The Invention of the Celt: Concepts and Perspectives

This module interrogates the various concepts and perspectives that are commonly associated with the terms 'Celt' or 'Celtic' across a range of academic and non-academic studies from the early-modern period to present. We begin by attempting to define an appropriate vocabulary for these concepts and perspectives, and investigate the uses of these terms in linguistic, social, cultural, spiritual and political contexts. The strange forms the interest in the ancient Celts took in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in literature, art, spirituality and music are explored, with emphasis on the obsession with the 'Celtic Church' and echoes of the 'Celtic past' that dominated the literature and discourse of the period. The influence of ideas about the Celts on social movements in Ireland and Europe is considered, looking at the subsequent integration of these ideas into national political agendas in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Finally, various modern-day conceptions and misconceptions about the Celts, ancient and modern, are examined.