Location:

Athens, Greece; Rome, Italy

Program Type:

Study Abroad

Degree Level:

Undergraduate

Term:

Winter Semester

Program Overview

Program Description:

When people fight over the ‘sacred ground’ of the 9/11 memorial, grieve for people who resisted economic austerity, or regulate the size and design of funerary memorials, they demonstrate the political stakes and importance of public monuments. Monuments highlight the affective and aesthetic dynamics of politics--particularly around the production of a democratic, tragic, or tyrannical political body through death and sacrifice. This class compares the political significance of monuments in ancient democratic Athens, Imperial Rome, and the contemporary United States. What lives are worthy of commemoration? How should those lives and actions be remembered? We will also examine contemporary monumental practices in Greece in response to the recent austerity and immigrant crises. Looking at different ways that democracies, republics, and empires have attempted to memorialize, glorify, and mourn the ‘public’ dead improves our understanding of political life. 
 

Program Details

Credits Offered:

Undergraduate:

• History (HIST) 388: Topics in European History
• Government (GOVT) 329: Issues in Political Theories and Values
• Art History (ARTH) 398: Study Abroad in the History of Art
• Honors (HNRS) 130: Conceptions of Self

Graduate: 

• Graduate credit may be possible.

Setting Description:

Program Itinerary* Pre-Meeting (TBD) Lecture and tour of DC Monuments Day 1 Arrival in Athens. Walking tour and lecture around the Acropolis Day 2 Visit and lecture: Acropolis and Acropolis Museum Day 3 Visit to Agora followed by evening lecture Day 4 Visit to Keramikos followed by evening lecture Day 5 Visit to Excarcia. Lectures on austerity and mourning Day 6 Drive and visit to Delphi while enjoying a lecture on the bus Day 7 Drive and visit to Olympia while enjoying a lecture on the bus Day 8 Visit to Mycenae, return to Athens, then depart for Rome. Lecture on Modern Greece Day 9 Visit to the Roman Forums. Lecture on Imperial Triumphs Day 10 Visit to the Pantheon and Navona. Lecture on public events and public religion Day 11 Lecture on Reformation and political vision with a visit to St. Peters Bascilica Day 12 Student presentations at site Day 13 Student presentations at site Day 14 Depart Rome for the US Post-Meeting (TBD) Film Assignment and Dinner

Cost:

Program Cost (Winter 2018): $4100 Included: Tuition (3 credits) Hotel accommodations Welcome and farewell dinners Daily breakfasts included at hotels Transportation to all required program activities Flight from Athens to Rome Lectures Guides and tours Entry fees for required program activities Pre-Departure Orientation International Emergency Insurance Not Included: Round-trip airfare Other transportation Some meals Personal spending