Spring 2010 Travel Offerings

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 Spring 2010 are as follows:

TVL 224 Namibia
Professor Zanecchia

This course will focus on natural resource conservation, sustainable development and cultural encounters in various contexts. Academic focus will include an assessment of the impact of global warming on Namibia's desert ecosystems; interaction with and learning from the Himba tribe who have lived in harmony with their natural surroundings for centuries; and field studies in the Etosha National Park, Namib Desert at Sossusvlei, and Cape Cross conservation area. Lectures will be provided by the travel leader as well as by Namibian experts in the fields of sustainable development, responsible tourism, the archaeology of Twyfelfontein's ancient bushmen paintings and rock engravings, and conservation practices in the Okavango area to include sustainable animal conservation. Game drives will center on the Etosha National Park and Okavango area. Please note: This course will include traveling in overland vehicles with experienced guides. Accommodations will be in safari tents at campgrounds equipped with showers and toilets. Please note: Students who register for this trip are expected to have a genuine interest in sustainable development and should be prepared to engage in service learning work. Students should also understand that they are expected to maintain appropriate behavior at all times in a distinctly unique cultural environment. ?This Academic Travel carries a supplement fee to be determined (TBD)?

TVL 241 Ireland
Professors Matthews, Khan

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 244 Liguria / Southern France
Professor Della Corte

Comparative European Cultures The purpose of this Academic Travel is to recognize, compare and contrast aspects of European cultural development in its particular manifestations in the Italian Riviera region of Liguria and in Southern France. In Liguria, students will visit sites including the Bay of Lerici, the Cinque Terre, and especially Genoa. Students will also travel by boat from Portofino to the Monastery of San Fruttuoso and on to the fishing village of Camogli. In the regions north of Genoa, students will be introduced to developments in the cultivation and marketing of olive oil. The second part of the trip will be centered around Nice. The focus of this portion of the course is on mainly 20th century art and artists. Visits will be made to most or all of the following museums: the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, the Matisse Chapel in Vence, the Picasso Museum in Antibes, the Picasso Chapel in Vallauris, the Ferdinand Léger Museum in Biot, the Maeght Foundation in Saint-Paul-de-Vence and the Contemporary Art Museum in Nice. In Grasse, students will learn about this perfume capital of the world and visit the Fragonard Museum.Themes of the course will include the relationships between visitors, transients and local realities; the rise and fall of the Maritime Republic of Genoa and the tension between regionalism and national identity in these regions.

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 252 Northern Greece and Turkey
Professor McCormick

(Alexander the Great/St. Paul/Ataturk) This Academic Travel Program begins at the home of the Greek Gods. After visiting Dion and climbing Mt. Olympus (closed Spring semester), the students travel to the Greek Orthodox site of Meteora and then to the Hellenistic sites in Northern Greece linked to Alexander the Great, including the newly restored tomb of his father, Philip of Macedon. Students also visit the site where St. Paul was allegedly imprisoned and early Christian churches, including the wonderful new Byzantine Museum in Salonika. After stops in border communities where the Greeks and Turks live in perfect harmony, we enter Turkey to visit a replica of the wooden horse at Troy, the site excavated by Heinrich Schliemann, and they then descend the Analolian coast to Ephesus, Pergamon and Izmir, site of the calamitous events of 1922, before heading south to Kas and east to Cappodoccia. The trip finishes with a sojourn in Istanbul with visits to Aghia Sophia, The Mosque of Sultan Ahmed, Topkapi and a boat trip up the Bosphorous to the Black Sea. The focus of the program is on the literature, history, sociology and religion of the two regions. The trip is integrally related to the literary texts covered in the Introduction to Literature, Part I course (LIT 100).

TVL 274 Southern Germany
Professor Prisner

The program begins in the southern part of Germany, particularly Baden Württemberg and Bayern. Although Germany as a whole has experienced significant economic difficulties, the South has managed to make the transition into a high technology region. The trip begins in Stuttgart and proceeds to Ulm and Munich with visits, among others, to Daimler-Chrysler in Stuttgart, the Science Park, the University, and the Daimler Chrysler research center in Ulm. The trip then visits the 'German Silicon Valley' around Munich, Siemens Corporation, and the science and technology museum, Deutsche Museum, in Munich. Also included in this journey are visits to popular tourist destinations, to include castles, museums (Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart) and scenic areas.

TVL 277 Istanbul and Turkey: the old and the new
Professor Mottale

(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 286 London: Finance and Culture
Professor Rocourt

Even in the era of electronic communication and technology-based deal-making, modern London still rather easily qualifies as the world epicenter of banking, finance, insurance, risk and property management, commodity markets, and foreign currency trading. It is no accident that Greenwich Mean Time defines the trading and business day around the globe. The strategic goal of the trip will be to comprehend the vitality of the key financial institutions themselves - how they function, what the people actually do, and how the individual firms set strategy in the marketplace. But the tactical approach will be to experience on a daily basis many of the diversions and historical attributes that the region offers, to include the Stock Exchange, the Bank of England, Lloyds Insurance, The Joint Underwriting Association, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup Smith Barney, etc. But students will also experience the theaters, museums, literary markers, historical sights and just plain diversions that make greater London the place of endless discovery that all knowledgeable visitors return for repeatedly.

TVL 291 Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia
Professor Schlein

(History and Politics) This trip focuses on how several of the states that had been part of the former Yugoslavia have been coping with the effects of the Civil War and the following conflicts since 1995. Students travel by bus and visit Ljubljana, Zagreb, Belgrade and Dubrovnik. The students have the opportunity to meet with speakers on the various issues of recent history, ethnic conflict, war crimes and how they are seen in the areas involved, the implementation of the Dayton Accords, reconstruction and relations with the European Union.

TVL 299 Istria and Belgrade
Professor Dudukovic

(History, Politics, Culture and Traditions) The purposes of this interdisciplinary travel program to Istria and Belgrade are twofold. The first part of the trip introduces students to the historical, political and multicultural dimensions of Istria and Croatia from different perspectives. Students are introduced to the historical origins, architecture and the developing tourist industry of Istria as well as the political and cultural life of Istria and Croatia. Related topics include analyses of the economic transition currently in evidence in Croatia as well as the Croatian educational system. The second part of the trip exposes students to the rich historical and cultural dimensions of Belgrade, the former capital of Yugoslavia and currently the capital of Serbia. Salient aspects of Serbia are stressed, to include its economic, demographic, cultural, linguistic, and political milieu as well as current transitional changes in this post socialistic country. Students will gain on-site experience which goes far beyond the information which can be found in the print media or on the Internet. Meetings with government representatives and private business managers, interviews with ordinary people and visits to the refugee camp are planned. The itinerary will center on Pula, Opatia, Brioni, Postojna, Motovun and Belgrade.

TVL 306 Bavaria: Laptop and Lederhosen
Professor Pyka

Focusing on the Bavarian capital Munich, this course seeks to explore urban planning and urban development of a European city from the Middle Ages to the Present. It asks in which way the interplay of tradition and modernity has structured not only the mindsets of the population, but also the physical shape of cities. The examples explored in the pre-trip seminar as well as on the spot are the medieval urban centre of Nuremberg in Franconia with its long history of urban independence and self confidence of its citizens, and the state's more modern capital Munich, chosen as the residence of the Bavarian elector-princes and later kings. Both cities were deeply involved in the architectural fantasies of National Socialism and therefore also in West German attempts post-war to deal with this legacy by architecture. Thus special attention will be given to the impact of social cultural developments on the urban sphere, as well as to the use of tradition and history for urban planning and architecture.

TVL 309 Umbria
Professor Zdanski

(Making and studying art) This course will explore the art of Umbria in Italy in the context of the territory and its traditions. The 'centerpiece' of the course is a seminar on ceramics at La Fratta, local artist Luca Leandri's studio () near the town of Deruta (Perugia), one of the centers of ceramics production in Italy. Umbria is a region of breathtaking natural beauty, and can boast of a long standing cultural heritage, starting from the ancient Umbrians and the Etruscans (masters of the terracotta tradition par excellence), and extending through the Romans, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Students will have the opportunity to learn about the area and its history in a unique way, by making a form of art that the region is famed for, and by visiting some of its art centers (Perugia, Assisi, Citta' di Castello, Gubbio, Orvieto and Spoleto) and some of its places of natural beauty (Lago di Trasimeno, Le Marmore waterfall, Fonti di Clitunno, Monti Sibillini). The trip will also provide an opportunity to see how contemporary life and art in this region draw upon or depart from this wealth of art and culture.

TVL 312 Florence, Lucca and Siena
Professor Gebhardt

This Academic Travel highlights Florence, Lucca and Siena in central Italy. These three cities have a turbulent history, from which emerged perhaps the most explosive manifestation of art in the western world. We will try to follow their history from the Roman (and Etruscan) origins, focusing on their development during the medieval period, up to and including the Renaissance. Visits in Florence include the towers of the Cerchi and the Donati, la Torre della Castagna (the first town hall) Palazzo Vecchio, Bargello, and Torre della Pagliuzza, as well as the important churches, the Cathedral, the Palazzo Medici, and the Accademia. We will subsequently travel to Lucca and Siena and discuss their development during this period and their relationship to Florence. Although they both offer a similar history with divisions and wars between families and with neighboring cities, we will examine their individual characteristics. Prior to departure, students will be introduced to the development of the political situation from the medieval city-state to the Signorie of the Renaissance, and to the life and works of the most representative personalities (political, literary and artistic) of this period.

TVL 319 Vienna & Budapest
Professor Gardiner

This 1-credit travel course aims to put Vienna and Budapest on the map for Franklin College students: two cities positioned between Eastern and Western Europe, caught in the contradictions of cultural and fluvial flows that define these most interesting cosmopolitan conglomerates. After a grounding in the historical development of Vienna and Budapest, particularly under the Habsburgs, students will explore the different ways in which each of these cities has developed over time, emphasizing both the radical differences that distinguish these cities from each other and the interdisciplinary synergies that connect them to each other. In addition to pre-travel discussions and the travel itself, students will be required to write a compare and contrast paper that involves a specific aspect of both cities, e.g. the Revolution of 1848; Jewish culture, the Iron Curtain.

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 327 Kerala (India): Development Miracle or
Professors Saveau, Khan

Wedged between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats, Kerala had been a trading entrepot and center for international migration long before the 15th century arrival of Portuguese explorers - remnants of this cosmopolitan pre-colonial society are visible in Cochin where Jews, Syrian Christians, Chinese, Arabs, and Africans once traded in a seaside quarter now known as "Jew Town." Kerala's traditional ruling elite, distinct from elites in the rest of India, lived modestly and took great interest in the social and economic uplift of the region. This legacy has affected modern patterns of development. Since India became independent in 1947, Kerala has been, in the words of Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen, "the most socially advanced state in India." In 1957, Kerala was the first in the world to freely elect a communist government. Despite being one of India's poorest states, Kerala's literacy rate of 91% is among the highest of any developing nation in the world. Its infant mortality rate is one fifth of the Indian national average and life expectancy, at 73 years, is ten years higher than the average in the country. Despite these successes, Kerala remains a very poor region where the best and the brightest, invariably, migrate overseas in search of better opportunities. The state also has one of India's highest suicide rates and many have begun to press for less socialism and more free market competition to encourage investment, stimulate economic growth, and reverse Kerala's brain drain. Students on this field study will tour a cross section of rural and urban areas in the state to visit development projects, public institutions, and private businesses in order to evaluate the successes and failures of the 'Kerala Model' of economic development.

TVL 329 Thailand: Village Culture and Service Le
Professor Guggiari

This travel is designed to 1) expose students to an East-Asian culture , 2) allow students to discover and experience first hand the socio-economic culture of Thai villagers and 3) offer students a method of using their resources to directly benefit the village people. This trip will be in collaboration with the Sainam Foundation and take place in a remote Thai village, Surin, in the eastern part of the country. The group will travel directly to the village of Surin via the Bangkok airport. Students will be placed in homestays in groups of two or three together. Depending upon the status of the foundation projects, students will be involved for approximately 10 days of community service which could include: "Helping to construct houses that students will begin construction on while on site, "Clearing land for construction, "Working the local harvest, "Painting newly constructed houses The Foundation has also agreed to have the FC students work with the Surin village school and the surrounding village schools to plan English language classes and outdoor activities. The trip will end with a closing celebration on the nearby Mekong River near the Laos border. Please note: It is strongly recommended that students successfully complete at least two academic travels before enrolling in this travel course.? ?This Academic Travel carries a supplement fee to be determined (TBD)

TVL 330 The Pianura Padana at the crossroad of h
Professor Orsi

The Pianura Padana has marked the history of the Italian peninsula no less than the seas surrounding it South, East and West. This has been a direct consequence of the presence of the River Po, which has given it its name and has written its history. Medieval kings, clergymen, ambassadors and pilgrims travelling to Italy from the North, or arriving by sea, looked in wonder at the lively urban centers that they encountered in this region at a time when Europe was still amply characterized by feudalism. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, it was the land through which artists from the North and the South travelled carrying with them new styles, new techniques, sketchbooks, precious manuscripts. They were bound not only to Venice, the Serenissmia, or to Rome, the seat of the papal court, but also to Ferrara, Ravenna, Padova, Verona, Vicenza, Mantova. In our travel we will explore some of the towns and cities that were most influential as crossroads between West and East, North and South - Bologna, Ferrara, Rimini, Padova, Verona, Mantova - to finish in Venice, the city born of the water but which was able to take the greatest advantage from the Pianura Padana and its own position in it.