Spring 2008 Semester in Prague

Course Descriptions

FNAR 128/228. Visual Literacy Through Computer-Generated Art

This course offers conceptual tools with which to interpret and evaluate imagery adn iconography and its impact on information and communication. As a "hands-on" course, students are required to apply understanding of concepts using computer generate art. Students will learn and use a basic working knowledge of skills in Photoshop while generating their artwork. This course is essential in the development of visual literacy and graphic design awareness which uses the ability to read and interpret images . FNAR 128/228 in Prague will focus on how images reflect our society's thinking and value system. The student must purchase all personal and expendable art material.

FNAR 204. The Artistic Process

"The Artistic Process" : provides a study-abroad expereince at an undergraduate, lower-level which surveys works of art and architecture. The close relationship between art and it cultural contexts is examined by studying works of art in their original locations. Depending on where in the world this course is taught, the emphasis of FNAR 204 addresses specific aspects of the artist's culture: history, politics, religion, science and technology, while investigating more subjective influences: an artist's training, use of materials, personal psychology. The course requires hands-on participation in the form of sketchbooks, journals, digital photographing, and a final project using images as storytelling.

MUSC 205. Genre and Genius: collaboration and Transcendence in Movie Music

The course is intended to give students a greater appreciation of cinema by exploring the concept of 'genre' in movie music. For the purposes of the Semester in Prague course, we will look at several internationally acclaimed movies from various culturally specific perspectives, and examine the significance of music in movies.

MUSC 306. WI: Global Transformations: "World Music" and the "World"

In this course we will examine the ways in which various world music practices and genres exemplify processes of global transformations. While often regarded as "pure" entertainment, a leisure activity
serving to distract and remove one from the reality of everyday life, music provides powerful modes of interaction within and across cultures. Music also often serves as a metaphor and a first indicator of social and political transformations. Some of the questions we will address in this class include: What is globalization and how is it expressed in world music? How does music production across the world influence (and is influenced by) various aspects of globalization? In what ways are musical practices heralding social and political shifts in today's world?

IDST 395. European Development and European Thinking

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IDST 395. Psychology of Culture and Art

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