GBL 267 EAT, PRAY, LOVE: SACRED SPACE AND THE PLACE OF RELIGION IN 21ST CENTURY FRANCE
Taught in English with half the time spent in Paris and half in the vibrant medieval city of Montpellier, France, just ten minutes from the Mediterranean Sea, this course will explore both historical and current notions of sacred space and perceptions of religious experience in French culture through the palate of gastronomy, art, architecture, and popular music. In so doing, students will examine France's paradoxical relationship to itself and study this country's shifts in national identity vis-à-vis organized religion due to decolonization and immigration during the last century. Course facilitation will include cultural studies texts, journal articles, French/Francophone literature in translation, video news reports and podcasts, films, documentaries, popular music, and on-site visits to places such as restaurants, cafés, cathedrals, abbeys, castles, the Papal palace in Avignon, mosques, a medieval synagogue and Jewish ghetto.. Application and acceptance required. Additional travel fee is required. Counts toward Civilization or Expression (non-literature) requirement, and satisfies one unit of experiential learning toward fulfillment of the Experiential Learning Requirement.
Prerequisite
GBL 167