3 Credits: ENGL 496/513, 
NCLC 495, or may be audited

Open to the George Mason community, students from other institutions
& the general public

Whether you want to study Scottish literature, understand the influence of nationalism on business and politics in the EU, or just enlarge your knowledge of a fascinating nation, thisfifteen-day course will introduce you to the changing, the enduring, and the contested in Scottish culture. 

Our format will include site visits, lectures, public and private performances, and group discussions, and you will meet some of Scotland’s leading poets, musicians, playwrights and scholars, as well as representatives of political parties. 

Excursions will include museums, galleries, castles, kirks, tenement museums, a housing estate, an underground medieval street, and a chapel where bodies of Reformation martyrs were prepared for burial. You will also tour the Trossachs area of the central Highlands, where the history and  legend of Rob Roy is heavily promoted in one of Scotland's most beautiful landscapes. There, you'll visit the shores of Loch Lomand, take a cruise on Loch Katrine (scene of Scott’s The Lady of the Lake), and, weather permitting, walk to Rob Roy’s birthplace.

*How did Scotland become the quintessentially Romantic nation? What was the character of the nation before Romanticism remade it? To what extent is contemporary Scotland embracing, celebrating, or trying to live down that romantic image and heritage?

*Why is the creation and consumption of the arts in Scotland always so political? Why is the issue of Scotland’s languages -- who speaks what language where -- so contentious? What
constitutes traditional music or Scottish theatre? Why are folk, popular and high arts so intertwined?

*What forces contributed to the recent successful vote in favor of devolution and the re-creation, after nearly three hundred years, of an independent Scottish Parliament? How does contemporary Scottish nationalism help us understand the resurgent ‘new’ nationalisms reshaping the politics and economies of the European Union?

*How are technology and global mobility altering life in this “microchip of a nation”? Who’s making money? Who’s on the dole? Are stable nation-states of the twentieth century, like Great Britain, a thing of the past?

*What are the multiple cultures that are creating 21st century Scotland? How are poets, singers, playwrights, historians, film-makers and popular novelists helping to create a ‘new Scotland’while defending the cultures of the old?
 

Requirements - Undergraduate Students

Research Paper 40%
After returning from Scotland, you will complete a 15-page paper on an approved
topic. You will meet with an instructor prior to departure and again near the end of the trip to
discuss possible topics. Papers will be due approximately two weeks after we return from
Scotland.

Creative Project 15%
You will complete a creative project designed in consultation with an instructor. Examples might include a sketchbook, a display of photographs, a video, a web site, a portfolio of poems, a creative essay, or a recording. Projects must be designed to do more than illustrate places visited; they must provide a means of integrating or extending what you have learned. Each project will be accompanied by an introduction placing it in relation to other aspects of the course. Projects may be begun during the trip and will be due approximately two weeks after we return from Scotland.

Journal 15%
You will use your journal daily to take notes at lectures and from reading, record information
from other sources, draw connections among various aspects of the course, and reflect on your own experiences. Responses to specific questions or problems may also be required.

Participation 15%
The success of a study tour depends on student participation and input. Therefore, you are
expected to take part in all scheduled events.

Oral Presentation 15%
During the last two days of the trip each of you will make a 20 minute presentation to the group on a topic of your choice.

Except in extraordinary circumstances, no Incomplete grades will be given.

Research Paper 50%
You will complete a 20-25 page paper on a topic appropriate to your program of study. You will meet with an instructor prior to departure and again near the end of the trip to discuss possible topics. Papers will be due approximately three weeks after we return from Scotland.

Creative Project 10%
You will complete a creative project designed in consultation with an instructor. Examples might include a sketchbook, a display of photographs, a video, a web site, a collage, a portfolio of poems, a creative essay, or a recording. Projects must be designed to do more than illustrate places visited; they must provide a means of integrating or extending what you have learned. Each project will be accompanied by an introduction placing it in relation to other aspects of the course. Projects may be begun during the trip and will be due approximately three weeks after we return from Scotland.

Journal 15%
You will use your journal daily to take notes at lectures and from reading, record information
from other sources, draw connections among various aspects of the course, and reflect on your own experiences. Responses to specific questions or problems may also be required.

Participation 15%
The success of a study tour depends on student participation and input. Therefore, you are
expected to take part in scheduled events. If your paper topic requires research in a Scottish
library, you may be excused from some activities. However, you must inform an instructor of
your plans and receive permission to be absent.

Oral Presentation 10%
During the last two days of the trip each of you will make a 20 minute presentation to the group on a topic of your choice.

Except in extraordinary circumstances, no Incomplete grades will be given.

Candidates for the MFA may elect to change the relative weight of the research paper and
creative project. Your creative project must then be reconceived to reach professional standards. To take this option, you must consult with Susan Tichy and submit a proposal in writing  no later than July 5 (our next-to-last day in Scotland). All other requirements will be the same as for graduate students in academic degrees. If you wish to include one or more Scottish poets on your MFA exam list you may continue the reading begun here through a Directed Reading with Susan Tichy for Fall 2001.