’s history has been ridden by conflict and one person’s saint is often seen as another’s sin-ner, one person’s hero is often another’s villain. Through our travels and study of Irish history and culture, we will be considering themes of national identity and nationalism, communal conflict and resolution, and how our understanding of Ireland and Irishness has been shaped by competing visions of the past.

I strongly believe in the power of international education. It certainly has had a major impact on my own education, career and life. As a student, I have studied in Wales, London and India. As a professor, I have led students on expeditions to the British Virgin Islands, Wales and London and have been fortunate enough to assist with programs in Poland, Japan and Hawaii. During the ten years of the Wyatt Exploration Program, I have been impressed by the transformative impact that the program has had on students and colleagues alike. I am very proud to be contributing to that tradition again this year.

John S. Ellis

Professor

University of Michigan-Flint

Dr. Dorothea E. Wyatt,1909-2007

The generous bequest of Dr. Dorothea E. Wyatt has made the Wyatt Exploration Program possible. A stalwart supporter of her univer sity and her discipline, Dr. Wyatt made this extraordinary gift to further develop and improve the program in history here at UM- Flint.

A graduate of Stanford University, Dr. Wyatt was one of the original sixteen faculty members of the Flint College of the Universityof Michigan when it was founded in 1956. She was the first chair of the Department of History and she served as the University’s Counselor to Women, the Secretary to the Governing Faculty, and on countless university, college, and departmental committees throughout her career. An adored teacher, Dr. Wyatt specialized in American cultural and women’s history. She was an unflagging advocate for the humanities and women’s issues. In 1989, the UM-Flint recognized her dedication to the university and these issues by creating an award in her name for faculty and staff members who work to better the status of women on campus. In 1974, Dr. David M. French spoke of Dr. Wyatt’s uniquely personal contribution to the university, writing, “Her greatness of spirit, her generosity, her sincere interest in students young and old… and the uninhibited way she has always shared her joy in learning and scholarship with those around her have run like a golden thread through the eighteen years since the Flint college was founded.” As a scholar, Dr. Wyatt is primarily known for her biography of Julia S. Tutwiler (1841-1916), an early advocate for women’s rights and educational reform in Alabama.

Dr. Wyatt was active in the local community and served a variety of organizations, including the American Association of University Women, the Zonta Club, Delta Kappa Gamma, and the Genesee County Library Board. She retired as a Professor Emeritus in 1975. Shortly before her retirement, Dr. Wyatt wrote:

What has brought us together as students and faculty in our University of Michigan- Flint College has been an abiding faith in education. We have all been seekers after knowledge: of ourselves, of the world about us, and of the ideas and ideals that have stirred and enriched mankind… For the true object of a college education is not to learn all that one will ever want to know but to acquire the ideas, habits, and methods needed in the continuous process of educating oneself during the years to come.

The Department of History at the University of Michigan-Flint is proud to be the heir of that spirit and philosophy. We believe that the Wyatt Exploration Program and other opportunities provided by Dr. Wyatt’s generosity will be a fitting testament to the life of this fine teacher, scholar, and advocate.

In 2019 May, I embarked on a three-week Wyatt Exploration Study Abroad tour to Japan and Hawaii with fourteen students and one faculty member. Leaving Detroit, Michigan and travelling for more than 6,500 miles, we arrived at Kansai International Airport near Osaka, Japan. It was a long trip and we were tired, but at the same time, very excited about being in Japan. Our stay started at the Kyoto, the ancient capital of Ja-pan. Visiting famous historic sites dating back centuries and getting exposed to Japanese culture was a great start to our Japan experience. Nevertheless, the omotenashi or hospitality we received at our inn, the Kyōmachi Sakura Hongan-G, was truly expectational. They host-ed a takoyaki party for us, where the Wyatt Travelers learned how to make one of the more popular Japanese comfort foods. Yes, we ate a lot of takoyaki that night. Omotenashi is an integral part of the Japanese culture, and we felt this hospitality in many parts of Ja-pan. In Itoshima, at a historic Zen temple, we were treated to a taiko

(Japanese drums) performance by a troupe composed of K-12 students. Afterward, a former city council member hosted a BBQ lunch for us, which absolutely wonderful. I am sure that the Wyatt Travelers felt omotenashi individually as they traveled through Japan.

Japan is a very scenic country. At Mt. Kōya, we saw and felt the beauty of nature and a bit of old Japan. Mt. Kōya is the headquarters for Shingon Buddhism and we stayed at Sanbōin, a monastery. The Wyatt Travelers were exposure to one of the older forms of Japanese Buddhism and its ways. For example, the breakfasts and dinners were truly veg-an and participating in a workshop where the Travelers wrote Sanskrit with an ink brush.

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A look back...Japan and Hawaii:

History and Connections

The Wyatt Travelers continued on to visit other places, but what tied Okinawa, Hiroshi-ma and Honolulu was the theme peace and war. At these places, we visited WWII sites and reflected on the war. A learning moment was at the Okinawa Peace Memorial Park, where we met with the former prefectural official who supervised the construction of the park and a former Japanese POW who was captured at the site of park and sent to a POW camp in Hawaii. We learned what indoctrination could do to an individual, that we had to study and understand the war otherwise we will not understand peace, and you hate the war but not the individual. With the suffering the Okinawans faced during WWII, you can see why they are strong supporters of peace.

In retrospect, I hope that the Wyatt Travelers had a learning experience and enjoyed the trip. Not only through visiting historic sites but also through mingling with the Japanese, I hope that they came to understand Japanese his-tory and culture better. This was my third Wyatt Exploration trip, and it was a pleasure to escort the Wyatt Travelers to Japan and Hawaii.

University of Michigan-FlintDepartment of History

260 French Hall303 E. Kearsley StreetFlint, MI 48502-1950

Phone: (810) 762-3366www.umflint.edu/history

Dr. Roy Hanshiro, Professor

Dr. John S. Ellis, Professor

Dr. Douglas Knerr, Professor

Dr. Thomas Henthorn, Associate Professor and Chair

Dr. Christopher Molnar, Assistant Professor

Mr. Gregory Havrilcsak, Lecturer

Dr. Mohamed Daassa, Lecturer

Dr. Michael B. Kassel, Lecturer

Mr. Matthew Thick, Lecturer

Department of History