History

Key Features

The programme, running from September to July, is delivered entirely by full-time faculty in the MIC Department of History. It consists of six taught modules in history and 20,000 word dissertation. Teaching takes place in small, supportive groups where discussion and debate are encouraged.



The programme is delivered fully online with a mixture of pre-recorded lectures, live online class, and online tasks. Live classes take place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays during the autumn and spring semesters, usually beginning at 4pm. All modules are assessed by means of continuous assessment. The dissertation is normally due in August.



The programme is also available in part-time (two years) and flexible part-time (over a maximum of three years) options.

Six modules only will be offered in any one year. Note, this is an indicative list and is subject to change. The modules taught in 2023/24 were:



The Irish Revolution 1912-1927

This module aims to offer students an in-depth analysis of the period 1912 to 1927, beginning with the Home Rule crisis in 1912 and ending with the entry of Fianna Fáil into the Free State Dáil in 1927. By then, the Act of Union had been abolished and two new states founded on the island of Ireland: the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland. It is also one of the most active and contested periods for research on modern Irish history. Since the 1970s, our understanding of the Irish Revolution has been widened and deepened by the opening of private and official archives in Ireland and Britain, enabling scholars to explore new political, cultural, social, and economic dimensions to the period. In this module students will engage with the most recent scholarship on these themes, including ongoing debates amongst historians, and with an array of primary source material, much of which is now available online.



The American Irish 1850-1920

This course will interrogate the varied reasons and causes of Irish migration to the United States during the period 1850-1920 and focus on the diverse settlements and patterns of social mobility of the Irish throughout the United States and on their interaction with the host society. In tracing the adaptation of the immigrants to the new world the concepts of assimilation and ethnic mobilization will be examined as well as the formation of a specific ethnic identity. The key themes of Irish American history such as religion, politics, nationalism, gender, labour, race and class will be considered along with the sometimes fraught connections between the American Irish and the Irish at home.



Research Methods in History

This course comprises two distinct sections. In the first section students will gain a critical understanding of different schools of history, of historic methods (text analysis, case studies…) and approaches to studying history (oral, economic, ethnographic, etc.). It will address key intellectual questions across the historical discipline and focus on theories and theorists relevant to historians. The second section of the course will provide students with a forum in which to address research skills appropriate to their particular field - literature review; library and archive sources; electronic databases and resources - and will attend to framing and refining research problems and questions. The organisational and presentation skills necessary for writing a research proposal and dissertation will be a key component of the second section of this course.



Families and Communities in Ireland and Britain, 1500-1750

This module will explore the family, marriage, relationships, and interactions between different categories of kin in early modern Ireland and Britain. The ideology underpinning patriarchal authority will be considered. Other themes include: courtship and the making of marriage; domestic violence; separation and divorce; ideas about the roles of individual members of the family within the domestic economy; the birth and rearing of children; the social place of single people and widows; and representations of homosexuality and other illicit sexual acts. Students will be introduced to a variety of sources and to debates on gender history.



Violence, Law and Order in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-century Ireland

This course explores experiences of and attitudes to both violence and the law in Irish society in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It will involve an examination of the extent, nature and characteristics of violent activity in Ireland and any changes which have occurred in patterns of violence over time. The focus will be on both interpersonal and collective violence and will offer students an opportunity to engage with the varying causes and motives for violent activity in Irish society from the directly personal to the overtly political. The course will also focus on the role of the law and, in particular, its effectiveness in controlling violent activity in Irish society. It will explore the extent to which developments in criminal justice were related to the state of crime and public disorder in the country and the degree to which they were integral to and bound up in the development of a stronger and more interventionist state over the course of the nineteenth century.



Writing History

This module will introduce students to the main developments in European and Irish history writing from the eighteenth century to the early twenty-first century. It will introduce students to key questions (for example, the debate about historical ‘objectivity’), specific case studies and seminal thinkers.



Dissertation

Working under the close supervision of a faculty supervisor, each student will engage with scholarly works and primary source material in his/her chosen historical field and complete a written dissertation.

Applicants will be considered for entry on the basis of a primary degree in History or a cognate discipline at a minimum of 2.2 honours.



Potential students who do not meet the normal entry requirements may be considered for admission and should contact the Programme Director for information.



Click here for English language requirements: https://www.mic.ul.ie/international/study-in-ireland/essential-information/english-language-requirements

How to Apply

EU Applicants

Applications for the MA in History are now open.



To apply, please complete all the steps below:



Download and complete the application form here (application fee Payment Ref Number required).

Please pay the non-refundable €50 application fee here using Stripe, and return the completed application along with the supporting documents below by email only to TaughtProgrammes@mic.ul.ie

What to include with your Application



You will be required to send:



University transcripts and certificates

If English is not your first language/language of qualification, you will require:

English translation of transcript/qualification

Your English Language Competency Certificate (Academic IELTS or equivalent)



Applications will close on 30 May 2025.

1 year full-time, 2 years part-time online.

This programme may be studied fulltime (one year) or part time (two years) and the total fee is €4496.

Applications will close on 30 May 2025.