The Colby Echo

Issue date: 9/21/07 Section: Features

A group of Colby and Gandhi Ashram students perform Bharata-Natyam, a traditional Indian dance.

It may only be September, but preparations for JanPlan 2008 are well underway. Each year the College offers a number of organized study-abroad trips led by professors. This year there are seven trips to five different countries. Some years there are also trips to Dijon, France; Verona, Italy; and Konstanz, Germany. Space is limited, so it's never too soon to start looking into the options.

These are certainly not the only study-abroad options available through the College, but they are the only ones officially accompanied by professors. Oftentimes professors know of volunteer programs or language schools and will help students organize an independent trip.

GREECE
AY176: Ancient Sites and Their Visitors (3 credit hours, fulfills history requirement)
Prerequisite: Anthropology 175
Approximate cost: $3000
Visit ancient sites in Athens, Delphi, Epidauros, Olympia, and Mycenae. Explore the meanings that Greek antiquity has held for different groups, as well as examine questions related to the experience and representation of the sites visited. As part of the Integrated Studies program, this course gives preference to students currently enrolled in the cluster.

Want more information? Contact Professor James Barrett at jbarrett@colby.edu or Professor Mary Beth Mills at memills@colby.edu.

SOUTH AFRICA
GE127J: Geological and Cultural South Africa (JanPlan credit only)
Approximate cost: $3500
Explore the mining industries and labor unions in and around Johannesburg and study the contemporary cultural and political transformation in Cape Town. As part of the Integrated Studies program, this course gives preference to students currently enrolled in IS127.

Want more information? Contact Professor Catherine Besteman at clbestem@colby.edu or Professor Robert Gastaldo at ragastal@colby.edu.

INDIA
MU267: The Contact Zone (3 credit hours, fulfills arts distribution requirement)
Approximate cost: $2800 (Financial assistance may be available-contact the instructors.)
Use Mary Louise Pratt's concept of "contact zone" to examine the dynamic play of musical and literary traditions in the Gandhi Ashram. Focus on the ethical, cultural and political implications of the school's educational approach in ways that consider an Indian way of re-framing literary and musical issues of appropriation and ownership. "Students should participate in the Jan Plan only if they are willing to totally surrender their personal space for the duration. This is not a passive, observational class but one that requires some rather intense living conditions, a very busy teaching schedule, and direct involvement with a dynamic, complex, and ancient culture," Associate Professor of Music Steven Nuss, who runs the JanPlan program, said.

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