Athena Study Abroad - Study Abroad Programs - Paros Island, Greece

Semester Courses in Paros Island, Greece

CORE COURSES

LITERATURE	3 credits each 2 courses (Archetypal Themes - Uses of Myth and Folklore in Literature; Modern Writers in Greece)
Small group and individual tutorials allow students to concentrate on archetypal themes and patterns in core and individually selected texts. From the rite of passage in Homer to the ironic reversal in modern literature, students will develop an ability to link different works across borders of time, language and genre. Both the Classical and Modern readings share a common concern with structuring Truth out of a world of disorder. Relevant to the students' study and experience on Paros is special attention given to the myths of Apollo, Dionysos, and Orpheus, as well as a consideration of modern Greek writers, such as Kazantzakis, Seferis, and Ritsos.

THE ART WORKSHOP/INTERMEDIATE & ADVANCED PAINTING	3 credits each 2 courses (Intermediate Painting; Advanced Painting)
Study Art in Greece - The Art Workshop aims to deepen the student's knowledge of painting by studying intensely such elements as light, color, composition & texture. It offers expanded practice in the basic concepts of painting, exploring a variety of approaches, media, processes and experimentation. The class will enhance the student's understanding of developing a painting both physically as well as conceptually, and expose the student to different genres of the vocabulary of painting, from the traditional objective through the non-objective. Class trips to museums, islands, and villages will help students learn not only about past Greek art, but also let them experience contemporary Greek society, art, music, and passion for life.

FILM STUDIES: FROM LITERATURE TO FILM	3 credits each 2 courses (Film Studies; 4 Directors)
This course is designed to alert students to the various ways in which works of literature (novel, short story, and play) are translated to the screen. Screenwriting strategies run the gamut from attempts to render as faithful as possible a rendering of the literary work to the screen, to looser adaptations which play freely with the original text either by stressing particular thematic or character elements or by overhauling the original text entirely and thereby producing an almost entirely original work. With guidance from the instructor, students will consider primarily how the screenwriter has selected, edited, or changed the literary text; why such choices have been made; and the success or failure of such adaptations. But other elements will also be studied, including but not limited to casting, acting, direction, editing, musical score, art direction, etc. Because of the amount of material, books to be read and films to be seen, and the depth of understanding sought as each is applied to the screen, one core film/text will be examined over a two week session. Students are to read and then discuss the nature of the text in class, so as to be as familiar with it as possible, then view the film. Further discussion and analysis will follow a response paper and then the film will be viewed once again, in light of all insights gained. In addition to their historical, social and emotional significance some core films and texts were selected to examine the adaptation of literary to cinematic place.

CREATIVE WRITING SURVEY AND WORKSHOP	3 credits each 2 Courses (Basic; Advanced)
An intensive workshop designed to encourage writers to discover and experiment with their own voice. The course will assist the student's exploration into the realm of his/her own creative resources, away from the dependence on learned authority or the weighty impressions of the "great writers." To aid in this process of discovery, students perform spontaneous writing exercises in class and experiment with persona, voice and character. Each week, students can submit new writing for open, non-judgmental critique and discuss in a small workshop setting the ideas and feelings they possess about writing and how it relates to their lives. Questions on craft will be examined from different points of view, but no hierarchy of style or manner will be imposed.

THE THEORY OF ART	2 credits
A comprehensive review of artists' own perceptions of their work as presented in autobiographical writings, letters, essays and manifestos. Discussion sessions will center on how and why different painters, writers, sculptors, and filmmakers structure their vision the way they do, with a view towards assessing the classic question "What is Art?" Discussion sessions will also focus on the personal themes and beliefs that each student feels are central to his/her own art.

HISTORICAL SITES OF THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN	3 credits
In an attempt to deepen students' understanding and appreciation of the rich cultural history of the Eastern Mediterranean world where they are spending the semester, visits are made to important Cycladic island sites and the Aegean Coast of Turkey as well as museums where appropriate. For each excursion there is a pre-visit preparation by a teacher or contributing artist, historian, folklorist or mythographer in order that participants can receive the maximum benefit from their visit. Primary emphasis is given to myth, history, and classical religious traditions rather than art history per se. Temple sites of the gods and goddesses are predominant, but visits include archaeological sites, marble quarries, and museums that showcase ancient sculpture, jewellery, artefacts, as well as later Byzantine and Venetian times.

PHOTOGRAPHY	3 credits 2 Courses (Basic; Advanced)
Covers both fundamentals and further explorations in B&W analogue photography. The departure point for the class is our encounter with new cultures and peoples. Projects are designed to allow students to focus on various aspects of the new environments. There is a choice of projects designed to allow students to try a variety of approaches. Technically, the class functions somewhat like a workshop where different students may be working in very diverse ways. Some students may work with traditional black and white documentary images, others making collages and personal or impressionistic studies . The course will offer numerous demonstrations of a variety of techniques and processes which students can choose to use for one or more of the projects.

DIGITAL IMAGING	3 credits 2 Courses (Basic; Advanced)
For the student who has conventional photography experience, this class is intended as a solid grounding in digital imaging techniques, but aims as well to move forward students who have some acquaintance with artistic digital photography. General procedures related to new technology and equipment including digital photography and digital manipulations, Photoshop and video editing software basics, input and output options will be covered. The course will provide a background for contemporary thought about digital images, including a survey of current artists working with digital techniques and a discussion of these practices in terms of conceptual questions of documentation, reproduction, what is "live," self-expression, and theories of objectivity.

STUDIO FOR INTERRELATED MEDIA	3 credits 2 Courses (Basic; Advanced)
The course will be project-oriented using an interdisciplinary approach. Workshops for time-based techniques including video, performance, sound, and text will be occur throughout the semester. The focus of this studio class is to create an interdisciplinary / media sketchbook (the parameters will be defined by the students) of ideas and observations made as a student abroad. Emphasis will be on the peculiar experience of being in a foreign setting. Procedures related to new technology and equipment including video production and editing, performance, installation, and web-based actions will be introduced via lectures and workshops. We will survey the odysseys of artists from a variety of disciplines including literature, theater, film and video, performance, and sound. Over the course of the term, students will develop a body of creative work using an expanded vocabulary of digital and time-based media.

CROSS DISCIPLINARY PHILOSOPHY/LIFE THEMES	2 credits
A survey discussion that explores and evaluates the sources of knowing, believing, and existing. Rather than a traditional survey of philosophers and their writings, the course calls upon each student to examine where his/her moral, ethical, spiritual, political and romantic belief systems originate: how and why we lead our lives the way we do. Fundamental to Life Themes is a challenge to preconceived notions of what we accept as Truth, and in particular preconceived notions of "correctness" in morality, ethics, taboo, loyalty, sacrifice, sex, and social and family relations.

WOMEN'S STUDIES: WHEN THE GODDESS RULED	3 credits
Matriarchal Paradigms in Pre-Hellenic Society An exploration of the mythology of the Goddess and the associated matriarchal structuring of the societies in the Eastern Mediterranean world/Asia Minor. Mythic themes and universal patterns of legal coding, women's rights, family orders, and distribution of labor that emerge as basic structures and paradigms of a world view will be examined and critiqued. Central to this investigation will be an archeomythological journey into an era far less-familiar than the Classical that will formulate a more concrete idea of the Goddess and her many manifestations. From where did the customs and beliefs arise that gave birth to the Olympian myths? And what is the legalistic legacy of this change in world view which dominated the Hellenistic order, and which thus underlies concepts of justice on which the Western World constructed its written and unwritten codes?


HISA GUIDED INDEPENDENT STUDY COURSES

Each semester HISA augments its Core classes with carefully designed additional offerings that allow an independently-minded student to work in an area of his/her choosing within a guided tutorial framework that combines a structured syllabus with teacher-approved individualized study. It is expected that students choosing to take any of these classes will do more work than in the Core selections, supplementing the syllabus with an extended project of their own. Credits assigned to these classes correspond to the minimum amount of hours and work expected in a normal university independent study curriculum. Home universities may wish to award more credit after consulting with the student and the HISA administration.