Mark Cosdon, Ph.D.
Department of Communication Arts and Theatre
Arter Hall 101B
Allegheny College
Meadville, PA 16335

mark.cosdon@NOSPAMallegheny.edu --Of course, you'll want to remove the NOSPAM bit.

Office: (814) 332-2304
FAX: (814) 332-2710

Fall 2008 Office Hours:
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 11 - noon.
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1 - 2:30 p.m.

EL 2009 - Quindicesimo Secolo/Ventunesimo Secolo: Italy Then and Now
Professors David Miller and Mark Cosdon.
Likely Dates: 14 May- 4 June, 2009
Course Description: An interdisciplinary exploration of Italian culture during both the Renaissance and today. Students study Italian customs, mores, and manners first hand in order to understand how cultures develop and personal identities are shaped. Students consider what it means to be "Italian" by focusing on the material presence of the past and the content of tradition as a mode of cultural production and meaning. Structures of moral reasoning, theatricality, cultural style and codes, architecture, art, and food are analyzed as complex signifiers offering a rich understanding of Italian culture. Through visits to Rome, Florence, Venice, Siena, Assisi, Verona, Vicenza, Mantua, and a number of smaller towns, students are introduced to the religious, political, and artistic dimensions of Renaissance culture and its persistence in the present.