English 245H/400H: Shakespeare on Stage : Professor Rosenthal
London offers a rich menu of Shakespeare productions. From the plays available during our stay in London, we will select for study a group that promises variety and interest, including fringe theatre. The class will read the plays, see them, and discuss the productions as well as the complex implications of the texts. The goal of the course is to discover the attraction of Shakespeare through the ages and to consider the connections between our culture and the one in which he wrote. In addition to seeing the plays in London, we will also go to Stratford-upon-Avon to visit his birthplace and to attend one or more theatre performances by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
English 450W: The British Experience : Professor Rosenthal
The British Experience course is designed for students in different disciplines to engage in the study abroad experience from the perspective of their own academic interests and majors. In Britain students will explore aspects of British and European culture with the goal of seeing and writing about American culture from the perspective of what they have learned by seeing their country from abroad. Students will meet in class to assess and analyze these experiences from the perspectives of their own disciplines. This variable credit course is appropriate for students in any major, but some students who are not English majors may find it advantageous to work with a professor in their own department to do a project that can be assessed in Binghamton for course credit in that department. English majors, likewise, may take this course for English 450R credit or for independent study credit in an area needed to fulfill a department requirement.
English/Creative Writing 380R/Theater 389K: Writing About London: Professor Rosenberg
This is a course in reading and writing about London. The main project for the class will be your own London diary—an ongoing collection of creative non-fiction essays about what you are seeing, thinking, feeling and experiencing while you live abroad. Most of these can be casual entries; you will revise two of them into more polished stand-alone pieces. We’ll also be reading work by famous Londoners—Pepys, Virginia Woolf, Charles Dickens, and less known voices by Indian, Jewish, African writers living in London. Class will include one trip to a local reading by a London author, and I hope to bring in some people involved in British writing and publishing to come chat with the class. All are welcome, no previous writing experience required. This class fulfills the 'W' general education requirement.
English/Creative Writing 380T/Theater 389N: Insiders and Outsiders of British Literature: Professor Rosenberg
This is a course studying the literature of British “insiders” and “outsiders”—including famous works like Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”; Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway,” Kenneth Grahame’s “The Wind in the Willows” and Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest,” as well as works by well known British-Indian, British-African, Irish and American writers and artists who lived and worked in London (Henry James, John Singer Sargent, Meera Seyal and others.) Guest speakers who work in the arts and/or theatre in Britain—both “insiders” and “outsiders”—will visit the class to discuss their life and work. The course will also include theater events and visits to exhibits of insider and outsider art. This class fulfills the 'A' general education requirement.
English 380Q/Theater 389B/PPL 487B: Justice and the Law in British Drama and Literature: David Bosnick
This course will focus on the evolution of justice and the law as represented by British writers. The texts will include works by Shakespeare, Dickens, Shaw as well as modern/contemporary British writers. There will be several short reaction papers and one revision. This course will cross-list with PPL and Theater
English 422L: Modern British Theatre: Professor Clements
Modern British theatre, with London as its center, blends tradition and innovation to produce a remarkable blend of writing and performance styles. This course draws on London's rich cultural diversity as well as its centuries-long theatrical history to explore how the written word is realized on stage. Through regular theatre visits, participatory class exercises, and a final performance project, students gain understanding of the constraints and opportunities shaping theatre in London today.
Students may cross-register at no additional charge for courses offered by the Florida State University study abroad program. The list of courses below is still tentative and is subject to change. For more information about these courses, please contact Giselda Beaudin (gbeaudin@binghamton.edu).
US History to 1865: A survey of United States history with emphasis on social, economic, and political issues up through the Civil War. May not be taken by students with test credit in American history.
The Roman Family: This course examines the Roman family in its various facets. Its focus will not be only on the nuclear family but also on the broader concept of family which includes slaves and dependents.
Comparative Government and Politics: Great Britain: The political and governmental system of Great Britain within a comparative framework. Comparison and contrast with the United States emphasized.
British Authors: Early Romantics to the Present: Survey of English masterworks intended for students in liberal studies and those exploring a literature major. Among the authors typically considered are Wordsworth, Dickens, and Conrad.
Human Geography: Introductory survey of world cultures, population problems, global economic restructuring, international development, and political interdependence.
HIS 381+ Making of Modern England: A rapid survey of English history from Anglo-Saxon times to 1783. The lectures will emphasize the constitutional and legal aspects of English history, while the readings will cover broadly cultural and social aspects as well.
Empire and the Commonwealth: Few topics are the subject of such contradictory interpretations as the British Empire. To its proponents it was not only the world's largest empire, but also one based to a remarkable degree on the consent and cooperation of the governed. Supporters point to the legal, political and cultural forms propagated by the British and retained by the independent former colonies as proof of its beneficial legacy. Detractors are often equally as adamant over its negative aspects, arguing that major components of it were constructed on slave labor and that it systematically underdeveloped and exploited those areas where it governed. Rather than engage with these debates in their most polemical form, this class will analyze the British Empire through careful attention to the stages of its historical development. We will explore the major themes and events of Britain's imperial history through a combination of lectures, discussions, and primary and secondary source readings. We will also make extensive use of the resources of London, since from the British Museum to the Admiralty Arch to the restaurants in Brick Lane, the elements of Empire still permeate the fabric of modern British capital. Through classroom study, independent investigation, and extensive field trips, we will work to better understand the remarkable rise and contraction of British power over the past three hundred years.
Americans in Britain and London City of Cities: These are both upper-level History courses featuring specialized approaches to history. Topics will vary.
ART 161 Photography for Non-Majors: An introductory course for non-art students. This course will introduce students to digital camera operation and image making, with discussion of contemporary and historical work. The course will concentrate on representations and ideas about 'The City and Identity' with students producing a photographic project in response to these ideas.
Introduction to World Religions: A survey of the major living religious traditions of the world, with attention to their origins in the ancient world and their classic beliefs and practices.
DAVID BOSNICK teaches philosophy and English at Binghamton University, the Binghamton City School District and in elder hostels all over the country. He won an Exceeding Expectations teaching award in 2007. He earned his MAT in English and his PhD in English and Drama from the State University of NY at Binghamton. His work has been published in MSS Magazine, The Florida Review, Virginia Quarterly, Tar River Poets, Roots and Flowers and elsewhere.
ELI BOSNICK earned his MFA in Acting from the prestgious Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. He worked first in the Experimental Theater Wing, then in Classical Theater. For three years he has written and acted in The Reality Sow, directed by Pulitzer-prize winner Elizabeth Swados, and has performed at Madison Square Garden, The Skirball Center, Know Theater and elsewhere. He was magic consultant for the recent Broadway revival of Come Back Little Sheba and has worked at Monday Night Magic, in Greenwich Village, for the past 4 years. He is a producer and founding director of The Theater Lab. He will be the Adjunct Theater Consultant and Teaching Assistant for the program.
JANINE CLEMENTS has extensive experience with the London stage and has taught theatre studies at universities in the United States and Great Britain. She is a member of the Directors' Guild of Great Britain and has both directed and acted in many critically lauded productions in the U.S. and the U.K.
JOSEPH KEITH is Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Binghamton University. He received an MA from The Johns Hopkins University and a PhD from Columbia University. His research and teaching areas of interest are Modern U.S. and British literature and theory, in particular postcolonial theory. He currently serves as the Faculty Director for the Semester-in-London Program.
LIZ ROSENBERG a Professor of English and Creative Writing at Binghamton University, is also the author of four books of poems, numerous award-winning books for young readers and the best-selling novel, Home Repair. She has won a Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, and has taught as an NEH Chair at Colgate, at Bennington, Sarah Lawrence, Hollins University, and the Fine Arts Work Center of Provincetown. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly (where she won an Atlantic First Award), The Paris Review, and Best American Poems, as well as on NPR and PBS. A documentary about her life and work was produced by First Light Pictures in 2005. She writes a monthly book review column for the Boston Globe and is a frequent reviewer for B & N.com.
BERNARD ROSENTHAL (Ph.D., University of Illinois) served several terms as Chair of the Binghamton University English Department and more recently as Resident Director of the Semester-in-London Program. He is the author of numerous articles and books. His most recent work is Records of the Salem Witch Hunt, an edited collection of the legal documents associated with the Salem Witch Trials, published by Cambridge University Press. He is also the author of Salem Story, a study of the Salem witch trials, also published by Cambridge University Press.
