Courses
From its inception in 2001, the Mediterranean Initiative of the Institute for European Studies has sought to broaden the traditional conception of the Mediterranean. A unique program of study and cultural events, the Mediterranean Initiative is an innovative, multidisciplinary project involving faculty and students from all across the Cornell Campus. Several courses that enhance and extend the education of Mediterranean Studies on campus have been developed in connection with the Initiative.
Imagining the Mediterranean
Next offered in spring 2009.
(NES 438/COM L 496/JEWST 438)
Initiated in fall 2006, Imagining the Mediterranean, is taught by Gail Holst-Warhaft, Director of the Mediterranean Initiative and Adjunct Professor in Near Eastern Studies and Comparative Literature. The course addresses how Mediterranean writers interact with the sensuous aesthetics of landscape, music, and ritual in the Mediterranean by examining a series of readings in poetry and prose from Greece, Spain, Morocco, Turkey, Israel and Egypt. The readings focus on particular cases, such as the relationship of Lorca’s poetry to the cante jondo of Andalusia, the mixture of highbrow poetry and lowbrow musical form in Greece, and the nostalgia for the mythical city of Alexandria in Cavafy and other Alexandrian authors. It also considers how the myth of the Mediterranean has affected modern literary imagination within and beyond the region. This course has been approved as a CORE COURSE for the Minor in Modern European Studies.
Water and Culture in the Mediterranean: A Crisis?
Offered in the spring.
(BEE 754 [7540], Law 779 [7792], D.Soc 694 [6940])
Closely tied to the Water Project, this interdisciplinary graduate course was developed as part of the major new initiative launched in fall of 2007 to address what is seen as one of the major crises of the 21st century. Coordinated by Gail Holst-Warhaft (IES, NES, Com Lit., Classics, Law), Tammo Steenhuis (BEE), and Keith Porter (Law), this course offers a new approach to the crisis of fresh water in the Mediterranean area.
Water and Culture in the Mediterranean: A Crisis? Offers course highlights include:
- a Cornell delegation, led by Gail Holst-Warhaft, traveled to Cairo in March 2008, where they met with faculty from the Department of Engineering at the University of Cairo, the American University in Cairo and the American University of Beirut to discuss collaboration on the project. Due to political unrest, a conference which had been planned in Beirut was instead held in Ithaca. Professor Nadim Farajalla from Beirut spoke with the Cornell delegation about the effects of summer 2006 war on water in Lebanon.
- A Mock Tribunal on the Nile was held March 24th, 2008. Students from the water and culture course represented and argued the competing claims of Nile riparians. Professor Muna Ndulo (Law, IAD) served as the Presiding Judge. This event was free and open to the public.
Cornell Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Music Ensemble
Offered in the fall and spring.
The Cornell Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Music Ensemble (formerly the Cornell Middle Eastern Music Ensemble) is affiliated with the Mediterranean Initiative. A one-credit course offered each semester by the Music Department (AY 2007-08: MUSIC 431–432[3614], also NES 447–448[4947–4948], AY 2008-09: NES 3914 / MUSIC 3614), the ensemble is presently led by Atakan Sari with faculty advisor Gail Holst-Warhaft. The purpose of the ensemble is not only to teach and perform vocal and instrumental music from countries such as Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Greece and Lebanon, but to stress the interrelation of music with the broader cultural, political, religious and social life of the region. The ensemble gives two concerts per year on the campus and performs on other occasions off and on campus. Musicians from New York, Boston and other centers are regularly invited to give master classes on a particular instrument or musical style, and members of the ensemble visit schools and classes to demonstrate the music or accompany dance performances. Music has always been a means of bridging cultural differences and the ensemble stresses the common elements that unite the music of the Middle East and Mediterranean.