ROML 297: The Other Europe - Minorities and Migrations France

ROML 297

4 Credits

4 Weeks in France, Luxembourg and Belgium

Professor John Lambeth

This course will be based in Strasbourg, France for the first three weeks. Students will stay in the beautiful Chateau de Pourtalès where they will have French language classes for two hours per day and site visits combined with lectures in English about contemporary issues of migration and policies regarding minorities within the European Union. Strasbourg is a perfect location for an overview of these issues and policies. Calvin's first church was in Strasbourg and Strasbourg has one of the oldest Jewish communities in Europe. Strasbourg has a large and varied Muslim population and it is also at the heart of debates about the rights of Roma in the New Europe. Strasbourg has changed nationality over the centuries by force of arms, alternately German or French, and now, with the disappearance of national borders in Europe, Strasbourg has become the legislative capital of Europe and a dynamic crossroad of European culture and politics.

Guest lectures and site visits will focus attention on religious and ethnic minorities (Jews, Muslims, Protestants, Roma). Students will visit the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, both located in Strasbourg. We will venture outside of Strasbourg into the Alsatian countryside for a tour of the former concentration camp at Struthof and to visit small towns along the "wine route" between Obernai and Colmar. We will leave Strasbourg to visit the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg and then the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium. We will conclude our trip with three days in Paris where we will tour the Museum of Jewish Art and History, the Museum of the Institute of the Arab World and the new ethnographic Museum of the Quai Branly.

Prerequisite: FREN 112 or equivalent and permission of the instructor.

Program Fee (paid to W&L): $4,350. This includes accommodation, field trips and guest lectures, French language course, some meals, group airport transfer from Frankfort (Germany) to Strasbourg, France and mandatory supplemental health insurance. This fee is based on a minimum of 12 students and will go down if there are more than 16 enrolled. If there are fewer than 12 enrolled, the price will go up.

Estimated Additional Expenses: Airfare ($1,200); meals not included in fee ($600); pocket money ($400)
Contact Prof. Lambeth for further information.