Italy: Culture, Economy and Politics

Program dates: December 30, 2009 - January 21, 2010

ANTH 448O / ECON 314 / HONR 328R

The course stresses the interplay of culture, economics, and politics. It examines how our understanding of our cultural heritage influences our concept of ourselves. The rich heritage of Italy illustrates this process.

Ascea, Velia, Paestum

After the flight to Rome or Naples, we head for the tiny seaside town of Ascea, two hours south of Naples. No one goes on this trip to see Ascea, but nearly everyone agrees in the end that the best days are there. Next to it lies Velia, once the thriving Greek city Elea. We explore the ruins to picture for ourselves the ancient city. Nearby Paestum has three of the most complete surviving Greek temples. A day on a farm and meetings with people active in economic development of the area bring us in touch with the current economic life. We will also work on basic Italian.

Pompeii, Stabia and Naples

Pompeii, preserved by the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius, affords exceptional glimpses of the life of the ancient world. The University of Maryland has made major contributions to the archaeology of Pompeii and is currently active at the nearby Vesuvian site of Stabia. We go up Vesuvius with a naturalist. We visit the

Naples Museum to see the finest articles from Pompeii. Herculaneum or Sorrento and Capri can be visited on a free day.

Rome

The great markets, temples, arenas, baths, and aqueducts, speak of the life that pulsed through the ancient city; the churches and fountains tell of Rome during the Renaissance and Counter Reformation. We will go to Ostia Antica, the ancient port, and to the Vatican.

Florence

Bankers ruled the city that brought to birth the modern world. Finance and art evolved together in Renaissance Florence. We will study not only the art of the Renaissance but also, with economics faculty of the University of Florence, the creation of the new Europe.

Faculty Directors

Dr. Mark P Leone Professor, Anthropology Department. Interests : Historical archaeology and interpretation, critical theory, outdoor history museums, African-American archaeology.

Dr. Clopper Almon Professor emeritus of the Economics department at University of Maryland. Almon received his PhD from Harvard University in 1962. He taught at Harvard until 1966 when he joined the faculty at Maryland. His major research interests have been in the area of interindustry modeling for the purpose of studying macroeconomic phenomena. In 1967 he founded INFORUM and has been its director since then. 

For more information about the program and course, please review Dr. Almon's website at http://www.econweb.umd.edu/~almon. 

For questions about the application, registration and pre-departure logistics, please contact the Study Abroad Office at 301-314-7473.