14/07/2005

QUB Summer School to showcase NI culture

International students will once again have the opportunity to study Northern Ireland politics, history and culture as part of Queen's University's International Summer School.

The three-week programme is now in its fifth year and has proved to be very popular. Last year more than 100 students between the ages of 18 and 60 took part. Most were from the USA and Canada but several were from Japan, Australia, Poland, Spain, Portugal and Romania.

The course, which is organised by the Institute of Irish Studies, touches on the history, politics, anthropology, film and theatre, language and literature of Ireland to allow students to get a taste of what the Institute has to offer.

Lectures and seminars are given by internationally-acclaimed scholars from Queen's University. Students are also given the opportunity to meet with some of Northern Ireland's decision-makers and there are excursions to archaeological, historical and cultural sites.

"This year we have an exciting new partnership with the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry," Dr Eamonn Hughes, Assistant Director of the Institute explained. "This three-day alternative provides students with the opportunity to take poetry, fiction and script-writing workshops with some of the most respected writers in the country such as Glenn Patterson, Medbh McGuckian, Daragh Carville as well as with Ciaran Carson, the Heaney Centre's Director."

Other highlights of the 2005 programme include: A guided tour of Belfast's murals and interfaces; A field trip to the Centre for Migration Studies at the Ulster American Folk Park to visit the outdoor museum's old and new world exhibits, telling the story of emigrant life on both sides of the Atlantic; And a visit to East Belfast to meet police from the Divisional Headquarters including the Tactical Support Group. Students will learn about new community policing initiatives and the problems of policing in interface areas.

Another highlight this year will be the literature lecture by Professor Margaret Mills Harper of Georgia State University titled 'Raising the Dead: Yeats and the Anglo-Irish Revival'. Professor Harper is a former senior visiting research fellow of the Institute.

Summer School Administrator Catherine Boone added: "We've had tremendously positive feedback from previous years' students. In fact, several students who attended previous Summer Schools have enrolled in full-time postgraduate programmes here at Queen's in the Schools of Politics, Anthropology, and of course, Irish Studies. It really is a wonderful programme for both international students and Queen's".

The International Summer School starts on July 18 and finishes on August 5.

For further information contact Catherine Boone on (028) 9097 3386.

(GB/KMcA)


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