I got my classes!

I’m procrastinating on this paper a bit ‘cos I checked my email and I got my classes! Here’s descriptions of the courses I got straight off the Study Abroad site. 

In Rome, I will be taking…

Art, Crime, and Cultural Heritage

• The course focuses on the looting, destruction, and reselling of antiquities, with an emphasis on Italy, from classical antiquity to today. Students will consider issues such as what constitutes an art/cultural heritage crime, how ideas of value (both real and symbolic) have emerged historically and how have they changed over time, what constitutes “ownership” in the eyes of different entities, and how this has changed over the past 50 years, resulting in the current difficult and controversial issue of the repatriation of cultural artifacts, which have crossed international borders. The course includes a review of cultural heritage laws and the current international situation, as well as a discussion identifying challenges and providing suggestions for regulating the market of antiquities in the future.

Representing the “Other” in Contemporary Italian Literature

• This course aims to provide a general introduction of “alterity” and how it is represented in contemporary Italian literature. In this course, we will examine the writings by authors who have traditionally been excluded from Italian literature and who represent “marginal” subjects in Italian culture and society. Through many readings by various Italian authors, we will analyze how the cultural production of second generations in contemporary Italy is “challenging national homogeneity,” while at the same time changing Italian notions of national literature and culture

A bit sad that I don’t have class with Erin or My… But, it’s ok. Going abroad is all about meeting new people, right?

When in Madrid, I will be taking…

The City as Text. Urban Development and Art in Madrid

• Taking Madrid both as a natural extension of history and as a canvas or text, this course will analyze main art manifestations in the city and will provide students with an understanding of the reality of the capital’s artistic life from different perspectives. The course will not only approach official discourses but also more spontaneous, popular or marginal manifestations through the exploration of street art or alternative utilizations of public space -“secondary” layers of the city yet key in the mapping of today’s Madrid.

Old Religion and New Beliefs in Modern Spain

• This course will provide an overview of the religious beliefs that have shaped the Spanish society since the Middle Ages until the present day highlighting the initial enriching coexistence of Jews, Christians, and Muslims, the subsequent imposition of Catholicism, the multiple attempts to reach religious freedom during the nineteenth century, the declaration of Spain as a non-confessional country in the 1978 Constitution, and the new spiritual beliefs and practices that are being introduced by younger generations and immigrants. 

I have Old Religion with Erin. That should be pretty interesting since we are both Catholic. I have a feeling we’re going to be doing a lot of comparing and contrasting haha

Stay Tuned!