Hobart and William Smith Colleges

7 November 2024 Exploring Irish Creativities By Leia Brunt ’26

A group of HWS students are deepening their understanding of cultural creativity through an immersive experience in Ireland’s lived culture.

While studying abroad in Galway under the direction of Professor of Anthropology Jeffrey Anderson, students are applying anthropological, human sciences and humanities perspectives to explore and examine Irish creativity. As part of the program, students take a required course “Irish Life and Culture” with instructors from the University of Galway, complete assignments involving readings and videos, engage with visiting presenters, attend local and distant field trips, and use their overall day-to-day experience in Ireland to expand their knowledge.

Notably, the group has embarked on several excursions, such as a visit to Newgrange, a portal tomb that has stood for more than 5,000 years; the Abbey Theatre to witness the play “Grania” written by Lady Gregory in 1912; and a trip to “Allison Lowry’s (A) Dressing Our Hidden Truths,” an exhibition at the National Museum of Ireland: Decorative Arts and History.

Anderson emphasizes the importance being in-person for these experiences, “not for utilitarian, practical or profit motives, but for connection to a transcendent reality.”

Alexandria Lacoste ’26, an English major with a concentration in creative writing, reflects on her time at Newgrange and the impact it has left. “As you walk around the tomb, you can see inscriptions made hundreds of years ago. It was a truly breath-taking moment, you're looking at this huge tomb, the base is stones laid in a huge circle, and on top is a mound of dirt and grass. To have this experience, I don't have words. Going abroad has been the best decision of my life,” she says.

Anderson expresses admiration for this year’s “remarkable group of students in the program.”

“I’ve never had a group that is so curiously and critically engaged in the local culture, history and major issues. Students from both Union and HWS have formed a cohesive and supportive group, despite their diverse interests and majors,” says Anderson.

Anderson has published many works on language, ethnohistory, art history, religion, ethnopoetics and indigenous metaphysics. He is also a scholar of Northern Arapaho history, language, and culture and authored Arapaho Women’s Quillwork: Motion, Life, and Creativity, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.  

The HWS curriculum is designed to incorporate off-campus study, with more than 60 percent of students participating in study abroad before they graduate. The Center for Global Education offers more than 50 programs on 6 continents. Learn more here.

Pictured above, students gather for a photo at Newgrage.