LANG 3950 - Variable Topics: Understanding Self and Europe Through the Camino De Santiago Pilgrimage

Credits: 6

Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor

Description: This course is the foundational curriculum for a five-week study abroad experience in Spain. It is meant to be taught as part of an official MSU Denver faculty-led study abroad, and is not meant to be offered as regular curriculum during a normal semester on campus.

This course may be taught in either English or Spanish (variable topic).

In this course, students take an interdisciplinary approach to the study of European history. Students contribute to the joint experience of all students in the course by sharing the unique perspective that each individual brings to the examination of the material due to disciplinary formation and personal life experience.

Course material examines the art, architecture, politics, economics, anthropology, literature, sociology, religion and historical events that led to the shaping of the Camino de Santiago itself and of Europe as a continent with many expressions of national identity. Field trips and excursions demonstrate how historical artifacts that were borne of intercultural interaction along the route have been preserved and integrated into the contemporary lives of Spaniards and all Europeans. Students then walk the ancient route themselves with the goal of undergoing and analyzing a personal transformation that offers new perspective into individual identity and the understanding of one’s place in the larger historical world.