Forging an Irish Identity

01:090:297:01 Index# 11214
Professor Paul Blaney, SAS - English, SASHP
W 02:50-05:50P
35 College Avenue Rm 302
College Ave Campus
*BY SPECIAL PERMISSION

As part of a Spring 2017 Honors Seminar (Forging an Irish Identity) 01:090:297:01, Paul Blaney will be leading 15 students on a week-long trip to Belfast and Dublin. In conjunction with the New Brunswick-based Interdisciplinary Honors Seminar, students will enroll in a Spring one-credit field experience, 01:090:229. Building on the literary and historical themes of the seminar, the trip will consist of two nights in Dublin, capital of the Republic of Ireland, followed by five nights based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Students will travel during Spring Break 2017.

For more information, please visit: http://www.sashonors.rutgers.edu/student-life/global-experience/430-current-programs/2599-forging-and-irish-identiy-2

Highlights of the trip will include visits to Dublin Castle and the General Post Office, which was at the center of the 1916 Easter Rising. The Belfast itinerary will feature the Titanic Museum, Ulster Museum, and the Antrim Coast/Giant's Causeway. There will be numerous opportunities to engage with Irish history, culture, and people, as well as to deepen our understanding of the evolution of Northern Ireland.

PAUL BLANEY wears a variety of hats. His main vocation is as a fiction writer but he also works as a freelance journalist, a teacher, editor, and publisher. Born and raised in London, he has lived and worked in Lisbon, Hong Kong, and Eugene, Oregon, and now lives in Easton, PA. Recent publications include Handover, a novella set in Hong Kong, and The Anchoress, another novella whose main protagonist locks herself in her walk-in closet and won't come out. In 2015 Paul's first novel, Mister Spoonface, was published. The book explores what it means to be a father in an era of artificial reproduction. As well as teaching in New Brunswick, in both SAS Honors and the English Department, Paul has developed courses that include study abroad programs in England and Ireland.