Celtic Studies MPhil

**The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2024). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas.**<br/><br/>The MPhil in Celtic Studies is designed to give you the opportunity to concentrate on the study of aspects of the history and culture of Celtic-speaking peoples from antiquity to the present day. <br/><br/>Options in language, literature and linguistics form the core of the degree, while a range of optional subjects in these areas and beyond is also available. The MPhil in Celtic Studies is suitable if you wish to proceed to a research degree or if you would like to spend only two years at Oxford on a free-standing degree.<br/><br/>This two-year course is normally restricted to those who have taken a first degree in a relevant subject area; however, it is also suitable for students with no previous background in Celtic, but with sufficient linguistic ability to acquire grounding in Welsh and/or Irish quickly.<br/><br/>Course structure<br/>You will take a core course which introduces the medieval Celtic languages through the close study of texts in class, while other areas are taught through tutorials which may be supplemented by lecture series. A weekly Celtic research seminar brings all students together with talks by invited, mainly external speakers, run jointly in collaboration with the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, Aberystwyth.<br/><br/>You will take one or two core options, from a choice of:<br/><br/><br/>- Celtic linguistics;<br/><br/><br/>- Welsh literature; or<br/><br/><br/>- medieval Irish literature.<br/><br/><br/>You will also take one or two special options, which may develop one of these areas in more depth; or may be another ancient or modern Celtic language and its associated culture; or may be on a historical or other relevant topic.<br/><br/>You will write a dissertation that typically arises out of one of the options studied; and will also be required to develop a reading knowledge of a modern Celtic language which you have not previously studied at degree level.