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Jennifer Knight

Professor of Instruction

On leave until Fall 2027

CONTACT information and cv

Email: jlknight@usf.edu, jknight7@nd.edu 
Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Harvard University, 2011

TEACHING

I like to teach about hairy barbarians! Of course, I aim to dispel the many popular misconceptions attached to the groups of people that tend to fall into this category. I currently teach the courses 鈥淐eltic History鈥� and 鈥淰iking History鈥� about two difficult-to-define groups of peoples that were tremendously influential and yet remain largely misunderstood in popular conceptions. My course "Celtic History" covers the development of the disparate peoples that come to fall under the umbrella of 'Celtic' from the Iron Age through the coming of the Normans to the nascent nations of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. "Viking History" covers the expansive influence of medieval Scandinavian travelers and settlers across the globe.  My course 鈥淐eltic and Viking Mythology鈥� focuses in on the mythological and heroic literature of medieval Ireland, Wales, and Iceland, including their modern receptions.

My online course "A History of Ireland" provides a fast-paced tour through the complex, fascinating, and at times emotionally challenging course of Irish History from the time of St. Patrick in the 5th century through the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922.

I also teach two undergraduate capstone seminars that focus on the medieval period.  In 鈥淓pic History鈥� we pair close readings of medieval literature with critical commentary to examine embedded perspectives on the social context of the works鈥� compositions. In 鈥淲omen in the Celtic World鈥� we study what is known about the lives of women considered to fall under the umbrella of 鈥楥eltic鈥� in the ancient, medieval, and modern world, and how this concept has been shaped over time to meet various ends.

RESEARCH

My research focuses on reading the unusually rich corpus of early medieval Irish literature for insights into major social concepts such as gender and identity. Long viewed as 'traditional' in nature and mined for relics of the pre-Christian past, scholarship now regards early Irish literature as the product of a highly educated Christian elite segment of early Irish society. As such, these works are being viewed in new ways. No longer a "window on the Iron Age" (to quote the highly influential Kenneth Jackson article of the 1970s), early Irish literature can be seen to reflect and examine issues pertinent to its medieval authors. Social issues such as violence and the heroic ethic frequently come under critical examination, while gender and relative status commonly serve the plot of the tales.

Specifically, I focus on the group of early Irish tales known collectively as  the 鈥淯lster Cycle鈥�.  My recent publication 鈥溾�橦is loss has crushed me鈥�: Collateral Damage and the Emotions of Vengeance in Ulster Cycle Death Tales,鈥� examines how the depiction of emotional states in the death tales of the Ulster heroes passes commentary on the exercise of unrestrained violence in exacting vengeance.  In 鈥淕ender and Comedy in the Early Irish Tale Fled Bricrenn鈥� I read the tale as an early example of a gender comedy that employs a theme of gender role reversal to satirize the masculine heroic ideal. My earlier publication 鈥淭he Wooden Sword: Age and Masculinity in 罢谩颈苍 B贸 C煤ailnge鈥� examines the comment on weakness and the male life cycle presented in the 罢谩颈苍 by the tale's enigmatic boy-hero C煤 Chulainn. My current book project, forthcoming from Routledge, is Twenty-Five Women Who Shaped the Celtic World. 

In 2023-2024, I was a member of the USF Humanities Institute Faculty Fellowship
cohort that worked to bring Irish Studies to USF by organizing the American
Conference for Irish Studies Southern Regional Meeting with th the theme I am currently on a Leave of Absence to serve at the University of Notre Dame鈥檚 Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies.