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2009 Intensive Course Abroad Programs
General ICA Information
Summer 2010 ICA programs:
German Langauge 130 or 272 in Berlin, led by Prof. Antje Krueger
History and Performance of Dance in Brazil, led by Prof. Glenna Blessing
Spanish 229 or 230 in Costa Rica, led by Prof. Jeanie Murphy
Italian Language and Culture in Solerno, Italy, led by Prof. Carmela Lambiase
Township and Rural Education in South Africa, led by Prof. Lajerne Cornish
Applications for Summer 2010 ICA programs will be available in late September 2009. You must attend an advising session in the Office of International Studies in order to receive an application for any ICA program. Call OIS (410.337.6455 or x6455) or e mail Paige Pape (ppape@goucher.edu) in order to register for an ICA advising session.
Info sessions are currently being planned for Summer 2010 Intensive Courses Abroad. Please consider attending any and all sessions regarding courses of interest to you!
| Tuesdays | 10-11AM, 2-3PM |
| Wednesdays | 10:30-11:30AM, 2:30-3:30PM |
| Advising takes approximately 10-15 minutes. | You can walk in at any point during these hours to pick up an application. |
| If none of these times work for you, please contact OIS for an individual appointment. | All advising sessions take place in the Office of International Studies, 205 Dorsey Center. |
Speak with your academic advisor about your interest in a particular ICA program, so that you will know how the course applies to your graduation requirements.
Pay attention to deadlines!
Please check our home page or our Upcoming Events page for dates and times of information sessions for these and other study abroad programs.
If you plan to attend a non-Goucher Summer 2010 program, please make an appointment with Angie Shaeffer in OIS. Pay attention to program-specific deadlines.
Intensive Course Abroad Programs
Note: Most ICA programs do not take place every year. Please visit this page for updates or contact the Office of International Studies to receive an updated list of program offerings.
January ICA Programs
Culture and Arts in West Africa
Accra, Ghana
Ghana’s rich and deep cultural traditions have persisted through centuries of colonization, strife, governmental corruption, and other, often extreme, hardships. This three-week course is your opportunity to experience firsthand the enduring and changing West African culture through intensive interdisciplinary study of the country’s customs, social institutions, and arts. In the capital city and artistic center of Accra, you will attend lectures at the National Theatre of Ghana and other institutions. You’ll go on field excursions to meet artists, see theatrical and dance performances, and take classes in West African drumming, dance, and more. As a complement to your experiences in the city, you will also live for part of the time with a family in the rural village of Ho.
Culture and Arts in West Africa includes a seven-week preliminary course during the fall semester prior to the Ghana trip and a seven-week follow-up course during the following spring. This program will not run in 2009-2010.
Dance, Theatre, and Production in the Old World
London, United Kingdom
This course will present a brief history of dance and theatre in London as a venture point for experiencing a contemporary movement scene. Students may participate in studio dance classes, theatre workshops and explore aspects of production technology in a diverse variety of formats and venues. Dance classes may include experiences in classical ballet as well as modern dance and contemporary movement. Theatre students may take classes in current techniques as well as investigate the world of Elizabethan theatre. The learning will be supplemented by observation of rehearsals, and lectures by front-runners of UK theatre, dance and production. Additionally backstage tours will be arranged and evenings will be filled with opportunities to see current performances in dance and theatre. This program will be offered January 2010.
India: Solving the Puzzle
Bombay, Delhi, Amritsar, Agar, and Dharamsala, India
Modern India is a study in social, economic, and cultural contrasts. Tradition and modernization, wealth and poverty, and different religions exist side by side, in harmony and also in tension. During this three-week intensive course, you will experience and examine these contrasts firsthand.
All students of the course will be required to take a preliminary course at Goucher during the fall semester prior to departure. Once in India, you will visit centers of religious worship in different cities. You will attend musical, dance, and arts events and workshops and meet with local experts for discussions on contemporary social and cultural themes. You’ll visit contrasting social environments, such as middle class homes and slums. Through short written assignments during the trip and a longer research paper upon your return, you will assimilate your experiences and explore your own perspectives on what you have done and seen. This program will not run in 2009-2010.
Inequality and Social Policy in South Africa
Grahmstown, Cape Town, and Durban, South Africa
After more than a decade of independence, the scars that apartheid left on South Africa are still very visible in the racial and economic divides the country has yet to narrow.
In this three-week intensive course, you will explore the rich and complex social and political history of South Africa through lectures, field excursions, and field research in the areas of health care, education policy, domestic violence, housing, and urban development. Through tours and discussions in Grahmstown, Cape Town, and Durban, and a five-day home stay in the rural area of Kwazulu-Natal, you will see firsthand the results of South Africa’s social policies—and consider your own conceptions of equality, justice, and privilege. This program will not run in 2009-2010..
Spanish 120/130 in Cuernavaca
Cuernavaca, Mexico
Spanish 120/130 in Cuernavaca is an unusual opportunity to learn by immersing yourself in a Spanish-speaking culture very early in your language studies.
You will take the first half of the course at Goucher over the first seven weeks of the fall semester, followed by the required primer course "Gateway to Mexico" during the second seven weeks. In January, you will complete the course in Cuernavaca, a university town filled with cafés, shops, and cultural attractions ranging from ancient Aztec temples to contemporary museums of art.
You will live with a host family for the duration, reinforcing what you’ve learned in your daily classes on Spanish language, conversation, and culture in conversations over dinner and around the house. You will also join your Goucher classmates on excursions to cultural and historic sites around Cuernavaca, Mexico City, and the surrounding countryside, and you’ll have plenty of time for additional exploring on your own. Throughout the experience, you’ll have plenty of opportunities for the kind of casual and formal conversation that will noticeably accelerate your Spanish skills. This program will be offered in January 2010.
Tropical Marine Biology in Honduras
Institution: Roatan Institute for Marine Studies
Roatan, Honduras
The coral reef of the Caribbean continental shelf is the largest in the Western Hemisphere, and the area off the northwest coast of Roatan, Honduras, features more than 30 miles of fringing and barrier reefs, seagrass beds, mangroves, and an extraordinary variety of marine life.
In this three-week course at the Roatan Institute for Marine Studies, you will explore the endangered coral reefs of Honduras through dives, field experiments, and lectures emphasizing the analysis of the reef’s structure and function. The course also includes an excursion to lowland rainforests on the Honduras mainland. This program will run in January 2011.
United Kingdom: Shakespeare--Stage & Page
Shakespeare: Stage & Page examines the relationship between Shakespeare as literature and Shakespeare as theatre, looking at Shakespeare’s works from both a historical/critical perspective and from a performance perspective. Professor Jeff Myers of the English Department and Professor Michael Curry of the Department of Theatre will add an international component to Shakespeare: Stage & Page by offering the course as an intensive study abroad.
Appropriately, the topic for the course will be the significance of place in Shakespeare’s plays. We will travel to locations across the United Kingdom that are important settings in some of Shakespeare’s plays.
Six plays will be examined throughout the program (under consideration are Cymbeline, Macbeth, Richard III, King Lear, Henry V, and The Merry Wives of Windsor) and possible site visits include Inverness (the Macbeth castle), Dinsinane and Fife in Scotland, Milford Haven in Wales, and York, Dover, Pomfret Castle, Salisbury, Windsor, Southampton and London in England. We will also include travel to Stratford-Upon-Avon, the place of Shakespeare’s birth, and the home of the Royal Shakespeare Company. This program will not run in 2009-2010.
Vietnam: A City in Transition
Cities: Ho Chi Minh, Pleiku, Hanoi
The Intensive Course Abroad in Vietnam will focus on the social, political, and economic changes taking place in this incredibly dynamic society. A seven week pre-course before leaving for Vietnam is required. The pre-course will use film, fiction, and social science materials to focus on Vietnam since 1945, with special attention paid to the wars with France and the United States, the achievement of independence and unification in 1975, the process of reform and collectivization from 1975 to 1985, the process of economic reform ("doi moi") introduced in 1986, and the entry of Vietnam into the process of globalization in the 1990's culminating in the Bilateral Trade Agreement with the United States and its recent entry into the World Trade Organization. The study tour will begin in Ho Chi Minh City and will later pass through the Mekong Delta, Pleiku, Hue, Hoi An, Danang and Hanoi. Students will engage in a variety of excursions and activities to include the following: basic Vietnamese instruction, lectures on Buddhism and Confucianism, visits to principal historical sites and museums, a home stay at a farm on the river, a visit to a major university, an opportunity to work with a social service agency, a cooking class, a cyclo tour of Hanoi, and more. This program will not run in 2009-2010.
United Kingdom: Connecting Jane Austen's Work & World Via Her Heroines
This study abroad course to the United Kingdom will take students to the setting of Jane Austen’s life and work and begin their engagement with the leading woman writer in English literature. It should not end the engagement with Austen; it should whet appetites. During this intensive study of her novels, students will travel on private buses to visit many of the important places in Austen’s life and some of the settings or models for her novels. Students will see the geography of her life and get a glimpse into the geography of her mind. They will visit Hampshire, including Winchester, Steventon, Chawton, and Portsmouth. They will also visit Lyme Regis and Exeter on the way to Bath; they will stop in Adelstrop and stay in Oxford on their return to London. The purpose of the route is to connect the novels and Austen’s life and times. The travel will provide the context for our study of her writing and allow students to get more insight into her work that is loved the world over. The buses will be the traveling classroom, and the travel will be “driven” by our study of Austen’s novels; our entrance into a discussion of Austen’s world and novels will be her heroines. This program will be offered in January 2010.
May/June/July ICA Programs
Alternative Media & Culture in Slovenia and Croatia
This course provides an international field experience in the arts, culture, and social activism in two of the recently-independent nations of the former Yugoslavia. The program will be centered on Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, and the cultural projects in the city that have challenged the political and social status quo. In particular, students will examine and document the activities around Metelkova, a cultural enclave in the city created by punks, squatters, and intellectuals in the 1990s, and that today consists of several music clubs, art galleries and studios, gay and lesbian clubs, and meeting places for teenagers and others. Students will create a website including video, audio, photography, graphics, and writing to present Metelkova to the world and explore the dynamics of alternative media and cultural production – its successes and failures, dynamism and challenges.
Students will also have a chance to meet internet activists, filmmakers, radio producers and others exploring innovative approaches to media. The course includes a short trip to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, to broaden their experience of developments in the Balkans. Tentative dates for the trip are May 19-June 9, 2009.
Argentina & Uruguay: Women's Studies & Latin American Studies
The Office of International Studies is pleased to offer a three-week intensive course in Argentina and Uruguay, May - June of 2009. This course will encourage a great deal of interdisciplinary study among students by examining contemporary women's engagement and activism in politics, theater, dance and other forums in Buenos Aires and Montevideo. The course will integrate readings and lectures by novelists, theater professionals, historians, political scientists, women's groups and human rights activists. This course will satisfy electives for both the Spanish and Women Studies Programs. The program will run from May 19 – June 7, 2009. The Program Directors are Irline Francois and Jeanie Murphy.
Astronomy and Spanish in Granada, Spain
An interdisciplinary exploration of science and language, this intensive course abroad integrates classes at Goucher in astronomy and Spanish with a three-week trip to Granada, Spain, a city well-known for its outstanding astronomical observatories. In Granada, you will attend lectures by Goucher professors and Spanish scholars and astronomers, and you will go on field trips to some of Spain’s most famous observatories. The course satisfies requirements in both lab science and modern languages at Goucher.
China: Past, Present, and Future
Shanghai, Guilin, and Beijing, China
Finding its roots in Asian philosophy and encompassing many other disciplines, China: Past, Present, and Future is a sweeping exploration of China’s history and current social and political situation.
The journey begins in the classroom during the spring semester prior to departure with “Asian Thought,” a required course designed to acquaint you with the foundational texts of China’s intellectual traditions and familiarize you with the dramatic social and political changes that have shaped China over its long history. In May, you’ll depart for China. You’ll start in Shanghai, China’s most vibrant commercial center, and take a 50-mile boat trip down the Li River to Guilin, passing the towering limestone formations that have provided a dramatic landscape for poets and painters for centuries. You’ll discuss Buddhism while hiking the lush trails of Emei Mountain in Chengdu, see the famous tomb and terracotta warriors of China’s first emperor in Xian, and learn about Confucianism in Qufu, where Confucius was born. The trip will conclude with a visit to the Great Wall and to Beijing, the political heart of China and site of the Forbidden City, the Great Hall of the People, Mao’s Tomb, and Tiananmen Square.
Film in Berlin
This course explores Berlin not only as a prime location for German and international filmmakers, but also as a major center of the European film industry. Beginning in the 1920s and until today, “Berlin films” have attracted audiences around the globe. After German unification in 1990, Berlin is once again a vibrant film city. In this course, taught in English, students will:
- Analyze German and international films shot in Berlin in the 20th and 21st centuries.
- Study Berlin’s impact on the national and international film industry.
- Learn about important film festivals, the film commission, film schools and movie theatres in and around Berlin.
- Meet representatives of the film industry in Berlin.
- Interact with German film students. Offered May-June 2009.
French Theatre in Paris: Languages of Performance
Paris and Marseilles, France
This course builds French language skills and knowledge of French theatre through a three week intensive immersion experience in Paris and Marseilles. Through study of selected plays, productions, and performers, the course examines theatre as it both reflects and influences French social change. A key focus will be the innovations in theatre that reflect an increasingly transnational and multicultural France. At the heart of the course is an individualized project centered on one French play that all students will study. This program will not run in 2010.
French 130 in AvignonAvignon, France
One of the best ways to accelerate your understanding of a language is to put yourself in a situation where you have no choice but to speak it—but many study abroad programs are designed primarily for advanced language students. Goucher’s intensive French course in Avignon offers an unusual opportunity to immerse yourself in the language and culture of France very early in your French studies.
You will take the first half of French 130 at Goucher during the first seven weeks of the fall semester and complete the course in Avignon over three weeks during winter break. You’ll stay with host families for the duration, reinforcing what you learn in your daily classes on French language, history, and culture by talking about them over dinner each evening. You’ll learn even more through guided tours of Roman ruins, Renaissance chateaux, and other historical and cultural sites, and you’ll complete an independent study project on a topic of your choice, relating your experiences and observations in Avignon to your academic field of interest.
German 130 in Berlin
Berlin, Germany
Berlin is one of the most fascinating and dynamic cities in Europe. It’s the heart of Germany and the focal point of its reunification. Shaped by internal and global turmoil alike, it’s where the infamous wall stood and fell, and where Western and Eastern Europe now most visibly meet. Where better to deepen your understanding of the German language—and the culture behind it?
German 130 is an unusual opportunity to immerse yourself in German language and culture very early in your German studies. You will take the first half at Goucher during the first seven weeks of the spring semester and complete the course in Berlin over three weeks during the May/June summer term. You’ll live with a host family for the duration, reinforcing what you’ve learned in your daily classes in conversations over dinner. In addition to courses on German language and culture, you’ll go on excursions to cultural and historic sites, and you will have time on your own to explore the parts of the city you’re most interested in. Throughout the experience, you’ll have plenty of opportunities for the kind of casual and formal conversation that will noticeably accelerate your German skills.
History and Performance of Dance in Brazil
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The vibrant dance of Brazil has roots in both the traditions of its earliest inhabitants of the country and in the styles of the European countries that colonized it. Contemporary choreographers have created innovative ways of fusing these influences, connecting them also to the rhythms and styles of the street and using dance to reflect and comment on the history, culture, and politics of Brazil.
This three-week course is a remarkable opportunity to explore contemporary Brazilian dance in the places where it is created and developed—while examining the historical, aesthetic, theoretical, philosophical, and critical issues that shape both the country and its art. You will take daily classes in the traditional dances of different regions of Brazil and participate in discussions on the role of dance in both Brazilian culture and the world dance community. You’ll explore Rio de Janeiro through excursions to cultural and historic sites. You will develop your own dance technique, deepen your understanding of dance history, and return to Goucher with new perspectives on your art form.
“History and Performance of Dance in Brazil” also includes a 1.5-credit prerequisite course during the second seven weeks of the preceding spring semester and another 1.5-credit follow-up course during the first seven weeks of the following fall. This program will run in Summer 2010.
Italy: Italian Language and Culture
The Intensive Course Abroad in Italy offers the possibility to learn the Italian language (IT 110, 120, or 130) through the culture of the south of Italy. Students attending this course in Salerno will experience Italian history, art, music, ceramics, and theater in a traditional setting.
Participants will attend Italian classes for 4 hours daily, five days a week together with a series of high-impact learning activities and seminars on Italian culture, featuring gestures, cooking, music and cinema.
Additionally, there will be on-site guided tours in the medieval Salerno center together with beautiful excursions to many destinations in the area: the charming Amalfi Coast with its pearl Positano; the unforgettable Naples; the rich capital of the Borbon Kingdom; the magic island of Capri; and the famous archeological sites Pompei and Paestum (Greek Temples). The excursions will give students a taste of authentic Italy and will integrate their knowledge to form a broad-based perspective on the interrelationship between the past and present Italy, culturally, socially and historically. In Salerno, students will live with welcoming Italian host families, practising the language and tasting the delicious local food. This program will run in Summer 2010.
Sacred Space, the Forbidden Forest, and Nature's Place in Contemporary Japan
Japan, like many cultures, is caught between deeply ingrained traditions based on an intimate relationship with nature, and the seduction of fast-paced modern life. This three-week intensive course will study Shinto shrines, examining Shintoism’s belief in the living spirits of trees, mountains, water, the sun, and all things. These sacred spaces were built to honor the natural realms where the spirits live, and to invoke those spirits’ presence. The persistence of perfection in craft, the everyday appreciation of art, and the conscious understanding of basic design principles are in evidence everywhere in Japan, from the thousand-year-old shrines and temples in Nara, to the most recent architecture of Maki Fumihiko and Ando Tadao; from the scrolls and screen paintings of 7th century Kyoto, to the current proliferation of manga and anime; and from the art of kimono to the packaging of simple purchases from the store.
We will arrive in Tokyo, and experience the intensity of this city of 30 million by exploring its distinct districts (Asakusa, Shinjuku, Aoyama and Ueno). Contrasting this with visits to the collections in the National, Calligraphy, and Edo Museums, we’ll explore the 12th century beginnings of manga, and the obvious importance of nature in the storytelling of scroll and screen paintings. Seeking out traditional crafts, we’ll visit a 4th generation atelier which still designs and prints fabric for kimono. We’ll have the opportunity to meet students from our sister university, Aoyama Gakuin. Moving our base to Kyoto, we will have ample opportunity to explore this former capitol that houses twenty percent of Japan’s National Treasures and contains 17 of the United Nation’s World Heritage sites. We will visit the Manga and Raku Museums, attend a Noh performance, and visit multiple shrines and temples. From Kyoto we’ll head south to Hiroshima to visit the Peace Park and museum, stopping in Koyasan for an overnight monastery stay and an evening walk through the Okunoin, an ancient ancestral burial ground. If time allows, day trips are possible to Nara, Kamakura, and Shigaraki; to papermaking ateliers; and to meet with potters and woodcarvers. This program will not be offered in 2010.
Township and Rural Education in South Africa
Grahamstown, S. Africa
This course will introduce students to primary and secondary education in the township and rural schools of Grahamstown, South Africa. Participants will design and implement lesson plans focusing on basic math and science concepts for South African learners in grades 5 through 8. While basic math and science concepts are the focus of instruction, participants will design and implement lessons that encourage the development of South African learners' reading, thinking, composing, and content area skills. The first seven weeks of the course will be conducted during the spring semester. The final four weeks will take place in South Africa at the end of the spring semester where participants will complete a four week intensive field placement in a township and rural school. In addition to teaching 20 hours per week in the schools, participants will attend a weekly lecture on Xhosa culture and languages specific to the Eastern Cape region at Rhodes University in Grahamstown. One of the primary objectives of this ICA is to analyze personal cross-cultural competence and understanding in order to effectively teach learners from diverse backgrounds. A secondary objective of this ICA is to help participants move out of their comforts zones in order to better understand themselves, others, and the world around them. This program will be directed by Professor LaJerne Cornish. This program will run in Summer 2010.