History, Urbanity, and Performance In The Middle East

Catalog description

The proposed course takes cultural artifacts as the foundational blocks of the Levant, asking a fundamental question about how a contemporary state exists on top and beside the ancient past, by exploring three cities: Petra, Jerash, and Amman. All three cities have large theatres that suggest a particular pattern of growth over time, and play a major role in how these cities function today as tourist attractions and a geography for performances of everyday life. In these three case studies, students will investigate how culture, in its broadest definition, has shaped the destiny of the Levant historically and in the present day. We will ask: How did three major metropolitan cities that stretch back to antiquity develop into very different urban living spaces today? Why do all of them have a massive theatrical space in their midst? For the 2024 program, we've added reading inscriptions as a tool for examining our relationship with the city, past and present.