WORLD VIEWS
ATHENS OF THE 5TH CENTURY B.C.E.
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WORLD VIEWS |
Welcome to Willamette!
As the faculty coordinators of our first-year World Views program on 5th c. B.C.E. Athens we are writing to anticipate some of your questions and to give you a sense of the exciting and challenging semester we have planned for you.
First, why have a required first-year program? For many years now Willamette has ushered its incoming first-semester students into the liberal arts experience through a college-wide program of shared readings, speakers, and assignments. In fact, this program is one of Willamette's central institutional commitments. It is designed through the ongoing collaborative efforts of all of the faculty involved who leave their respective disciplinary specializations in order to join with you, their students, in puzzling through the texts of the program. In class sections of between 15 and 17 students you will invariably find yourself trying to make collective sense of the texts in question by reading closely, thinking critically, reflecting creatively, and responding articulately, i.e., by engaging in the liberal arts. We also value this program because we have found that it generates opportunities for conversation between students and professors that extend outside of the classroom and across the campus.
Second, what do we mean by a 'world view'? A world view is a culturally specific perspective on reality which like a cognitive lens or filter affects what one sees and does, and how one interprets and evaluates what one sees and does. The aim of our World Views program is to suggest to you that you in fact have a particular world view, as does everyone else. There are many ways in which this perspectival quality of the human condition could be highlighted but the way in which our World Views program does so is by confronting and in a sense immersing you in another world view, in this case that of 5th c. B.C.E. Athens.
Third, why study 5thc. B.C.E. Athens in particular? It is widely acknowledged that Athens at this time reached a civilizational zenith during which it was immensely productive on multiple fronts. It was the source of timely innovations and timeless achievements that would prove hugely influential for Western civilization in the arts, architecture, economics, literature, philosophy, politics, religion, rhetoric, science, and technology. Though it transcended the confines of its moment in history, ancient Athens was, nonetheless, also deeply rooted in the cultural specifics of its own history and geography. The sea, soil, and stones mattered to the Athenians in ways that only they can explain. What is so amazing about this society is, thus, the myriad ways in which it seems strangely familiar and yet also unfamiliarly strange to us.
Fourth, what are we studying? We will be reading a selection of the great texts of Ancient Athens, understanding 'texts' broadly to include architecture, tragic and comedic plays intended for performance, contemporaneous historical writing, and philosophical dialogues. More specifically, we will be reading, in this order:
In effect, in reading these texts, we will be:
Our tentative schedule for the semester includes guest lectures from internationally renown scholars: beginning with the author of our text on the Acropolis, Robin Rhodes, followed by Mark Griffith on the Oresteia, Keith Scales on Greek Comedy, and Nicholas Smith on Plato and Socrates.
We are also delighted to report that we have arranged for a theatrical performance of the Birds on our campus staged by the Classical Greek Theater of Oregon troupe and directed by Keith Scales.
Finally, for much of the semester we will have in our Hallie Ford Museum (on loan from the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art) one of the surviving Panathenaic Amphorae. This large intricately painted vase was the grand (and when filled with olive oil, extremely valuable) prize for which all of the most accomplished athletes in the land competed. We will have one on display and you won't have to wrestle anyone nor run a marathon barefoot to see it!
For more information on our World Views program please visit the website: http://www.willamette.edu/cla/wviews
We will be updating it throughout the summer.
In addition, we anticipate offering one section in which students will bring into class their own laptops wirelessly connected to the internet to facilitate information-sharing and discussion. If you wish to participate in this technological experiment please let Catherine Collins know by email (ccollins@willamette.edu). Spaces will be filled on a first-come basis.
Accompanying this letter you will find the instructions for your first assignment, to write an interpretive essay on a historical building in your community, and your summer reading, Robin Rhodes' Architecture and Meaning in the Athenian Acropolis.
See you in the fall!
Sammy Basu, Politics
Catherine Collins, Rhetoric and Media Studies
Ortwin Knorr, Classics