Celtic Studies

The Celtic Section is the only one of its kind in Scandinavia, and is solely dedicated to the study of Celtic languages and literatures from the earliest times to the modern day.

The Section was founded in 1950 when James Carney from the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies was appointed ‘Visiting Professor in Irish Studies’. His appointment was a mark of the close academic ties between Ireland and Sweden in the fields of comparative Indo-European philology and Irish Folklore by the end of the 1940s. Uppsala University has played an important role in promoting research and teaching in Celtic Studies in the Nordic countries ever since. Together with colleagues from Oslo and Helsinki, Professor Ailbhe Ó Corráin (now at Ulster University, but then Docent in Celtic Languages at Uppsala) was instrumental in founding Societas Celtologica Nordica in Uppsala in 1990.

The section continues to play an active role in Societas Celtologica Nordica, hosting the 14th International Symposium of the society, May 2015, and 17th International Symposium, May 2022. Other previous conferences have included Irish America: past and present perspectives, organised in cooperation with the Swedish Institute for North American Studies in March 2014; as well as Irish Studies Symposia held in 2012 and 2013.

Research Areas

The Celtic Section is responsible for research on the Celtic languages and their literature. Over the past number of years, research has been conducted on all periods of the Irish language and its literature from 600 AD to the present day as well as Middle Welsh language and literature. This research includes Celtic and Indo-European philology, etymological studies, and linguistic and literary studies of the modern Irish period. Current areas of expertise within the Celtic Section include Irish and Scottish Gaelic oral traditions, Early Modern Irish-language political poetry (c.1500-1700), Classical reception in Early Modern Ireland, contemporary Irish-language poetry, and the Irish language in North America.

 

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