Citizenship

Trip Overview

What does it mean to be a citizen? In what ways have literature, history, art, and architecture served as vehicles for the formation of civic identities? How does one become a good citizen? 

Italy, with its complex history shaped by many different peoples, is an ideal place for students to explore using these questions as a framework. In this trip we will focus on Rome, Florence, Venice, and Milan. We’ll make interdisciplinary connections across ancient, medieval, renaissance, and modern periods. By visiting places in which texts they’ve read in their classes at Hackley are set, students will also connect page to place. We’ll learn about many different citizens and non-citizens, including immigrants, enslaved persons, and those marginalized in their time. In addition to immersing ourselves in a variety of iconic sites and museums, students will use discussion and journaling to reflect on their experience and on the questions above. To that end, this website will serve as a online journal during the trip, and students will take the lead on publishing updates every day while we’re abroad. 

This interdisciplinary builds closely on our current curriculum in Classics, English, and Art History. It also aligns closely with the goals of the Casten program and Hackley’s mission, namely “to learn from the varying perspectives and backgrounds in our community and the world.”