Firstbridge courses are offered to degree seeking freshmen and registration is done via webform in pre-arrival checklist.
Professor(s)
Notes
Through the looking glass, students will discover the place of wine in Burgundy, Paris, France, Europe and the world across millenia.
Wine, as they say, has deep roots. An exploration of wine, with an emphasis on the rise of the wine region of Burgundy, reveals the deep interconnectedness of regional, national, continental and world economics, politics and culture. We will explore the multiple scales as well as local, national, European and global actors who have made wine into the exceptional product it is today.
Where did wine as we know it come from? How did it spread across Europe and how did French regions become some of the most important producers of wine in the world? What role did religion play in the development and establishment of a wine culture? Why did certain regions in France focus on making specific types of wines and why is Burgundy the home to the noble varietals of pinot noir and chardonnay? How did a wine that has long been associated with being made by humble local families, come to be served on tables of nobles, then kings, then captains of industry around the world? Why do so few people have access to these fine wines?
By exploring the history of wine, students will examine the cultural, religious and political forces that shaped the modern world. From the elaboration of unprecedented agriculture techniques to medieval monasteries to public health and the art market, global wine consumption and commerce has contributed to some of the most everyday and exceptional practices of public and private life. Our aim is to dig into wine history to study it from Greece to glassware.
A study trip to Montbard and Dijon will accompany our course. We may also have occasional wine tastings.
Learning Outcomes
- Students will comprehend how information is produced and valued in order to discover, evaluate, use, and create information and knowledge effectively and ethically. In FirstBridge, students will demonstrate the conversational nature of scholarship, and recognize their potential role and responsibilities as contributors to that conversation. For each discipline taught in FirstBridge, students will identify reference works, journals, databases and/or major works in history, in order to start effective research in the field. (FB LO1)
- Students will acquire the study skills, time management, and interpersonal skills needed to meet the demands of university-level academic work at a Liberal Arts College individually or as a team. Students will value the multiple meanings of place through experiential learning at AUP and beyond in the Parisian or global context. (FB LO2)
- Students will understand how wine has been shaped by its past and by current local, regional, French, European, and global contexts.
- Students will understand the role of scale in shaping historical change.
- Students will be introduced to key themes of global history.
- Students will be introduced to a variety of historical approaches, including rural, urban, consumption, economic, and cultural.
- Students will learn how to ask a question historically.
- Students will enhance their intercultural understanding of languages, cultures, and histories of local societies and the global issues to which these relate. (CCI LO1)
- Students will think critically about cultural and social difference. Students will identify and understand power structures that determine hierarchies and inequalities relating to race, ethnicity, gender, nationhood, religion or class. (CCI LO3)
Syllabus
Schedule
| Day | Start Time | End Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
Monday | 13:45 | 15:05 | Q-509 |
Thursday | 13:45 | 15:05 | Q-509 |