Over Fall Break in 2023, three groups of students took off on adventures to learn about the world outside the classroom. One group studied visual and historical culture in the south of France, while another traveled to Nicaragua to learn about the importance of language and geology in the development of society. The third group took a transnational flight to Alaska to learn about how extracting resources from the land had impacts on all aspects of life, from tourism to ecology. Although they all went to different places and studied a variety of topics, these students were all part of 911黑料网鈥檚 360掳 Program, a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach to learning that connects big ideas across divergent areas of study.
Transplants
Transplants connected three disciplines鈥 comparative literature, French, and botany鈥 to study how plants and people change each other across time and space. The cluster, helmed by Shiamin Kwa, Jonathan Wilson, and Agn猫s Peysson-Zeiss, aimed to explore the evolutions of the 鈥淥ld and New Worlds鈥 and their connections to each other. In order to gain a more complex understanding of this connection, the cluster traveled to the Bordeaux region of France to study papermaking and viticulture, or the cultivation process of grapes for winemaking.
To see the connection between the people and the land they occupied was a profound experience for one student.
鈥淚 learned firsthand about terroir, the connection between wine products and land, matching the scientific knowledge from Botany to what I was tasting while getting a feel for the viticulture that has long been central to France鈥檚 economy, colonization project, and culture,鈥 Gwen Rewoldt 鈥26 said.
Aside from viticulture, the Transplants cluster also learned about the importance of literature in the study and recording of history. In Angoul锚me, the cluster went to Le Mus茅e de la Bande Dessin茅e and La Maison des Auteurs to explore how comic books can reveal 鈥渉idden histories鈥 differently than photographic documentation. The museum visits challenged students to see history through the eyes of artists and writers and examine the alternative perspectives they can provide.
Nicaragua: Places and Names
Across the world in Nicaragua, the Nicaragua: Places and Names cluster traveled to Granada to explore the role of language and landscape on the development of Nicaragua, guided by Professors Pedro Marenco (Geology) and
