Topics: Writing Sans Frontières
This course offers students the opportunity to study an author, topic, or genre in depth and at an advanced level. Recent course titles offered on the Biddeford campus have included “Shakespeare,” “Nobel Prize Winners,” “Travel Literature,” and “Contemporary Poetry.” Recent course titles offered on the Tangier campus have included “The Biography of Tangier” and “Writing Sans Frontieres.” This course is an elective for the English major, the English minor, and the Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities major. “Spanish Golden Age Literature and Culture.” (Biddeford) This ADV course explores some of the major works of Spanish Golden Age literature. Authors in this course include Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Calderón de la Barca. In addition to the readings of the literary texts, the course also explores theories and concepts via supplementary essays on the works and authors covered in the course. “Shakespeare” (Biddeford campus). In this course, students read some of Shakespeare’s greatest plays, focusing on both their theatrical and poetic qualities. Central to the course are a set of small group projects that include informal presentations or rehearsed scenes. As a final project, students cast and direct a literal scene. Using that same scene, students write and direct a creative adaptation. Texts will include plays such as King Lear, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, The Comedy of Errors, and Macbeth. This course is satisfies the British Literature I requirement for the English major and concentration, and an elective for either the English minor or the Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities major. “Latin American Lit & Film” (Biddeford Campus). This course samples Latin American literature in English translation, which includes works or excerpts in essay, theater, poetry, short story, and novel, with some corresponding works on film (in Spanish or Portuguese with subtitles). Prior knowledge of Spanish or Portuguese or Latin America is not required, but having knowledge thereof will be helpful. Notable writers in this course include Gabriel García Márquez, Sor Juana, Pablo Neruda, and Che Guevara. “The Biography of Tangier” (Tangier campus). From the 3000-year old Phoenician graves and the lengths of Hercules to the avant-garde Cinema Rif, Tangier is a place with many personalities. It is at once ancient, medieval, and modern. Its location on the tip of Africa between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean has always attracted a blend of peoples: Berbers, Arabs, Europeans, and sub-Saharan Africans; Muslims, Christians, and Jews. America’s oldest foreign possession is the “Legation” inside the stone walls of the medina. Through research, reading, and writing, we will explore the cosmopolitan fusion of cultures and peoples in this city and the region. “Writing Sans Frontieres” (Tangier campus). This creative writing course takes the city of Tangier, a fast-growing metropolis in a developing country, as a living classroom where students engage with and write about the city’s healthcare system, health professionals, people, and the natural environment. An aim of the course is to broaden students’ cultural lens and have Tangier refracted to them through the eyes of its people, organizations, and environment. Topics that will be discussed both in and out of the class include inequality in health care, as well as the relationship between health, illness and the practices of medicine and environmental laws. Class discussions, meetings with locals, and student research will focus on the problems confronting Morocco and Tangier, and the solutions being offered.
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