Course Description: This course will focus on the social, economic, environmental, and political challenges and opportunities surrounding contemporary development of rural tourism in Ireland - the "Celtic tiger" of the European Union. Ireland is a "late modernizer" having achieved the industrial wealth of other Western Europe nations only in the last 10 to 20 years. Consequently, the country's agrarian history has, until recently, been predominate in shaping the Irish landscape - a landscape that now faces many threats from this new-found affluence. This class will explore rural development in Ireland, specifically how tourism is being used as a rural development strategy in the context of EU initiatives in Ireland, and the country's economic boom of the 1990s.

We will 1) compare tourism development with traditional rural development strategies (e.g., fishing, turf cutting) and contemporary rural development strategies (e.g., high tech manufacturing, information technology services). We will also 2) explore Irish agricultural tourism policy and implementation, 3) investigate the relationship between historic preservation and heritage tourism, 4) compare the U. S. National Park system with national parks in Ireland, and 5) compare the dynamics of rural tourism in the Republic of Ireland with rural tourism in Northern Ireland. Course readings will be supplemented with site visits, and interactive lecture sessions with guest speakers from a variety of backgrounds including community leaders, Irish government officials, and university professors.

Class Format: In keeping with the subject matter, this course has a strong emphasis on learning through direct experiences. Through in-class activities (lectures, seminar discussions of readings and assignments, journals, videos, demonstrations, case studies, participatory activities, guest speaker presentations, and field trips/site visits) and out-of-class activities (readings and assignments), this course seeks to provide you with the basic understandings and skills of rural tourism and community development by experiencing these fields directly.

Because of the nature of the course, attendance and active participation in all class meetings are essential. Sharing your knowledge, feelings, and skills with others in the class will enrich the course immeasurably. Also, it is important that you provide continual feedback as to the degree to which the class is meeting your needs; changes can be made if necessary to meet the individual learning needs of class participants. This is especially important given the broad and diverse nature of participants and the fields we are investigating.
 

Readings: The required readings for this course are drawn from:

O’Hearn, D. (1998). Inside the Celtic Tiger. London: Pluto Press

2 books of your choice - 1 novel by an Irish writer, and 1 book on Irish history

Course reading packet available prior to departure, and onsite handouts from a variety of sources in Ireland.

ASSIGNMENTS

Journal/Field Notes: The journal that you keep will be an important part of this course. Your journal will enable you to do a good deal of personal or expressive writing. Expressive writing is the form of writing that is closest to thought. The process of writing in your journal will stimulate your imagination and help you generate ideas about your course. The entries that you make in your journal will be of special interest because you will write them in your own way. In your journal you can give full range to your ideas, and freedom to your writing style. Expressive writing of this type serves to focus what you already know, as well as to provide new points of view. Entries in your journal should allow you to enjoy writing, and to put yourself more actively into the subjects of our course.

There will be different kinds of journal entries for this course:

(A) We will use the journals in class to start discussions, to focus attention upon topics, to draw connections between readings and class discussions, to summarize discussions, and to respond to field trips or guest speakers. Some specific examples include:

        - Development alternative exercises
        - Your answer to the "Question of the Day" posed by the instructor
        - Comparison of the day's activities to a course reading
        - Daily expenses

(B) Longer entries of a reflective or comparative nature, reflecting upon what you have written or done, or comparing some aspect of the class with some other aspect of your life. Think of how the class relates to other classes you have taken, books you have read, places you have visited. For these longer, reflective pieces, give full range to your ideas and impressions.

In keeping with the "writing across the curriculum" approach, each journal entry that you write should be for a minimum of five minutes, about one page long. This means that you should write continuously for at least five minutes, without stopping your pen. Longer entries are better than short entries, to more fully develop your thoughts, insights, ideas, and questions. The more that you write, the more you will be actively engaged by your subject. Each entry must have a short descriptive title and a date. Your journal should show a serious, continuous involvement with the course material.

Journal writing may be new to you. I know from my experience that when you make frequent entries in your journal, and when you take those entries seriously as your own thoughts, you will enjoy writing them. Your journals will help the class material to be more meaningful, more focused and more fun. You will be writing what you choose to write and remember about this course.

Your initial journal entry should record your pre-trip impressions: Why would you like to participate in this course, what do you expect to learn, and what do you expect to see?

Your final journal entry or conclusion should record your post-trip impressions: Re-read all your journal entries for the entire course. Then summarize what you have learned from this course--e.g., discuss how your opinions about the realities of rural development in Ireland have changed, and your thoughts about Ireland's future.

Pre-Trip Assignments

1) Analysis of Dennis O’Hearn book - Summarize and criticize his argument.

2) Social capital - Read and summarize the assigned social capital readings in short and concise abstracts. Then, based on the O’Hearn book and the other books you read, speculate on how you think the concept of social capital might be expressed in rural Ireland.

3) Select and read a novel by an Irish writer (e.g., James Joyce, Frank O’Connor, J. M. Synge, Edna O’Brian, Sean O’Fallon, etc. - I’ll give you more information at the first pre-trip meeting). Then, before departing, write about how this novel shapes your pre-trip expectations about the people and the landscape of Ireland.

4) Select any book about any era of Irish History - Summarize the story told, and be ready to discuss it in the second of the pre-trip meetings.

Research paper or project on Irish development: Identify a topic related to this course that you are especially interested in. Research it in depth and write a research paper, properly documented. Be sure to have the instructor approve your topic as soon as you have decided on it. The final draft of the paper is due no later the start of the Fall semester, 2002.

Content information on the topic of your paper or project may come from books and journals in the library, interviews with knowledgeable people, the Internet, etc. In this sense, your work will be very much like that of international development consultants with severe time constraints who must use best available information and who must "satisfice." It is essential that you draw upon your own and others' knowledge and skills to accomplish what needs to be done in a limited time period.

Class Participation and Course Expectations:

Each class participant is expected to participate and become actively involved in all class sessions, contributing to the growth of other class members as well; to read all class handouts and reading assignments; to complete required assignments, journal entries, etc. on time. We will also take into consideration respect for local cultures and their ways of life at all times during our travels. Following the ethics of ecotourism, we expect you to behave in a manner that does not alienate or offend either your fellow class members or our hosts.

Grading:

Class Participation/Presentation                                           20%

Journal/Questions of Day/Development Alternatives             20%

O’Hearn Summary                                                             10%

Social Capital Assignment                                                   10%

Novel Assignment                                                               10%

History Summary                                                                10%

Research paper or project                                                   20%

TOTAL                                                                             100