FY@broad Winter & Spring Quarter

Sean Kirkland, Philosophy
LSP 112-250 Lincoln Park TTh 2:40-4:10

STUDY ABROAD: PERMISSION REQUIRED. This is an FY@broad section, taken with a required 2-credit Study Abroad component (ANT 397) during spring break. For full information, visit the Study Abroad website here. APPLICATION DEADLINE: November 1, 2019.

When some past event is no longer of any concern to us and can be in good conscience forgotten, dismissed, we often say, “That’s ancient history.” By contrast, the participants in this program will come to see “ancient history” as a still vital, determining, and perhaps even inspiring force in our historical present. Indeed, many of the most fundamental concepts we employ to understand our world and ourselves emerged among the ancient Greeks between the 7th and the 4th centuries B.C.E. And yet, it was not extreme cultural confidence or optimism that made them so influential and productive. Rather, the Greeks saw the human condition as one of profound and irremediable finitude; They believed in the crucial and always potentially disastrous limitation of human understanding and of the human being’s power to secure his or her own happiness. We will find this tragic worldview in the poetry of Homer, Hesiod, Aeschylus, and Sophocles, in the history of Herodotus and Thucydides, and in the philosophy of the Pre-Socratics and the early Socratic dialogues of Plato.

After studying these topics in Chicago, the class will then travel to Athens—one of the world’s most beautiful, vibrant, and historically rich cities. We will walk the route of the Panathenaic procession from the Kerameikos Cemetery all the way to the Acropolis and Parthenon, observing the art and architecture that typifies this ancient place. We will sit in the Theatre of Dionysus, where the world’s greatest tragedies were first performed, and visit the Pnyx, where one of the world’s first democratic assemblies met regularly. We’ll also take day trips to Mycenae and to the absolutely stunning site of the Oracle at Delphi, where the Greeks sought divine guidance in the form of mysterious oracular pronouncements. Again and again, we will be confronted by the material remains of this radically different worldview, even as we will come to see the abiding influence it has had on the development of our own culture.

• Honors Program students will receive credit for HON 105: Philosophical Inquiry.

Lisa Mahoney, History of Art & Architecture
LSP 112-251 Lincoln Park MW 2:40-4:10

STUDY ABROAD: PERMISSION REQUIRED. This is an FY@broad section, taken with a required 2-credit Study Abroad component (ANT 397) during spring break. For full information, visit the Study Abroad website here. APPLICATION DEADLINE: November 1, 2019.

Jerusalem has always been one of the most coveted cities in the world, although it famously lies on no major road, contains few natural resources, and has but a single perennial spring. In this course we will come to appreciate why. Such an endeavor begins in the classroom, where we will dissect human creations—artifacts, art, architecture, histories, biographies, and graphic novels—and thereby discover a rich tapestry of cultures and the beliefs, rebellions, contributions, and innovations that belong to this place.

The reward of our studies stateside will be an unusually full picture of a city once ruled by the likes of Herod the Great, Abd al-Malik, and Godfrey of Bouillon, once conquered by the likes of Nebuchadnezzar, Titus, and Salah al-Din, and once beautified by the likes of Solomon, Constantine the Great, and Suleiman the Magnificent. But one cannot really know Jerusalem without traveling to it. Thus, our investigation ends in Jerusalem itself, where we will learn what it is to be on the Haram al-Sharif and under the glint of its Dome of the Rock, to stand before the Western Wall and mark its impossibly heavy stones, and to be in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and trace its 900 years of pilgrimage practices. Experiencing very material things such as these in their original albeit constantly-changing context brings to life the Bronze and Iron Ages and the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Fatimid, Crusader, Ayyubid, Mamluk, Ottoman, and Modern periods. The result of this particular course, then, will be a nuanced appreciation of a complicated city, one simultaneously exceptional in its situation, historical layers, and sanctity and paradigmatic in its multi-cultural and multi-faith collaborations and conflicts.

• Honors Program students will receive credit for HON 102: History in Global Contexts.

Christie Klimas, Environmental Sceince & Studies

LSP 112-252 Lincoln Park TTh 9:40-11:10

STUDY ABROAD: PERMISSION REQUIRED. This is an FY@broad section, taken with a required 2-credit Study Abroad component (ANT 397) during spring break. For full information, visit the Study Abroad website here. APPLICATION DEADLINE: November 1, 2019.

Fair trade and ethical trade are both responses to a desire for more ethical principles in commodity sourcing as well as a growing concern about the social conditions under which commodities are produced and distributed. While fair trade and ethical trade share a common commitment to social development, their methods and goals differ, though both can be included under the umbrella term of ethical sourcing. The recent growth in ethical sourcing has captured the attention of both public and businesses: the fair trade market accounts for $400 million in retail sales each year in Europe and the U.S. (US Fair Trade Federation). Can consumers be confident that this increase in ethically sourced commodities is leading to core labor rights and human rights standards to those who produce food bearing some type of ethically sourced label? What do the different labels mean? How are guidelines different for ethical trade and fair trade? How does ethical sourcing use my money to improve the lives of those who produce what we purchase?

There are also efforts like the Workers Rights Consortium, Corporate Social Responsibility, supplier codes of conduct, sustainability coordinators, and many more. As part of this course, students will compare and contrast the sourcing of common items and identify alternatives to the current system of production that improve upon the current social and environmental externalities. They will look at what economic, social, and political systems facilitate improvement upon the current system as well as the trade-offs. For example, how do free market forces compare with protectionist regulations? Who wins and loses in each of these systems?

As a FY@broad course, we will have the opportunity to go to the source of our commodities to talk with individuals on the ground who are affected by these activities, as well as those who are the part of alternative systems of trade (ex: Manos Amigos—fair trade cooperative of artisan groups in and around Lima, coffee co-operatives). We will hear the stories and see the work of those who work in agriculture and create handicrafts for the global market.

During the time in Peru, we will visit Machu Picchu, one of the 7 wonders of the world. We will experience traditional Peruvian food and drink and you may have an opportunity to enjoy guinea pig—a traditional Peruvian delicacy. We will travel from Lima to locations that may include Aguas Calientes (the launching point for Machu Picchu), Cusco, the Sacred Valley, and Chichubamba (to meet some local farmers). We will explore Peru's diverse history throughout the trip, and students will enjoy a free day in Lima where they can try parasailing, swimming with sea lions, bike rides, or just relaxing by the ocean.

• Honors Program students will receive credit for HON 102: History in Global Contexts.