Podcast: Ancient History, Accessibility, and Pedagogical Responsibility in Rome
In this mini audio documentary, HTA student Ivana Cadetto Reyes shares ideas and observations from her recent study abroad experience in Rome. Run by Art & Architectural History Professor Morgan Currie, the course allows students to spend the better part of three weeks exploring the history of Rome as a city and as a concept that has continually reinvented itself by referencing and reimagining its own past image. The title, Rome: The Eternal City, gives it away. The students lived like Romans, staying in three strategically located apartments (two in Prati, one in the Centro), using transit, shopping for essentials, and generally experiencing life in the city, and classes were taught in historical sites, museum visits and walking tours. Experiencing the richly layered nature of the city allowed them to combine art and architectural historical information with historiography; how history is constructed and understood in complex environments.
The course assignment shared here required them to identify a theme, site, or other aspect of the experience and reflect on it in a thoughtful way. How they chose to do so was left up to them as part of the creative process.