Mediterranean Humanities II in Venice

CLIA4600OC: Mediterranean Humanities II in Venice. 3 points. Prerequisite: None. Mediterranean Humanities I is not a requirement to enroll in this course. Instructor: Konstantina Zanou

What is the Mediterranean and how was it constructed and canonized as a space of civilization? A highly multicultural, multilingual area whose people represent a broad array of religious, ethnic, social and political difference, the Mediterranean has been seen as the cradle of western civilization, but also as a dividing border and a unifying confluence zone, as a sea of pleasure and a sea of death. The course aims to enhance students’ understanding of the multiple ways this body of water has been imagined by the people who lived or traveled across its shores. By exploring major works of theory, literature and cinema since 1800, it encourages students to engage critically with a number of questions (nationalism vs cosmopolitanism, South/North and East/West divides, tourism, exile and migration, colonialism and orientalism, borders and divided societies) and to ‘read’ the sea through different viewpoints. In the final analysis, Med Hum II is meant to arouse the question of what it means to stand on watery grounds and to view the world through a constantly shifting lens. The Summer version of the course is adapted to contain more material on Venice and its Mediterranean surroundings.

This course fulfills the Global Core requirement and the requirements of Columbia's Italian major and Mediterranean Studies minor. For Global Core, please note students may only receive Global Core credit for either CLIA4500GU or CLIA4600OC; not both.

To enroll in this course, you must apply to the Columbia in Venice program through the Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement (UGE). Global Learning Scholarships available. Tuition charges apply. Please note the program dates are different from the Summer Sessions Terms. Visit the UGE