Global Arc

We'll be based in Galway, a university town in the western part of the country with a rich tradition of Irish folk culture and performance. In addition to reading canonical and avant-garde drama from the 20th and 21st centuries, and studying and experiencing local theatre and performance, students will study the Irish language and will participate in performance-based community service activities. Daily seminars and performance workshops will be supplemented by frequent evenings of theatre-going. Performance experience is not necessary to enroll in this seminar.

The seminar begins with ancient civilizations and ends with Turkey in the twenty first century. It provides an analysis of change and continuity in Turkish society with a strong focus on history. Emphasis will also be on major cultural transformations. Students read at least one book on a major subject to be discussed in the course.

For most of history, political regimes have glorified their past. Only recently do we seem to observe a new form of political legitimacy: governments acknowledge misdeeds in the past, leaders officially apologize, and atonement is literally set in stone through monuments and museums. Germany is often seen as a prime example of the trend and has even been held up as a model for `dealing with a difficult past'. This seminar examines the German case in order to address the following questions: is there an ethical obligation to remember the past?Do collective memories remain tied to nation-states, or can memory practices transcend them?

This course traces the birth and spread of the ghetto as a social form and as an idea throughout world history. We begin with the first Jewish residential zone in a European city, the Jewish quarter of pre-Christian Rome, and end with what some prominent observers are calling a paradigmatic ghetto of the 21st century: Gaza. As we trace the spread and evolution of the ghetto concept, we explore how the social form emerged in different historical moments and what people inside and outside have made of the experience.

This Global Seminar explores Zen practice and its religious connections to monastic life and its secular links to Japanese arts. Studies of the essential aspects of Japanese History, the mechanics of East Asian writing systems, and Mahâyâna Buddhism will be complemented by opportunities in Kyoto to practice Zen meditation. Students will visit many sites around Kyoto, including Nanzenji, Shôkokuji, and Daitokuji temples. Attending a daily class in the elements of the Japanese language is required.

This course will study language and history through the lens of a regional collection of fairy tales, and will allow students to develop a working knowledge of the richly collaborative process through which musical theater is created. We'll learn how artists interpret, adapt, and create work, as well as give feedback to the creative development process. By working closely with professionals, students will also gain valuable experience in the craft of musical theater writing - learning some of the basic principles of form we well as how to shape songs and musicalized scenes for maximum storytelling clarity and effectiveness.

This course explores the drama of ancient Athens through reading, performance, and observation. Students will confront the interpretative and performative challenges the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes offer, culminating in a performance of student-generated scenes. Students will attend performances as well as participate in workshops and conversations with actors, directors, and designers. The seminar investigates the connection between the ancient world and Greece's complex multicultural present though trips to ancient sites and the modern city. The seminar features community service and classes in Modern Greek.

This course explores the variety and richness of Jewish social, political, and community life in Poland in the context of the calamity that befell Polish Jews in World War II. The seminar includes multi-day study trips to Warsaw, small towns known as Jewish Galicia, and the Auschwitz concentration camp. It coincides with the Kazimierz-based International Festival of Jewish Culture, and festival offerings will be incorporated into the curriculum. Classes are supplemented by lectures and workshops with Polish scholars, artists, and journalists. The seminar includes a community service component and daily Polish language instruction.

This interdisciplinary seminar explores various representations of Rio de Janeiro - from literature to photography, from painting to music - while examining perspectives from urbanism and the social sciences. Focusing on intersections between modernization projects and cultural production, we will ask: how has Brazil's former capital been a laboratory for architectural and city planning movements? How was it crucial to the formation of a national identity? Topics include the city's history, racial relations, the impact of technology in the urban experience, and contemporary challenges related to preparations for the 2016 Olympics.

This course introduces students to the issues facing post-tsunami Japan. The debates currently facing Japan not only involve the difficult and delicate balancing of needs in the disaster-ravaged regions but also address the kind of country that will emerge from the catastrophe. Do Japanese observers envision a progressive country leading the world in alternative energy and green technology? A more proudly nationalistic country unified by the tragedy and committed to recovery? What do these different projections mean? The course also explores the postwar narrative of Japan's rise from defeat to become the world's second-largest economy.