Program in European Cultural Studies
Director
Eileen A. Reeves
Executive Committee
Sandra L. Bermann, Comparative Literature
Eduardo L. Cadava, English
Brigid Doherty, German, Art and Archaeology
Edward A. Eigen, Architecture
Rubén Gallo, Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Cultures
Anthony T. Grafton, History
Michael W. Jennings, German
Anson G. Rabinbach, History
Eileen A. Reeves, Comparative Literature
Gideon A. Rosen, Philosophy, ex officio
Maurizio Viroli, Politics
The Program in European Cultural Studies has two purposes: to deepen students' understanding of European civilization and to strengthen their command of cultural interpretation. It brings together faculty and undergraduates from several departments in a common inquiry into the way people order reality, make sense of life, and communicate meaning. In order to reduce those problems to manageable proportions, they are studied in seminars on specific themes in European history, literature, art, and philosophy.
Admission to the Program
Students from many of Princeton's established departments choose to take a certificate in European cultural studies. Those who do so normally enjoy trying interdisciplinary approaches to the interpretation of the products of European culture, from novels and paintings to cityscapes and land-use patterns. Most of them read one or more European language comfortably. To enter the program, students should take either the Humanistic Studies 216-219 sequence or ECS 209. From 2008 onward, ECS 301 and 302 will take the place of ECS 209. In the course of the spring term of the sophomore year, they should submit a formal application to join the program.
Program of Study
All students must have completed HUM 216-219 or taken ECS 209, 301, or 302. In addition, students must also take two 300-level seminars, and they are encouraged to enroll in a 400-level seminar. Most seminars are taught by professors from two different departments.
The program has two final requirements. In their junior year students will attend a colloquium and participate in a work group on a specific topic. The work group will bring the juniors together for discussion of a theme, a problem, or a work of art under the guidance of a distinguished visiting scholar. Recent topics have included: "Translating Tradition: Pope and Homer," "Reading Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell," and "Visual Representation in the 18th Century."
In their senior year students will participate in a thesis writers' colloquium. Although they write their thesis under the direction of their home departments, they will meet together at regular intervals in the early spring to discuss common problems of research, conceptualization, organization, and writing. Each student will make a work-in-progress report and submit a chapter to the group for criticism.
Certificate of Proficiency
Students who fulfill all the requirements will receive a certificate upon graduation.
Courses
ECS 301 Turning Points in European Culture (also EPS 301) Fall HA
Seminar draws on expertise of guest faculty from Princeton and elsewhere to provide a broad, multidisciplinary perspective on turning points in European culture from the late middle ages to the present. Gateway course for ECS and Contemporary European Politics and Society. Topics in literature, art, music, philosophy, political theory, history of science. One three-hour seminar. B. Doherty
ECS 302 Landmarks of European Identity (see EPS 302)
ECS 320 Cultural Systems Spring
Symbolic systems and social life in specific historical eras. Topics will vary. Recent courses include, for example, magic, art, and science in Renaissance culture, political discourse and nationalism, culture and inequality, history of technology, and the rhetoric of new media. Staff
ECS 321 Cultural Systems (also HUM 321) Fall LA
Symbolic systems and social life in specific historical eras. Topics will vary. Recent courses include, for example, magic, art, and science in Renaissance culture, political discourse and nationalism, culture and inequality, history of technology, and the rhetoric of new media. R. Gallo
ECS 330 Communication and the Arts (also COM 321) Spring LA
The arts and the media in different cultures. Topics will vary, for example, history of the book, art/architecture and society, opera and nationalism, literature and photography, theater and politics. E. Reeves
ECS 331 Communication and the Arts Spring LA
The arts and the media in different cultures. Topics will vary, for example, history of the book, art/architecture and society, opera and nationalism, literature and photography, theater and politics. Staff
ECS 340 Literature and Photography (also COM 340) Spring LA
A survey of the history of the rapport between literature and photography, looking closely at a number of literary and theoretical texts that differently address questions central to both literature and photography: questions about the nature of representation, reproduction, memory and forgetting, history, images, perception, and knowledge. One three-hour seminar. E. Cadava
ECS 370 Weimar Germany: Painting, Photography, Film (see GER 370)
ECS 450 Seminar. 19th-Century European Art (see ART 450)