Students are encouraged to contact the Global Education Office and the course instructor. Enrollment is based on a first come first served basis. A course may be canceled due to insufficient enrollment.
Religious Studies 294 02:
Religion and Culture of Egypt
LECTURER: SHERIF BARSOUM
Egypt, the center of the Arab world, has the largest Arab Muslim population as well as the largest Christian minority in the Arab world. This course offers an experiential and insightful exploration of the religious aspect of Egypt. The first week of the course is spent on Vanderbilt’s campus, with daily lectures about the intersection of religion and culture in society, followed by 2 weeks in Egypt touring and visiting sites while keeping a daily journal, then a wrap up week again on campus when students will give their group presentations. Emphasis is placed on historical and modern Islam and Christianity in Egypt and how religion is ingrained in the fabric of society. Students will visit numerous sites while in Cairo, Alexandria and Sharm El Sheikh including religious sites such as a 6th century Jewish Temple, a 7th century church and a 14th century Mosque; and historic sites such as the Pyramids of Giza, the Alexandria Library, Mount Sinai, and the Sphinx. They will experience the Nile River while on a sailboat, and have dinner with the Bedouins in the desert. Students are expected to submit an 8-10 page paper within two weeks after their return to the US.
ELIGIBILITY: The program is open to all majors with good academic standing, and with consent of instructor.
FEES: Cost per student is $6500. Fees include tuition, roundtrip airfare to and from Egypt, 5 star hotels with buffet breakfast each day, some meals, entrance fees to all museums and parks, air conditioned bus, English speaking tour guides, Visa to Egypt, and health insurance. Fees do not include extra curricular activities such as snorkeling, horseback riding, dinners and tips to drivers and tour guides. Recommended amount of personal or spending money for the 2 week period is $500.
CREDITS: 3 credit hours
MORE INFORMATION: E-mail: sherif.barsoum@vanderbilt.edu
History 284 01:
Civic Activism, Leadership, and citizenship in Recent American History
Professor Dalhouse
This course is a collaborative effort between the Department of History, the Office of Active Citizenship and Service, and the Vanderbilt Office of Federal Relations to offer a credit-bearing seminar course that examines political leadership and citizen service within the context of recent American history and current events in American life. Meeting daily at the Vanderbilt Office of Federal Relations, History 284 offers students the opportunity to debate and discuss the current state of American life and politics using primary readings, contemporary news accounts, and discussions with policy makers, journalists and educators. This year History 284 will have a special emphasis on Election 2008 with visits to campaign headquarters, discussions with campaign staffers and readings that seek to place the candidates and issues of 2008 in historical perspective.
History 284 is also partnering this year with the First Amendment Center to offer students the chance to spend the day with campaign veterans from Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign at a symposium at the Newseum in downtown Washington. Students will have the chance to debate and discuss the meaning of RFK’s 1968 campaign with the people who surrounded and advised him in that last campaign.
FEES: Cost will be approximately $6,000 for tuition, transportation, and lodging/meals during the trips. The cost of meals and housing in Nashville is not included.
CREDITS: 3 credit hours
MORE INFORMATION: E-mail: Mark.t.dalhouse@vanderbilt.edu
European studies 260:
Berlin 2008: History and Culture
Dr. Henning Grunwald
Berlin is a bustling, multi-ethnic, ever-changing modern metropolis. Since 1989, when the Iron Curtain came crashing down, it has reinvented itself as capital of unified Germany, as lynchpin in the political landscape of the EU and a center of gravity in European arts, media and letters. It is the natural gateway to Eastern Europe and a cultural magnet teeming with cosmopolitan talent from all over the world. But Berlin is also a living history book, deeply imprinted with the traces and scars of the turbulent events of 20th century German history. Prussian grandeur and Wilhelmine hubris, Weimar's endeavoring spirit of innovation, Nazi monumentalism and finally the ideological contest of East and West Berlin are richly documented in museums and architecture and to this day inform the city's daily life. Together, we will explore both historic and contemporary Berlin. There will be many on-site teaching elements, taking advantage of the city’s unique array of museums and historical sites, as well as study trips and opportunities to sample Berlin’s vibrant theater and arts scene.
The focus of the first three weeks of the course is historical, with special emphasis on the twisted path through the twentieth century, the traces, scars and triumphs of which are evident throughout Berlin. The final week will be devoted to contemporary Berlin: political life, both as capital of unified Germany and as metropolis in the heart of Europe (Prague, Warsaw, Budapest, Zurich are within an hour's flight time, Brussels, Paris, Rome, London, Barcelona and Madrid within two hours). The focus will include the city’s pioneering theater, dance and multi-media art scene and its efforts to re-invent itself as a center for high-tech and biotech industries.
The course entails five hours of classroom contact per day. Each week will include at least one field trip outside the city, as well as site-visits in Berlin. The site visits are facilitated by the central location of teaching and living facilities at the Humboldt University as well as by Berlin's excellent public transport network (which will keep the cost of travel to a minimum). In addition to the required readings, active participation in class discussions and site visits, students are expected to engage in an independent research project and to take a final exam. All lectures, readings and instruction are in English.
Henning Grunwald, DAAD Visiting Assistant Professor of History, a five-year appointment co-funded by Vanderbilt University and the German government.
FEES: Total cost: $6,000; Included: tuition, housing, health insurance, and ground transportation. Airfare and most meals are not included.
LOCATION: Guest House of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin-Mitte
CREDITS: 3 credit hours
MORE INFORMATION: Consult: Professor Grunwald in 246 Buttrick; E-mail: henning.grunwald@vanderbilt.edu
Communication Studies 294 01:
Rhetoric of Churchill in London: 2008
Professor J. English
This course offers an experiential and critical exploration of a selection of Sir Winston Churchill’s most consequential public discourse. From the perspective of the rhetorical critic, we will examine Churchill’s major speeches resisting European Appeasement of the expanding threat of Nazi Germany in the years prior to and during World War II. In order to contextualize that discourse-to experience it, in a deep sense, we travel to it’s lived sites of invention, such as Blenheim Palace, Harrow School, Chartwell, The Cabinet War Rooms, Parliament, and the Cambridge Archives. The first week of the course is spent on Vanderbilt’s campus, followed by 2-3 weeks in London.
FEES: Students will pay a fee of $7,500 for tuition, airfare, hotel (including breakfast), subway pass, transportation, health insurance, entrance to all venues visited, a night at London theatre, banquet, and all administrative costs. Expenses not covered by the fee include campus housing (if needed), meals, baggage insurance, books, and instructional materials.
CREDITS: 3 credit hours
MORE INFORMATION: E-mail: john.h.english@vanderbilt.edu
English 272:
Montreal: Arts Culture and Society
Dr. Bob Barsky
“From ‘Criminal’ Montreal to Social Justice: Law, Literature, Dance and Music in America’s ‘Paradise’”
Throughout this century, Montréal has also been variously described as a “paradise,” a “den of iniquity,” or a “city of ill-repute” which was run by local mafias and criminals. This is the city where jazz exploded due to the unlikely combination of railway porters and prohibition in the United States, leading Montréal to become the very seat of jazz for a period in the 1930s and 40s (and every summer it plays host to the world’s largest jazz festival). Alongside the jazz came an appetite for late nights, good food, and a general hedonism that inevitably came up against the heavy conservatism of the Quebec Church. It’s not surprising, therefore, that Montreal was the site of a “quiet revolution” in the 1960s, inspired by the artwork of Borduas and signatories of the “Global Refusal,” a manifesto of modern art, as well as a more vocal upheaval by the “Liberation Front of Quebec in the 1960s and 70s. From this perspective it is also not surprising that Montreal has become a key international center for work in Social Justice.
Today, Montréal is a place of avant-garde art, notably in dance and performance arts, and it is a place in which experimental film, visual arts and creative work emanate from a whole range of sectors and cartiers. It’s home to Rufus and Martha Wainright, to La La La Human Steps, to Oxygène, the Cirque de Soleil, and a remarkable Anglophone and Francophone mixture of cultures, traditions and histories. Montréal is another “America” which combines historical populations of Jews and Catholics with emerging communities from around the world in a “multicultural” framework, contributing to the government and local imperative of promulgating work in social justice from an original set of perspectives. In the course of our pre-departure discussions at Vanderbilt, we shall examine texts, films and other media, and then situate them within the fascinating context of this vibrant crossroads between Europe, Canada and the United States. With texts in hand, for continued consultation, Professor Barsky will in the third week bring students in this course to live in downtown Montreal, where they will be introduced to a city which once dominated the entire Eastern seaboard of North America all the way down to Louisiana. Students will be treated to discussions with key players in the cultural and justice scenes, as well as cultural events that will provide a hands-on understanding of the subjects discussed. All transportation to and within Montreal is included in the cost of the course, as are tickets to cultural events and happenings throughout the city.
Course requirements:
Keep a journal of activities and thoughts about what is seen and learned about Montreal prior to and during the trip.
One oral presentation based upon the journal.
FEES: Extra fee for travel and living expenses is added to the tuition fee. Approximate cost for tuition, health insurance, and most expenses in Montreal is $5,500. Fee does not include on-campus lodging and some meals.
CREDITS: 3 credit hours
MORE INFORMATION: E-mail: robert.barsky@vanderbilt.edu
Studio Arts 288:
Contemporary Art Blitz: NYC
Prof. Mel Ziegler & Prof. Libby Rowe
This course is specifically designed for students interested in experiencing and wholeheartedly immersing themselves in the New York art scene. This intensive four-week course will include visits to museums, galleries, artist’s studios, viewings of art films and weekly lectures. There will be occasions for us to visit with gallery dealers and curators to learn more about their professions and business practices.
Weekly excursions outside of New York include DIA Beacon, Storm King Sculpture Park, Philadelphia Museum of Art and a midterm camp-out at Mark Dion and Morgan Puett’s farm/studio in Beach Lake, Pennsylvania (pending).
Accommodations: We will live and meet as a group at the 92 Street YMCA which only houses traveling students, many whom are international students studying in New York. Students will make there own travel arrangements and should plan flights to arrive on May 8th and leave on June 7th.
Expectations: Participating students will attend a class meeting on campus on (insert date in April here) to receive reading packets and discuss basic course information. Each class day we will visit exhibitions and/or artists’ studios. Class days will be Tuesday through Saturday with Sunday and Monday free days to explore on your own. Readings will be assigned in accordance to what or whom we will visit each week. Each class day will begin with a group meeting to allow discussion of the previous day’s experiences. Wednesday evening will be film night. Short writing assignments will be assigned each week. One final paper will be due at the end of the Maymester period.
Schedule: May 9th –June 6th. Meet at 92 Street YMCA in New York on May 8th. The first two weeks will be hosted by Professor Mel Ziegler. Professor Libby Rowe will join the group on May 16th for the field trip to the Dion/Puett studio in Pennsylvania. Professor Rowe will host the final weeks of the course.
FEES: Estimated fee of $5,980 includes tuition, accommodation and some meals in NYC. Fee does not include airfare, baggage insurance, and most meals.
CREDITS: 3 credit hours
MORE INFORMATION: E-mail: libby.rowe@vanderbilt.edu
Biological Sciences 290 01:
Ecology of Forest and Barrier Reef: Australia 2008
Dr. A. Benson
The most diverse ecosystems are The Great Barrier Reef in Australia and tropical rain forests. To explore the basic principles of biodiversity and conservation biology we will use the case studies of The Great Barrier Reef and the nearby tropical rainforest of Cairns, Australia. The course will be divided into three aspects of biodiversity: distribution, threats, and conservation. Applying our knowledge and to better understand the issues, we will travel to Australia to explore the conservation efforts and research a of the Great Barrier Reef and tropical rain forest of Cairns.
FEES: Extra fee for travel and living expenses is added to the tuition fee. Approximate cost for tuition, health insurance, and most expenses in Australia is $7,770. Fee does not include airfare to Australia, baggage insurance, and some meals.
CREDITS: 3 credit hours
MORE INFORMATION: E-mail: Dr.benson@vanderbilt.edu