Emmet Taylor

Biography

Emmet Taylor completed an undergraduate degree in history at Carleton University, followed by a masters degree in Celtic Studies at Saint Francis Xavier University, and a PhD in the Department of Early and Medieval Irish at University College Cork. They have taught at both Saint Francis Xavier University and University College Cork, and were the inaugural Gerard Wrixon Postdoctoral Fellow.

Research Interests

Emmet's main area of research interest is medieval Irish heroic literature, with an emphasis on reading these works within their changing historical contexts and discussing how the concept of the hero changes over time in Ireland. As part of this, they are interested in a range of related topics, such as the concept of Headhunting (or perhaps, head collecting) in Irish tradition, and Irish military history as reflected (or distorted) in the literary sources. In addition, Emmet is interested in questions of gender and identity in medieval Ireland, the role of violence in the narrative traditions, and reception of early Celtic and medieval Irish history in popular culture.