Nighttime Fantasies: Echoes of the Arabian Nights in the West

Catalog description

Debunking Huntington's "clash of civilization" in our current world is not an easy task. What if civilizations do not clash and only us humans do? This course introduces students to Western stories, film and music that echo that exotic tales of the Arabian Nights. yet, could it be that the Arabian Nights are a Western creation that echoed the exotic tales that reached Europeans through their travel to the East? This course will allow you to look at Aladdin and Jasmine with a gaze, framing them in a different light, compared to when you first discovered them in your childhood. Through literary, cinematic and musical lenses, this course will explore current socio-political topics that affect our daily lives and the future of humanity. does the East clash with the West? is the question we will attempt to answer throughout this course. Senior standing required.