AL 24010 - Images of Britain Through The Arts

Institution:

University of Notre Dame

Subject:

Arts and Letters (Non-dept.)

Description:

This team-taught, inter-disciplinary course presents the fine and performing arts as a lens through which students can acquaint themselves with Britain, the British people, and the British sense of identity. This is the core course of all academic studies in the London Program, and reflects the importance we place upon the centrality of the arts in a liberal education and the focus upon British Studies which permeates all aspects of our curriculum. All students take the same central course componant, Britain Today on Page and Screen, which examines how images in contemporary film, television, and modern literature gain meaning within a British context influenced, among other things, by immigration, feminism, Thatcherism and the Blair revolution. These representations are analyzed in relation to a range of cultural issues such as ethnicity and multiculturalism, gender and sexuality, community, and the contemporary urban scene. Students also choose two particular aspects of the arts to study in greater depth in small groups, each with its own tutor. Tthese two units are to be selected from two of three different categories: Art & Design, Drama, and Music. Within the category of Art & Design, the current units cover both historical and modern images of Britain, and involve visits to galleries and other places within London and the surrounding area: * British Dress from Ceremonial to Swinging Sixties * Hogarth to Turner: Art and Society in Early Modern Britain * Portrayal of Royalty: Art in Tudor and Stuart Britain * Trafalgar Square * The Victorian Home The units within the category of Drama focus on productions currently being staged in London, attendance at performances of which by the students in the group is an integral element: · * Introduction to London Theatre (2 sections) * Alternative Theatre in Britain * Shakespeare's Theatre The units in the category of Music also link class study with attendance at live performances: * Traditional English Church Music and its Influence on Worship Today * English Composers from Handel to the Present Day * Contemporary Music in Britain from Classical to Popular * The Art of the Ballet * Opera in London (For more details of the individual units, click on the links above.) Through the images of British culture that this lens presents, students examine the various and changing ways in which people living in UK see themselves and are, in turn, seen by others. It is an exercise learning how to see and hear and read the artistic representations of British culture, from its class-dominated past to its multi-cultural present.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.nd.edu

Phone Number:

(574) 631-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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