Students will take four of the following six courses:
A: Art History 297 - London Museums
With such spectacular sites as the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Tate Modern, the Natural History Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, to name only a few, London is the greatest city for museum-going in the world. In this course, we will draw on London’s unparalleled resources to examine the history of museum-going as a cultural practice from the Renaissance to the present. Combining weekly visits to London museums with readings in museum history and theory, and addressing such hot-button topics as the ethics of imperial collecting and the economics of the contemporary art market, the course will help students become more informed museum-goers themselves, as they acquire a critical understanding of the various ways that museums have defined and performed their missions over time. In the process, they will have prepared themselves for a lifetime of pleasure and enlightenment derived from visiting museums. Taught by Professor Rasmussen.
B. English 255 - London Writers
In this class we will read one work each by six great writers who were (or are) based in London: William Shakespeare, Samuel Johnson, John Keats, Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, and Zadie Smith. Our reading of their work in its London contexts will be supplemented by visits to such sites as the rebuilt Globe Theatre and the homes and workplaces of Johnson, Keats, and Dickens (Keats’ home in Hampstead, where he wrote “Ode: To a Nightingale,” is one of the most evocative places on this earth), and by such out-of-class excursions as following the itinerary of Clarissa Dalloway’s walk through central London in Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and exploring the Bangladeshi and Jamaican neighborhoods of Zadie Smith’s White Teeth. Taught by Professor Rasmussen.
C. POL 431: British Politics
An introduction to the structures, processes, and issues of the modern British political system using London as a primary resource. The class will discuss current British political issues such as political parties, electoral reform, the European Union and Brexit, devolution, and civil rights. No prerequisites. Taught by Adjunct Prof. Julianna Fuzesi.
D. DRA 341: Contemporary London Theatre
Students will study the range of contemporary London Theatre, from fringe to the major subsidized repertory companies, through a series of visits to performances and theatre sites and through lectures, readings, and discussion. Emphasis is on texts and their performances. Students who sign up for this course will be charged $195 on their spring bills to cover part of the cost of the play tickets; Centre subsidizes the other part. No prerequisites. Taught by Adjunct Prof. Steven Dykes
E. DLM 310 - London - Metropolis and Empire
London, as a space, has much to teach us about the history of empires and of transnational population movements, marrying the local and the global. This course seeks to make full use of the city as an inhabited space as we trace the living history of empires by studying the city’s history from its Roman founding to the modern era. Students will connect the space of the city with broader global trends and events. The course will incorporate themes like immigration, imperial connection, economic shifts, and look toward the future at the city’s place in a changing world and a changing climate. Students will work on research projects on London’s neighborhoods and their connection to the broader themes of the course and visit areas of the city ranging from Roman ruins, to ethnic neighborhoods, to the city’s financial hubs. Taught by Professor Castro.
F. History 360 - Rock ‘n’ Roll & the Postwar U.S.
In this more transatlantic variant of the course already taught on Centre’s campus, students will use popular music as an entryway to how culture reflects broader social, political, and economic shifts in the postwar U.S. and Great Britain. Given the transatlantic development of the genre of Rock ‘n’ Roll, popular music serves as an entryway into the similarities and differences in the development of both nations in the aftermath of the Second World War. This variant has a greater focus on the youth subcultures of the UK, what they showed about British society, and how they were central to reintroducing rock ‘n’ roll to the United States. Utilizing spaces in London tied to the history of these musical genres and potentially longer trips to other British cities, this course will connect cultures to place and history. Taught by Professor Castro.