West of Ireland Heritage, Arts & Tourism (WIHAT) Research Group
The group’s basic and applied research interests encompass a wide range of interdisciplinary areas, involving scrutiny of human-environment relations and analysis of issues of socio-economic concern in the past, present and future. Research questions are explored in a creative and innovative environment, which encourages a fresh eye, nurtures a critical mind and fosters an entrepreneurial spirit. Based upon staff members’ expertise and experience in industry, teaching and research, WIHAT’s core research activities are focused on the fields of Heritage Studies, the Arts and Tourism.
In Heritage Studies, staff interests are centred on Ireland’s cultural, built and natural heritages from the seventeenth century to the present. There is a strong focus on cultural heritage, most especially on the ways in which the past manifests itself in the present through (re)negotiations of memory and cultural identity. Work has also been conducted on promoting and encouraging heritage tourism enterprises in areas like genealogy tourism. Staff also possess expertise in the archaeological surveying of built heritage and in the recording/conserving of habitats, flora and fauna that constitute natural heritage. The postgraduate programme offers students the opportunity to undertake primary research on specialised topics relating to cultural, built and natural heritages. Recent work has focused on areas as diverse as: genealogy tourism, military history, commemorations of Irish revolutions, big houses, landed estates, the Irish parliamentary party, urban history, festivals, mendicant friars, waterfowl populations, national parks, woodland ecology, and landscape management. The postgraduate programme in the Arts offers students the opportunity to undertake research in two principal fields of study.
In the field of art history and critical theory, staff interests cover Irish and European art from the eighteenth century to the present. The focus is on historical relations between aesthetics and politics and their manifestations in contemporary cultural debate and visual art practice. In the field of religious studies and ethics, the focus is on theological ethics, systematic theology and contemporary culture. Current and previous topics explored in the Arts include: Irish state patronage of the visual arts, concepts of mystery and the sublime as features of the experience of contemporary art, the relations between text and textiles in women’s art, constructions of ultimate meaning in Western European culture, apophatic theology, and environmental ethics.
In the field of Tourism, innovation in services and business processes related to cuisine/food tourism has been identified as a research priority for the future.
In addition to partaking in an annual in-house research colloquium, our recent graduates have published, presented and exhibited their research findings both nationally and internationally. Most have secured employment in the Heritage, Arts and Tourism sectors, while others have gained employment as lecturers in the higher education sector.
Prospective candidates in any of the above-mentioned areas may apply for entry to the Master of Arts degree by research with a minimum of a second class honours in a relevant discipline. Progression to a PhD by research is also possible, but only in the area of heritage studies.
Further information: Dr Mark McCarthy Lecturer & Programme Chair in Heritage Studies, t: 091 742411 e:
mark.mccarthy@
gmit.ie
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