All going well I should be doing some more tutoring (online!) in the School of History in UCD in early 2021. This time I will be a tutor on Professor Elva Johnston’s second year module Celts, Romans and Vikings. This era in history, particularly the Viking Age, has been a major interest of mine in recent years and it will be good to be able to keep up-to-date with these topics. I really enjoyed my tutoring in 2020 on Dr Marc Caball’s Environment and Migration in early modern Ireland module. I think as lecturer, tutor and students, we all made a big effort to do our best in a difficult and challenging environment.
Taking place right after the summer-time archaeological dig for the remains of Red Hugh O’Donnell in Spain, tutoring again in early modern Irish history (1500s to 1700s) has re-kindled my interest in my first major area of historical expertise. I used my time tutoring to research aspects of the history of wolves, wolfdogs and some other animals in early modern Ireland, as well as some of the major forested areas in which these creatures lived. The research went really well and I hope to publish a journal article of this work soon. I still have some references to chase up in libraries and archives which I have been unable to visit due to Covid 19 lockdowns.
It is hard to believe now that the world had not even heard of this virus a year ago and yet it has dominated our lives throughout 2020. Thankfully family and friends have gotten through this trying time safely and hopefully with the rollout of the Covid vaccines next year we can put this crisis behind us. Indeed it appears that it is the rapid development of the vaccines which is the real miracle of 2020. Hopefully my next blog will be written in a post-Covid world when I might be able to finally have that postponed book-launch! All the best, Darren