The program is offered in the fall 2026 term and is open to Columbia and Barnard undergraduates from all disciplines.
Click here for more information.
London Hellenism and the Modern Imagination: Enlightenment to Postmodernity. 4 points.
Instructor: Stathis Gourgouris, Professor of Classics and of English and Comparative Literature, Department of Classics
In this Columbia seminar taught at Queen Mary University of London, this course reopens the long-term debate on the symbolic significance of things “Hellenic” in the construction of European modernity, with Britain primarily the focus. Covering a range from the Enlightenment and Romanticism to colonial, imperial, and contemporary manifestations, we will examine texts that are either derived from or respond to the Hellenic, whether as mimetic ideal, symbolic inspiration, narrative location, or occasion for cultural reflection. We will explore ways in which the “Greeks” have been constructed in various national and historical contexts through explicit figurations, interpretations, or incarnations of the Hellenic, including the self-constructions of contemporary Greeks as response to European Philhellenism.
Theoretical and hermeneutical emphasis will be placed on the relation between aesthetics and politics from the Age of Revolution to the Age of Empire, from the early national and colonial imagination to contemporary ‘Culture Wars’. Questions of canon formation, tradition, innovation, and cultural intersection/influence will also be prominently addressed. Material will be drawn primarily from literature and philosophy, but will also include historiography, art history, travel literature, theater, and political theory. The city of London is a living treasure of innumerable traces of this whole trajectory, which we will explore in complementary visits separate from the seminar sessions. This course will include immersive collaborative learning, with hands-on practicum fieldwork experience.
Sitting at geo-political, cultural, and geographic crossroads between the West and East, Greece is an exciting touchpoint for collaboration and learning. This program takes Athens as a vantage point to consider larger contemporary issues regarding urban planning and nation-making, public life and democracy, climate crisis and displacement, and immigration and the accommodation of cultural alterity. This program gives students the opportunity to:
- Learn Beyond the Classroom: Combine seminar study with field visits to unique locations, meetings with local experts, and the acquisition of practical project-based skills.
- Make a Lasting Impact: Collaborate to curate a permanent exhibition showcasing the significance of the Athens Global Center’s neoclassical building in the city’s cultural and political life.
- Expand Your Horizons: Develop intercultural competencies, acquire skills in critical thinking, archival and oral history research, and public presentation, and cultivate deeper self-awareness while engaging with global perspectives.
This program is offered by Columbia Global through its newly established Athens Global Center, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Public Humanities Initiative, and the Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement. Click on this link for more information.
This course fulfills the Global Core and Hellenic Studies Minor requirements.