Discover Siena.
Each term a U.S. visiting faculty member teaches two specialty courses. Additional courses are taught by local instructors. All courses, with the exception of Italian language, are taught in English. No prior Italian language is required.
COURSE LISTING
Click links for course descriptions.
SPRING 2010
Italian Language (mandatory)
Crosscultural Communications / Crosscultural Perspectives (mandatory)
The Birth of Art History: Art Criticism in Italy from Dante to Vasari
Italian Cinema and the Second World War
National Identity in 19th Century Italy and the United States
FALL 2010
Italian Language (mandatory)
Crosscultural Communications / Crosscultural Perspectives (mandatory)
Rediscovering Man: Renaissance in Central Italy
Gender and Desire in Renaissance Literature
Renaissance Selves
WINTER 2011
Italian Language (mandatory)
Crosscultural Communications / Crosscultural Perspectives (mandatory)
Picturing People - Italian Art and Society During the Renaissance
TBA (update coming soon!)
SPRING 2011
Italian Language (mandatory)
Crosscultural Communications / Crosscultural Perspectives (mandatory)
The Birth of Art History: Art Criticism in Italy from Dante to Vasari
Food, Farming, and Sense of Place in Italy
Environmental Issues in Italy
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Click on the course titles for syllabi.
Italian Language (100 contact hours - mandatory)
Italian Language Level 1 Italian Language Level 2 Italian Language Level 3 Italian Language Level 4
Transition into life in Siena and gain better access to Italian culture through practical language and conversation skill development. Italian language courses are mandatory and are offered at levels 1 through 4.
Crosscultural Communications & Crosscultural Perspectives (20 contact hours)
Examine both the academic and experiential nature of crosscultural communications. Analyze and process your personal intercultural experience in Italy.
Rediscovering Man: Renaissance in Central Italy (45 contact hours)
Discover the artistic and intellectual changes which gave rise to the rapid development of visual culture during the Renaissance. Examine the dramatic cultural changes and stylistic developments from the thirteenth- to the sixteenth-centuries.
Picturing People - Italian Art and Society During the Renaissance (45 contact hours)
Explore Italian art during the Renaissance. Examine the way Italian society and culture is reflected in the works of artists of the day.
The Birth of Art History: Art Criticism in Italy from Dante to Vasari (45 contact hours)
As the modern idea of Art and Artist was born in Renaissance Italy, so too was Art History Criticism. The main goal of this course is to demonstrate that this new idea of art criticism was introduced for the first time by Dante Alighieri in his Divina Commedia and then developed by many during XIV century. After an introduction to the most important Classical art writers, we will discuss passages from the best Mediaeval and Renaissance Italian sources about art and artists. This course, on Italian literature and art history both, will explore the aesthetical ideas and the new cultural vision on art and society of the Renaissance.
Siena: The Art of an Italian Commune (45 contact hours)
Explore the development of art in Siena from the beginning (mid XIII century) to the end of the Republic (mid XVI century), focusing on its cultural and historical context. Slide presentations and field trips provide opportunities to see Sienese art in its proper context. Particular attention will be devoted to the golden age of the Sienese Gothic Era.
FALL QUARTER 2010 U.S. VISITING FACULTY MEMBER COURSES
Instructor: Amy Greenstadt, Professor of English, Portland State University
Gender and Desire in Renaissance Literature (45 contact hours)
Challenge standard discussions of the Renaissance that focus on male genius to look at the legacy of female writers and artists. Read writings by both men and women to explore the sometimes surprising and always interesting ways that this period envisioned maleness, femaleness, and everything in between.
Renaissance Selves (45 contact hours)
Discover how the European "Renaissance" saw a vast expansion in international trade, the discovery of new continents, a radical questioning of Christian doctrine, and many scientific and artistic innovations. Explore the ways Renaissance people experienced themselves, and what their culture might tell us about ours.
WINTER QUARTER 2010 VISITING FACULTY MEMBER COURSES
Instructor: Monique Balbuena , Professor of Literature, University of Oregon
Pinocchio's Travels and Transformations (45 contact hours)
Examine Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio as an expression of Italian character, and perhaps the most popular work of Italian literature. Explore the universal themes as well as Italian literary, linguistic, and political history through this timeless story.
Italian Seduction: Italy Through French Eyes (45 contact hours)
Explore the poetry, narrative and painting of French artists as a guide to your exploration of Italy. Discover mountains, buildings, piazze, churches, sculptures and paintings in this context and keep a daily journal of your experiences.
WINTER QUARTER 2011 VISITING FACULTY MEMBER COURSE
More information coming soon! Contact us at askaha@uoregon.edu for more information!
SPRING QUARTER 2010 VISITING FACULTY MEMBER COURSES
Instructor: Randall Jimerson, Professor of History, Western Washington University
Italian Cinema and the Second World War (45 contact hours)
Study Italian films depicting the critical era of Mussolini and the Second World War, as lenses through which we can understand Italian culture, art, and history. Examine the "truth" of historical events, the nature of personal experience, and the process of understanding the past.
National Identity in 19th Century Italy and the United States (45 contact hours)
Examine the United States and Italy as two separate paths to nationalism during the strongest political, social, and economic movements of the 19th century. Compare the simultaneous events of the Italian Risorgimento and the American Civil War.
SPRING QUARTER 2011 VISITING FACULTY MEMBER COURSES
Instructor: Martha Works, Professor of Geography, Portland State University
Food, Farming and Sense of Place in Italy (45 contact hours)
Analyze how Italy and Tuscany have a powerful hold on the American imagination, shaped in part by the agricultural landscapes and regional food cultures that are often portrayed as representing an idealized lifestyle. Explore how and why those images dominate our understanding of the region.
Environmental Issues in Italy (45 contact hours)
Discover the physical geography of Italy and how humans have modified the environment over thousands of years, and then investigate today's major driving forces of environmental change. Investigate how nature-society interactions have transformed the Italian landscape.
ACADEMIC CREDIT
All courses offered in Siena are recognized and approved for academic credit by various NCSA member institutions. Actual credit awarded is determined by the relevant department at your university in consultation with the study abroad office. Check with your study abroad adviser for more information. Not all courses listed are offered every term. Course offerings are subject to change depending on enrollment and availability.
Check with your study abroad adviser for specific deadlines on your campus.