Members of Scottish Parliament visit
St FX Celtic Department, November 2008
Dr. Kenneth Nilsen
Ken Nilsen is Professor and Chairman of the Celtic Studies Department and holder of the Sister Saint Veronica Chair of Gaelic Studies at St. Francis Xavier University. He is a graduate of Brooklyn College and has a Masters degree and Ph.D. in Celtic Studies from Harvard University.
Dr. Nilsen teaches courses in Scottish and Irish Gaelic, Celtic literature, and Gaelic folklore. His research interests include the Celtic languages in North America. He has recorded on audio and video tape native speakers of Scottish and Irish Gaelic, Breton and Welsh, in Scotland, Ireland, Brittany, Wales and North America. Since 1987 he has contributed over 65 Gaelic pieces to the Antigonish weekly Casket which consist of material he has collected from Danny Cameron, one of the last speakers of mainland Nova Scotia Gaelic.
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Dr. Michael Linkletter
Michael Linkletter holds a Masters and PhD in Celtic Languages & Literatures from Harvard University with a doctoral dissertation entitled Bu Dual Dha Sin (That Was His Birthright): Gaelic Scholar Alexander Maclean Sinclair (1840-1924). As an undergraduate Michael attended St. Francis Xavier University where he received degrees in Celtic Studies and History.
His research interests vary from medieval Irish and Welsh narrative tradition, to the historical development of Celtic Studies as an academic field, to the history, culture, and literature of the Scottish Gaels in Canada. He teaches courses in Celtic literature, Scottish Gaelic language, and the history of the old and new world Scottish Gaels.
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Dr. Michael Newton
Michael Newton was awarded a Ph.D. in Celtic Studies from the University of Edinburgh in 1998 for his dissertation The Tree in Scottish Gaelic Literature and Tradition. He has given lectures and taught workshops on Scottish topics at venues such as the Smithsonian, the U.S. Library of Congress, Slighe nan Gaidheal in Seattle, and the Toronto Scottish Gaelic Learners' Association.
He has written several books and numerous articles on many aspects of Gaelic tradition and history, including Bho Chluaidh gu Calasraid (1999), We're Indians Sure Enough: The Legacy of the Scottish Highlanders in the United States (2001), and Warriors of the Word: The World of the Scottish Highlanders (2009). His research interests and areas of expertise include Scottish Highland immigrant literature and history; ethnicity and identity politics; human ecology; dance traditions.
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Séamus Mac Floinn
Séamus Mac Floinn received a BA from UCD and went on to complete an MA sa NuaGhaeilge (Modern Irish) at the same university. His thesis examined and compared key themes in the writings of Iain Mac a' Ghobhainn of Leòdhas, Scotland and of Máirtín Ó Direáin of Inis Mór Co. Galway. His areas of interest include Scottish and Irish Gaelic cultural comparisons and the Gaelic literature of Oriel in north-eastern Ireland.
Séamus is visiting St. Francis Xavier University for a year through the Ireland Canada University Foundation and will be teaching CELT 110 Irish Gaelic, CELT 210 Second-Year Irish Gaelic and CELT 361 Irish Folklore
Website by Michael Newton