Study Abroad in Rome
Are you looking for a way to continue your university studies while expanding your horizons via travel and living abroad this summer? If so, please consider FACS 2800 (6.0): Studies Abroad: The Arts and Culture I or FACS 3800 (6.0): Studies Abroad: the Arts in Culture II, summer courses offered every other year by the Fine Arts Cultural Studies program in the Faculty of Fine Arts at York University. For the month of June 2008, students enrolled in these courses will be based in Rome, Italy.
Preliminary Course Descriptions
These study abroad courses seek to introduce you to city of Rome — its urban history, structure, and multi-faceted culture — through the fine, performing, and popular arts and architecture. To become familiar with the city and to understand how the arts and architecture have both shaped and reflected its profile, we will initially approach Rome through its rioni (neighbourhoods), starting with our colourful home rione (neighbourhood) of Trastevere. By taking on one rione at a time, we will able to map out manageably a large city made up of diverse characters and, from time to time, of competing interests. We will further enrich our study of the city by situating the rioni, their arts, and architecture in relation to what has come to be called the three Romes: Pagan, Christian, and Fascist. This activity will also allow us to connect individual rioni across the larger network of the city and to open up the topographical boundaries between them. Finally, we will track the ways in which contemporary Rome responds to its history through current arts and architectural projects and municipal cultural initiatives.
Classes will be held Monday through Friday for four weeks, from 1 -27 June, typically from 8:30-12:30 with some variation in scheduling to accommodate Roman open hours and/or special events. Most classes will be held in situ meaning that we’ll be out on city streets rather than in the classroom. Occasional meetings and presentations will be held at Bibli, a book store and cultural centre in Trastevere. There will also be a mandatory day-long field trip from Rome each of the first three weeks as well as optional weekend trips to Florence and the Abruzzo countryside.
Course Title
These study abroad courses take their name from the award-winning 1945 Neorealist film, Roma, città aperta (Rome, Open City) directed by Roberto Rossellini. In that film, depicting the city during the Nazi occupation during World War II, the term “open city” refers to a military strategy that allowed the enemy to enter Rome freely so that its urban structure, monuments, and citizens were not destroyed through battle. For the purposes of our courses, however, I have adapted the term “open city” to suggest instead a place that has traditionally presented itself with arms wide open, an exuberant invitation extended to lovers of the arts, architecture, and urban culture from beyond its borders.
Eligibility and Prerequisites
Both courses are open to students from across York University as well as to students from other Canadian universities who wish to transfer the credits they earn back to their home institution. There are no prerequisites other than second-year standing for FACS 2800 (including students who will have just completed their first-year requirements in April 2008) and third-year standing for FACS 3800 (including students who have just completed their second-year requirements in April 2008). More advanced students are also welcome to enroll in either course.
Notes on the Website
This website is designed to function in four ways:
- To provide information for those of you considering enrolling in FACS 2800 or FACS 3800, to be offered in the city of Rome and environs 1-27 June 2008.
- To assist those of you who do enroll in FACS 2800 or FACS 3800 to understand course requirements and expectations as well as to offer you online access to a range of course materials before and during the course.
- To prepare for the course you select and living abroad prior to travelling to Rome.
- To provide you with a record of some of our experiences after the courses have ended.
For More Information
If you are seeking information that is not yet available on the website, please contact the course director, Dr. Leslie Korrick, at korrick@yorku.ca, or 416-736-2100 x70107.
Banner Image
Mario Merz, Un sogno nel Foro di Cesare / A Dream in Caesar’s Forum, 2003. Neon light installation in the ancient ruins of the Forum of the Emperor Caesar below the Capitoline Hill, Rome, April-June 2003. Photograph: Leslie Korrick, © 2003.
Web Design
Website designed by Janet Cordahi.