Fall 2010 Travel

The College reserves the right to change course offerings and scheduling.

In this section you will find a comprehensive overview of Franklin College's Academic Travel course offerings. For the most current list or if you would like to plan your Academic Travel Program, please visit My Franklin.

Academic Travel Programs scheduled for Fall 2010 are as follows:

TVL 200 Rome and Southern Italy
Professor Mottale

The Academic Travel Program to Rome, its surrounding region, and some parts of Southern Italy offers students an opportunity to explore and learn about key period of Western Civilizations and Italian history. Students will be introduced to Greek and Roman culture, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance period as well as the realities of 21st century Italy. This travel will include visits to Pompeii and Herculaneum to explore early and recent archeological sites. The trip will also include visits to the Naples, the Amalfi coast, and Sorrento. The main focus will be on Rome and its civilization as the basis for the political and artistic foundations of European societies.

TVL 202 Greece
Professor McCormick

The purpose of this Program is to introduce students to the birthplace of Western culture. Through visits to Knossos, Santorini, Mycenae, Delphi, Olympia and Athens, the Program traces the development of Greek civilization from Minoan civilization in Crete to the flowering of democracy in fifth-century Athens. Contemporary Greek culture, including modern Greek literature and politics, are discussed with students and professors from Greek universities. The Program is designed especially for students whose interests include classical literature, history and art. The travel destinations are integrally linked to the readings in "Introduction to Literature, Part I (LIT 100)."

TVL 225 Northern Italy
Professor Polich

(From Antiquity to the Present) This Program introduces students to the history, politics, culture, and present day social and economic life of Northern Italy. Students may visit, among other destinations, Venice, Padova, Ravenna, Verona, Bologna, Torino, Bolzano and South Tyrol, Trieste and the Italian Riviera. In addition to historical, artistic and naturalistic tours to further the comprehension of the traditions of Northern Italian civilization, there will be scheduled visits to local industries and international businesses in some selected areas. In each city, the program director, guides and specialists will lecture on particular relevant topics. Students will be expected to integrate the past and the present with an eye toward an under- standing of the future developments of the area in a united Europe.

TVL 229 London: Classical Modernism
Professor Glass

(Primarily Modern European Art) This program is focused on Art in London. It is fundamentally a museum and gallery program and concentrates on the following: The Tate Gallery, The Tate Modern, The Courtauld Institute of the University of London, and the National Gallery. The program also includes museums of interest, and especially the British Museum, The British Library, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. For purposes of Twentieth Century historical interest the Imperial War Museum and the Britain at War Museum are also visited. A visit is made to Sotheby's auction house and to the Beaux Arts Gallery, one of the private dealerships in the Mayfair district of London. An attempt is made to allow time for individual interests (antiques, for example, or photography etc.). A one-day excursion is made to Salisbury Cathedral and Stonehenge, and another to Cambridge (to visit the University generally and King's College Chapel and the Kettle's Yard Museum specifically).

TVL 241 Ireland
Professor Matthews

20th Century Irish Literature The primary focus of this program is on Irish writing in the 20th century and its relationship to the writers' artistic, intellectual, social, and geographic backgrounds. It aims to make students aware of the peculiarly intimate connection of Irish writing to the Irish context. The idea and the actuality of the country were equally crucial for the Irish writers of the last century and the travel aims to bring the wealth of issues involved therein to life. Places such as Dublin, Sligo and Belfast are visited and the relationship to city, landscape and history of such writers as W.B.Yeats, James Joyce and Seamus Heaney are explored. Students learn to place a writer's words in the concrete physical and atmospheric context from which these sprang and to develop thereby a truly living sense of (Irish) literature. This program is oriented toward students interested in literature, history, politics, sociology, and cross-cultural studies.

TVL 247 Venice and its lagoon
Professor Terzi

(History / Economics / Politics / Art / Literature / Environment) This cross-disciplinary academic travel program explores the historical, cultural, and environmental dimensions of the city of Venice from a variety of angles. This includes the origin of Venice as a Byzantine province, the development of political institutions, the origin of banking, the flourishing of commerce, the architecture and the art, and the role of Venice as a world political and financial power. Special attention will be given to the environmental system of the Venice lagoon that nourished and sustained the city of Venice throughout centuries. The symbiotic relationship of Venice with its lagoon will be considered with respect to current environmental questions and problems related to sustainable tourism. The itinerary will centre on Venice, its lagoon, its surroundings, and normally includes a 2-day cruise.

TVL 277 Turkey
Professor Rocourt

(Turkey: the old and the new) Clichés about Turkey's unique cultural and geopolitical status abound. Is it part of Europe or part of Asia? Is it an Islamic republic or a European-style democracy? An original member of NATO, Turkey is today still only reluctantly embraced by the European Union, with full membership far from a certainty. The focus of the trip will be upon developing an understanding of why all the disparate and even paradoxical descriptions contain a kernel of truth. Modern Turkey has evolved from a unique historic blend of Greco-Roman culture, Byzantine dominance, and Ottoman politics, culture and religion, all of which were brought into the modern age by the political will of Ataturk starting in the 1920's. Destinations include Istanbul's innumerable historical and cultural shrines along with the modern corporate and university environment; Ankara, selected by Ataturk in the centre of the peninsula to be the heart of the new Turkish politics; and the South Mediterranean coast (Antalya/Alanya) with a focus upon Greco-Roman and medieval history, as well as modern-day tourism and agriculture. Readings will include an Ottoman history and a biography of Ataturk.

TVL 280 New York and Boston
Professor Zanecchia

(Estimated Supplement CHF 1,950) This trip focuses on the history and culture of two major east coast US cities as well as their respective business environments. Boston and New England include corporate meetings as well as visits to major historical sites associated with the American Revolution and the colonial days in the Northeast. Historical sites may include visits to Cape Cod and the offshore islands. The stay in New York City focuses on the global influence of business, culture and communication institutions.Business visits may include the New York or American Stock Exchange, Citibank and Bear Stearns. Cultural visits will include a variety of museums, to include the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art or the Guggenheim. Live events such as a theatre or music performance in Boston or New York are included in the cultural component. Communication visits will include a major television network in New York such as ABC or CBS. Visits to the United Nations and the Ellis Island Immigration Museum are also included in this academic travel.

TVL 282 Ukraine and Russia
Professor Schlein

(Estimated Supplement CHF 2,000) Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the successor states have been undergoing rapid and profound changes. Ukraine is presently on a pro-Western course since the "Orange Revolution." Visiting Lviv (Lvov) in western Ukraine and Kiev, the capital, and then going on to Moscow and St. Petersburg, students will be able to compare Ukraine with Russia. Academic considerations will include the historical development of Ukraine and its relations to Russia and the internal tensions in Ukraine between its pro-Western and pro-Russian constituencies. Additional considerations include how the economies of both countries have been changing during this ongoing period of transition.

TVL 288 Japan: Contemporary Japanese Culture and Communication
Professor Sugiyama

(Estimated Supplement of CHF 1600) This academic travel offers students an opportunity to explore various aspects of communication in contemporary Japanese culture. Prior to travel, students will learn about such topics as verbal communication, nonverbal communication, cultural values, and communication technologies within the context of Japan. As a part of the travel preparation, student will identify a particular topic of interest, as it pertains to the travel theme of Japanese communication, so that they can make focused observations during the travel. Students will spend significant time in central Tokyo (e.g., Shibuya, Harajuku, Ginza), observing contemporary Japanese culture and communication. To put contemporary Japanese culture into perspective, students will visit some sights depicting "traditional" Japanese culture (e.g., temples and shrines in Kyoto, a tea house, the imperial house).

TVL 297 Lausanne, Geneva and the Alps
Professor Steinert Borella

(Travel Writing/Writing Travel) From the salons of Mme de Stael to twentieth-century travel writers Nicolas Bouvier and Ella Maillart, French-speaking Switzerland has been home to a rich literary tradition. This course will offer an introduction to the travel literature of French-speaking Switzerland in English translation. (Students who can will be encouraged to read in the original French). Authors studied will include Rousseau, Madame de Stael, Nicolas Bouvier, Anne Deriaz and Ella Maillart. Course will include visits to the Val d'Anniviers in the Valais, Lausanne, Coppet, and Geneva as well as an excursion to the watch-making region in and around La Chaux-de-Fonds, named a UNESCO cultural site in 2009. In addition to museum and chateau visits, this class will include several writing workshops and meetings with contemporary Swiss writers.

TVL 314 Cairo, Egypt
Professor Khan

This travel is intended as an introduction to the field of urban economics a discipline which asks basic questions about the location of production, the division of labor, the terms of exchange between urban and rural areas, as well as the conditions required for sustained and balanced economic growth. Students will become familiar with the economic development of Cairo over two millennia and come to appreciate the constraints on growth and the opportunities for social innovation in a modern developing country megalopolis. The group will visit archeological sites, a broad spectrum of Cairo's residential areas, media outlets, government ministries responsible for urban planning, as well as cultural and educational institutions to experience, first hand, the challenges and hopes of this giant developing metropolis on the Nile.

TVL 321 Paris - The Visual Culture
Professor Fassl

The Visual Culture of Paris will examine a wide range of visual art movements that originated in Paris or for which the city was a major source of inspiration. The emphasis is on nineteenth and twentieth century art, exploring movements such as Realism, Impressionism and Postimpressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism. A major subject of investigation and discussion will be photography and what role it played in the development of Modern art. We will use the Paris and its museums to ask ourselves what role the city, its visual and intellectual culture, played in inspiring the articulation and evolution of these movements? What is the effect of Paris on the creative eye today? Our major project will be a sketchbook in which students will engage with these questions, as well as visual and oral presentations.

TVL 326 Berlin: Unification
Professor Wiedmer

(And the Wall Came Tumbling Down: Revisiting Unification in Berlin from a Historical, Political and Cultural Perspective) When asked where they were and what they were doing when hearing about the fall of the Berlin wall, most people who were adults at the time can tell you in fairly precise terms. In fact, the fall of the wall, and the politics and cultural upheaval surrounding it has, in geopolitical terms, had a similar effect as the moon landing or the murder of John Kennedy. And yet for today's students, toddlers at the time of this cataclysmic event, the notion of a divided Germany, of the co-existence of two separate regimes, and of the wall itself is history. The focus of this travel is to animate this history by taking participants to the original sites of the divide, such as Checkpoint Charlie, and what remains of the wall; to study what lead up to and away from November 9, 1989, in literature, documentaries, history books and in discussion with witnesses; to explore the traces of once-divided Germany by following the debates on contemporary architectural erasures and reconstructions in former East Berlin; and by savoring DDR nostalgia, complete with the requisite DDR cuisine and Trabi ride.

TVL 331 Following the Rhine
Professor Gardiner

This travel course aims literally to follow the Rhine, from its humble beginnings near Reichenau, Switzerland, to its many branches in the North Sea. Thethematic focus of the trip will be the river itself: economically, politically, historically, and environmentally, one of the most important in Europe. By visiting several cities along the way: Schaffhausen, Basel, Strasbourg, Mainz, Bonn, Utrecht and Rotterdam, for example, students will be asked to consider how the Rhine has influenced cultural development on either side of it, how people have historically used and abused it, and how citizens currently need it: for transportation, agriculture, urban drinking and sanitation needs, hydroelectric production and recreation, among others. The class includes pre-travel class meetings to discuss a variety of readings, the travel itself (if at all financially possible by using some river travel), and a post-travel meeting to wrap up the course and draw overall conclusions.

TVL 332 Iceland
Professor Hale

(Estimated supplment CHF 500) Few places in the world experience the diversity of natural phenomena that Iceland does. Its landscape reads as a textbook where students can explore plate tectonics, volcanoes, glaciers (the largest in Europe), and other physical forces that continually shape and reshape the natural landscape. Icelanders take advantage of their natural resources to create a society that in 2010 ranks number one on the Environmental Performance Index. In this course, students will use Iceland as a field laboratory to study physical geography and sustainability. This course is also designed to demonstrate and introduce students to the concepts of sustainable travel. As a focus of the course will be to explore the physical landscape, students will be outdoors frequently. Given the regional climate, students should be prepared for freezing and wet conditions and dress appropriately.

TVL 333 The Republic of Venice, c. 500-1797, between History and Art
Professor Orsi

Venice is the only famous Italian city that can be said to not have had a Roman foundation. Born of the water sometime during the fifth century, the result of the aggregation of a number of maritime communities spread in the Laguna, by the early ninth century she had become an independent city state, with a locally elected duca and a democratic government independent from Byzantium. In her eleven centuries of history as a free and independent republic (specifically, an oligarchy of "noblemen" with no aristocratic hierarchies), Venice gave birth to a number of political, artistic and literary myths, and imposed herself as the bridge between West and East, not just at commercial level, but also in terms of artistic and literary invention, becoming one of the major powers in world history, particularly so during the fifteenth and sixteenth century. Our focus will be the history and artistic heritage of the "Serenissima" ("The Most Serene"), as she was called, from her tip-toe beginnings to her long yet luminous decline, which paved the way to the French conquest of 1797. We will spend five days in Venice and five days traveling in the "mainland." We will visit towns and cities that were part of the Venetian Republic; among them, Padua, Verona, Vicenza, Treviso, Chioggia; Brescia, and Bergamo. The course is taught in Italian and is part of the Italian Immersion program.

TVL 334 Eastern Europe: Service Leadership Poland
Professors Carpenter, Muehlethaler

(Facilitating the Progress of Individuals, Communities and Society) This travel experience will focus on organized service and the ways in which community-based service efforts affect social change in Eastern Europe. The course will explore the effectiveness and value of community service organizations, the leadership of such organizations and the challenges they face. Participants in this travel will develop an understanding of the strategies employed by government and non-government organizations to address the needs of various populations within a larger society. The course revolves around travel to and active participation in the life of a host community during the duration of the travel period. The immersion experience and associated assignments are specifically intended for students interested in personal involvement in social justice and service leadership. At the travel site, students will be required to perform service work and participate in additional activities. Students should expect service projects that may include painting, basic construction, clean-up and general construction duties. Elementary school visits that include tutoring, teacher assistance and interaction with local children are also in consideration. Participants should expect a significant amount of activity that may require a serious degree of physical ability. Service projects associated with this Travel may include heavy lifting, digging, basic construction, and basic landscaping tasks. Specific destination will be announced in August.

TVL 335 Consuming Empire: Postcolonial Food Landscapes of Britain
Professor Long

This travel takes an interdisciplinary approach to the history, economics, culture, and geography of Britain's food and drink culture. Travel begins in Oxford where students will be introduced to the origins and history of traditional English cuisine and pub culture. The trip then takes a chronological exploration of Britain's epicurean and intellectual history from the coffeehouses (a.k.a. "penny universities") of Oxford to the "curry" culture of Anglo-Indian food landscapes of London. Trips to Oxford, London, and the surrounding areas are included.