Time Schedule:
Nektaria Klapaki
EURO 490
Seattle Campus
Class description
This course focuses on the perceptions and representations of Greece by nineteenth-century Western travelers, and it explores their impact on Modern Greek history and the construction of modern Greek identity. The course maps the nineteenth-century travel writing on Greece, it examines its relation with the discourses of Hellenism and orientalism, and places it in the contexts of colonialism and imperialism, among others. The course also explores the role of gender in travel writing, by focusing on paradigmatic travel texts written by women, who offer a representation of Greece and its inhabitants different than that sketched by male travelers.
Student learning goals
Students will get the opportunity to study key texts of travel literature but also to familiarize themselves with some minor voices
They will get a better appreciation of how the idea of Greece shaped the Western imagination and culture
They will find out how the West has played a pivotal role in the emergence of Modern Greece
They will get the chance to strengthen their analytical and writing skills through papers they are expected to write for this class
They will further strengthen their public speech skills through oral presentations they will do in the class
General method of instruction
Lecture and discussion.
Recommended preparation
None.
Class assignments and grading
Oral presentations and written papers
