2009 First Year Interest Groups (FIGS) with a world language component
An African Cultural Expedition (Yoruba)
In the main course of this FIG, you will be introduced to the life and culture of the Yoruba-speaking people of West Africa, Cuba, Brazil, and Haiti, and you will see the influence and importance of Yoruba culture in the Americas. Your cultural exploration will be enhanced through your study of the Yoruba language. Introduction to Global Cultures is an introduction to the comparative study of world cultures from an interdisciplinary perspective. As you study the literary and artistic expressions and religious beliefs of various cultures, you will gain a wider perspective that will enhance your understanding of the culture of Yoruba-speaking people.
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Classical Myth and Modern American Culture (Latin)
This FIG will investigate how modern American culture interprets, adopts, adapts, and appropriates classical myth, primarily from ancient Greece and Rome, in order to address contemporary social, aesthetic, and political concerns. The three courses in the FIG deal primarily with the classical worlds of Greece and Rome, but you will also study other ancient civilizations from the Middle East, Africa, and Native America. You will investigate the continuing presence of these civilizations in modern American through contemporary artistic and literary adaptations of their myths and histories. The FIG will present a complex view of "the ancient world" – with a special emphasis on Troy --and interpretations of ancient civilizations in the modern world. The combination of historical, archaeological, and literary approaches to the legacy of the classical world will provide you with the tools to analyze the cultural complexities of contemporary America.
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Gods and Heroes in Ancient Japan (Japanese)
In this FIG, students will explore the formative stories of Japan found in the eighth-century histories, Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. What from these tales is myth, and what history? Do the stories depict mythical gods or real people? How and why did they become central to modern Japanese political thought, and important sources for comics and animation? In the main FIG seminar, students will use intensive reading, writing, and discussion to examine the stories themselves, the ways in which they have been interpreted, and what those interpretations mean for our understanding of both ancient and modern Japan. In the other two classes, students will read selections from the first 1000 years of Japan’s literary tradition (in English translation), and will begin (or continue) learning Japanese language. Learn more>
Indigenous American Language, Writing, and Literature (Yucatec Maya)
The goal of this FIG is to teach students the way language is used to record and create histories, with a focus on concerns of indigenous peoples of the Americas, cultural representation, the reasons that motivate history making, and the effects that texts have, particularly in the political realm. The heart of the FIG will be Anthropology 120, Deciphering Maya Hieroglyphic Writing, and the point of departure Classic Maya hieroglyphic texts. Anthropology 120 will be part seminar and part workshop that teaches students how to read Maya hieroglyphs, and students will spend at least an hour each week deciphering a text. The course begins with an introduction to the Maya calendrical system and the system of hieroglyphic writing. It then moves into a discussion of the grammatical structure and thematic content of the texts. Students will begin doing rudimentary decipherments beginning in Week 2, and they will learn new glyphs each week. We will study texts as historical chronicles, but also as political documents that were produced with specific goals in mind. Learn more>
The Legacy of Ancient Greece and Rome in Modern Civilization (Latin)
The civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome provide a “distant mirror” to modern world culture. In our own daily lives we are often confronted with reflections of the past, especially the roots of many of our own beliefs, values, modes of thinking, and attitudes. Were Plato, Thucydides, Caesar, or Pliny alive today, each one might find aspects of our urban spaces, political rhetoric, and modes of entertainment hauntingly familiar. Likewise, they might easily recognize their legacy in modern examples of empire, colonialism, genocide, and responses to catastrophes. In the main course of this Honors FIG, students will be challenged to explore connections between classical antiquity and the present day. Cultural resources on the UW-Madison campus will serve as a microcosm for understanding and interpreting reflections of classical antiquity in world culture. The themes of the FIG seminar will reappear in ILS 203 as students explore the development of literature and the arts in the ancient and medieval world, including Akhnaton’s Egypt, Homer’s Troy, Virgil’s Rome, and Dante’s Florence. A course in Elementary Latin rounds out this exploration of the ancient world.
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Race and Ethnicity in Brazil (Portuguese)
This FIG will provide the literary, historical, social, and political context for the discussion of race and ethnicity in Brazil. The main seminar in the FIG is Literature in Translation 226, “Introduction to Luso-Brazilian Literature.” This course will take an interdisciplinary perspective to explore these concepts through literature, film, and essays. The course will introduce students to the complex notion of racial difference in a country that since the abolition of slavery in the late 19th century proclaims to be a racial democracy. This course will also examine the “exoticized” representation of Brazilian race in the United States, set against the historical and political backdrop of the “good neighbor policy” through to the present day. History 241, Latin American History, will provide the historical context for the seminar. First Semester Portuguese will help students better understand the cultural and linguistic aspects of the works and concepts introduced in the other two courses. Learn more>
Sex and Gender in 20th Century French Literature (French)
In this FIG, we will analyze novels, plays, and essays (in translation) written by gay and lesbian authors in 20th-century France. Other media, such as film, will enhance our understanding of the development of gay and lesbian identity in its social and historical contexts. Sociology 160 will provide sociological and psychological perspectives on sexual relationships and behavior. The third component of this FIG is a French-language course (exact course to be determined by your Placement Test score); this class will help you understand cultural and linguistic aspects of the works we will study. Learn more>
The World of the Vikings (Swedish)
In this FIG, your study of the societal, literary, artistic, and religious expression of the medieval Scandinavians – often called Vikings – will be enhanced by exploring the living narratives and material cultures of people throughout the world. You will examine folklore as well as explore past societies through archaeology. Much of what we know of old Scandinavian culture comes from texts that were written after the introduction of Latin writing and Christianity to the region.
Our understanding of medieval Scandinavian culture integrates the techniques of your folklore studies in Folklore 100, a course which looks at the narrative and material culture of several different living social groups. First Semester Swedish will add another dimension to your study of Scandinavian culture. Learn more>
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First Year Interest Groups (FIGS) at UW-Madison.
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