Spring 2010 London courses

Students on the program earn 14-15 credits.

All students take this team-taught course:

AAST 952 or ANTH 952. Sugar and Salt: Commodities, Culture and Exchange in the Afro-Atlantic World. Meredith Gadsby, Baron Pineda. 6 credits: 3 HU, 3SS. In “Sugar and Salt” we will employ anthropological and literary approaches to the peoples and cultures of the Caribbean and the greater Afro-Atlantic World, particularly focusing on the theme of the flow of commodities in the Atlantic over the last 600 years—commodities such as, to name a few, music, sugar, salt, cotton, rum, bananas, banking services, and human slaves. In this course, students will have an excellent opportunity to use the resources of London to pursue topics of great contemporary relevance such as tourism, immigration, the African Diaspora, slavery, colonialism, and many others. They will make connections between the past and present trade in commodities and larger literary and social trends in the Afro-Atlantic World.

Students elect one of the following courses:

ANTH 970. Cultural Clash in Multiethnic Europe: Anthropological Case Studies in Race, Cultural Politics, and Human Rights. Baron Pineda. 6 credits SS. Today’s Great Britain, and Europe more broadly, is becoming increasingly diverse in terms of race, culture, religion, and national origin in this post-colonial age. These changes have led to a wide variety of challenges to European societies. In this course, we consider the cultural challenges involved in defining, establishing, and implementing a set of global and universal human rights, using cases such as slavery, veiling, female circumcision, nativism, citizenship laws, the human rights system of the European Union, ethical debates over overseas conquest and colonization, and other cases that have arisen in the context of multiethnic Europe.

AAST 950. Improper English: Race, Culture, and Identity in Anti-colonial British Literature. Meredith Gadsby. 6 credits HU. This course will examine literature written by Black British and South Asian authors who challenge the notion of a static British, Caribbean, South Asian, and African identity. In the 21st century, as the cultural and racial landscape of the United Kingdom continues to evolve, so too have definitions of Blackness and Britishness. We will read slave narratives, poetry, and fiction, in addition to performance poetry and theatrical works that explore Black British identities as examined by cultural theorists such as Stewart Hall and Kobena Mercer, Prathiba Parmar, and Beryl Gilroy. We will interrogate the idea of “post-colonial” identities, and the manner in which the authors/artists confront issues of migration, globalization, imperialism, and institutional inequalities. Among the writers discussed will be Olaudah Equiano, Mary Prince, George Lamming, Salman Rushdie, Janice Shinebourne, Zadie Smith, and Dorothea Smartt.

Students also elect one of the following courses:

• ENGL 918. The London Stage. Donna Vinter. 3 credits HU. This course aims to expose students to contemporary British theatre in all its variety. It will encourage critical thinking about different ways that drama may present human beings in significant action and about different ways that live performance may generate imaginative responses. At its heart will be discussion of productions in the current London repertory, with plays ranging from classical to contemporary, and venues including subsidized, commercial and fringe theatres.

• HIST 950. The History of London. Lisa Bowers Isaacson. 2 credits SS. This course explores the history of London from its Roman origins to the present day and examines how royalty, trade, religion and transport have shaped the city's pattern of growth over 2,000 years. Course work consists of weekly lectures, guided walks and discussions of readings from contemporary sources. Students are given an opportunity to investigate an aspect of London history of particular interest to them.