Cultural capitals of Europe: Creativity, crisis and community

This three-week intensive unit will bring together students from four European languages areas (Italian, German, French and Francophone Studies and Spanish and Latin American Studies), as well as non-LOTE students from across the Faculty. You will visit one major European city for two weeks (i.e. Paris, Barcelona/Madrid, Berlin, Rome) before completing the unit at the Monash Prato Centre. This study tour will give you the opportunity to explore in-depth important historical moments and cultural movements, by immersing yourself in the languages (where possible), as well as in European cultural and social life. 

You will examine a wide variety of political, historical and cultural discourses and debates that will enable you to develop a critical understanding of significant moments in the development of Europe, as they are evident in respective European cities. Key foci of this unit are remembrance of wars, revolutions, and the Holocaust, the impact of migrant and multilingual communities, the development of a European paradigm from the Enlightenment to the present, as well as popular culture today. The unit will also explore topics specific to the respective city you are visiting, such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, the African presence in Paris, the political, social, and cultural role of Rome’s squares, the Catalan independence movement in Barcelona, and so forth.  

The unit combines a two-week intensive study tour with guided visits to historical and cultural sites, and exposure to the cultural and social life of the city, as well as intensive classes in the concluding week in Prato, where you will workshop your findings and experiences with other students. Your learning will be assessed via a combination of critical reflection and research, and creative, oral and written communication.

The unit can be taken as a capstone or elective unit as part of a European Languages Major, Minor, Extended Major or as part of the Diploma of Languages, as well as an elective for Arts and Monash students interested in the experience of Europe.