[MGSA-L] Fall 2013 Brown University_Courses

[Amanatidou, Elissavet]

For more information on the Modern Greek Studies program at Brown, please
visit:

http://brown.edu/academics/modern-greek/

*Comparative Literature: Nikos Panou*

*Killer Love: Passion and Crime in Fiction and Film*

In this course we will discuss textual and cinematic representations of
criminal passion and its ambiguous relationship to religious, moral, and
social norms. We will focus on extreme forms of intimacy both as a thematic
choice of cultural production and as a symbolic medium of communication.
Why is it that art so often explores unsanctioned emotions and deviant
behaviors? What is at stake when narratives capitalize on violent
manifestations of desire? In what ways is the semantics of excessive love
related to conceptions of subjectivity, sociability, and sexuality? What
role does it play in the creative process itself?

T Th 6:30 pm - 7:50 pm, Smith-Buonanno Hall G12.

*Mediterranean Cities*

Istanbul, Athens, Alexandria: three iconic cities of the Levant that serve
as points of reference in a focused exploration of East Mediterranean
history and culture. We will read and discuss a number of texts that span
several decades and a wide range of styles and genres – from realism to
postmodernism and from autobiography to thriller – but exhibit a common
interest in the urban landscape and its relationship to basic aspects of
human existence: identity and ideology, memory and desire, isolation and
connection, hope and fear, life and death.

T Th 2:30 pm - 3:50 pm, Wilson Hall 106

*History: Paris Papamichos Chronakis*

*Unwanted and uprooted. Minorities and refugees in twentieth-century Europe*

Refugees and minorities dominate contemporary international politics and
the western humanitarian imagination bringing Hollywood stars to the most
devastated parts of the Global South. And yet during the twentieth century,
the global south was Europe itself. The collapse of the great multi-ethnic
empires, the two World Wars, and finally the end of the Cold War created an
unprecedented number of minorities and refugees. Millions of Germans,
Greeks, Jews, Russians, and no less Muslims, came to constitute a major
humanitarian and political issue for states, international organizations
and private humanitarian associations alike. This course draws from the
insights of history, minority and refugee studies, and uses a variety of
sources (from parliamentary reports to refugee testimonies, and from films
to literature), to examine this phenomenon.

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 10:00-10:50 am

* **The Mediterranean city. Conflict and Coexistence in the long twentieth
century*

Is there such a thing as a Mediterranean city? The Mediterranean Sea is
home to some of the oldest, and most celebrated urban settlements in the
world. Its cities have nonetheless experienced such repeated and deep
transformations in the past two centuries as to become virtually
unrecognizable with regards to the built environment, the ethnic
composition of their population, and their discursive representations. This
course takes a critical look at these developments, (and, no less, at the
narratives employed to account for them), from a trans-national and
inter-disciplinary perspective. By observing through the combined
perspectives of history, urban studies, and anthropology; by employing a
variety of sources (from literature to film to audiovisual testimonies);
and by focusing on specific urban centers east and west, north and south of
the Mediterranean (Istanbul, Salonica, Algiers, Marseille, Trieste, Athens,
Tel Aviv), this course will examine the cities as shaped by the imperial
state, the western traveller, the colonial urbanist, the nationalist
visionary, the uprooted refugee, the Holocaust survivor, and the fighting
soldier, in a kaleidoscopic attempt to understand the dramatic and
traumatic experience of modernity in the streets and piazzas of the
Mediterranean.

*Language and Culture: Elsa Amanatidou*

*MGRK0100:First Year *

 The course is designed for students with little or no prior knowledge of
Modern Greek and places equal emphasis on the acquisition of the four
language skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing. It combines an
emphasis on the development of communication skills with an understanding
of language structures and grammar and insights into Modern Greek society
and culture. Through a variety of resources, students are given the
opportunity to express themselves in speech and writing, listen, read and
respond to different types of spoken and written language, as well as
acquire an understanding of contemporary Greece and acquaint themselves
with samples of literary texts and other authentic cultural materials of
relevance.

Mon through Friday 12:00-12:50

*MGRK 0300* – *Second Year* (Shared with Cornell University through
synchronous, long distance learning technologies)

This course is a continuation of MGRK0200 but may also be taken by anyone
who has adequate prior knowledge of grammar and syntax, has built up a good
vocabulary and has the necessary skills to perform language functions at
level B1 of the CEF. The course focuses on further development of the four
language skills and provides opportunity for practice and consolidation of
new and previously taught vocabulary, structures and functions. It lays
equal emphasis on the need for high standards in linguistic competence and
confident communication skills and offers insights into the society,
heritage and literature of Modern Greece.

Tue and Thu 10:30-11:50

 *MGRK0500- Third Year*

MGRK0500 places emphasis on the improvement of oral, aural, reading and
writing skills via presentations, debates, writing projects and
conversations drawn from readings of specially selected texts, including
literary and journalistic prose as well as from regular viewing
assignments.

The first part of the course will be organized around a textbook and will
offer students the opportunity to further develop their linguistic skills,
as they encounter texts grouped under topics such as: family life,
campaigning organizations and the environment, entertainment rituals,
gender issues, education and the world of work, language culture and
identity etc.

The second part of the course will offer students the opportunity to survey
representative texts of Modern Greek literature and other forms of cultural
expression, of contemporary relevance. The development of transcultural
competence will be an essential component of the course.

Tue and Thu: 1:00-2:20

*MGRK1900-Special Topics*

An independent course tailored to the research and general academic
interests  or communicative needs of students who have reached an advanced
stage in their language acquisition.

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