Those pursuing advanced degrees in Celtic studies tend to choose Harvard for “the very distinguished faculty,” according to Ph.D. candidate Matthew Knight, another Celtic Colloquium organizer.

“We have students from Australia, Canada, Celtic countries, attracted by [Harvard’s] long-standing reputation,” he says.

Also, Knight says many Americans choose to study at Harvard because it is very difficult to obtain funding to study in foreign universities.

Celtic Constraints

Despite burgeoning interest at Harvard and across the country, increasing course offerings and fostering the development of programs into actual Celtic departments remains a difficult and complicated task.

“The interest is certainly there, but you have a roadblock because it takes so long to acquire expertise,” Africa notes. “There’s a gap between burgeoning interest and available faculty.”

Harvard’s department has experienced difficulty expanding due to the small number of placements available in the field, leading to a self-perpetuating cycle of stagnancy.

“We try to admit two new students every year,” Ford says, although the department receives about seven times as many applications.

He also says it would be “pointless” at this time to try to increase the size of its graduate population, since there are simply not enough spots in academia for Celtic specialists. Though the department currently is “very successful in placing [students] in Scotland, Ireland and Wales,” if more were to be added to the pipeline, there would be no way to guarantee them positions after graduation. “There are not that many places for our Ph.D.s to go,” he says.

The interdisciplinary nature of most Celtic studies programs also limits the stability of jobs in the field.

“There aren’t other departments across the country, just those teaching in linguistics, history or comp lit departments. If the Celtic person leaves, there is no guarantee that [the department] will re-hire another Celticist,” he says.

“We’d love to see Celtic studies expanding throughout the country, but there’s not really so much we can do [as a department],” Ford says.

He says he believes the best way to increase the number of Celtic courses and departments is to continue to try to attract new and younger recruits.

“We’ve been trying to increase interest in the subject.  There’s general interest in the country, due to the publication of books such as How the Irish Saved Civilization,” he says.

Since 1994, Ford has taught seminars on Celtic studies to high school teachers from across the country in order to promote the field to younger students.