The American University of Paris | European & Mediterranean Cultures

Requirements for the Bachelor of Arts Degree with a

The European and Mediterranean Cultures major relies heavily on the University’s location in one of the premier capitals of Europe. Its interdisciplinary curriculum investigates particularities and distinctions in the long and intertwined histories of Europe and the Mediterranean world. The social and cultural histories of nations and cities are explored, to seek out the specific local development of intellectual, artistic, religious and economic life, and to comprehend the links and transfer of ideas and influences between the areas and sites which are surveyed. The geographic span which is taken for study is both precisely defined and vast, and the courses which sustain the major take students through a succession of historical epochs in which culture came to be defined in these parts of the world.

Extensive use is made of literature and cinema in the diverse analyses that collectively compose the major. Study trips to many European and Mediterranean urban locales, together with excursions to Parisian museums and monuments, combine to give a more complete, immediate and personal comprehension of the material being studied.

Sources of European Culture (3 credits)

Introduces central elements of European culture by means of a study of ancient religion and of ancient and modern myth. Examines changing values for Eros and the Hero/Saint. Studies emblematic figures that haunt the European memory in film and filmic text.

Europe and Cities: The Italian Renaissance (3 credits)

Focuses on Florence as a source of culture and artistic flowering, and locus of competition, contestation and strife. Examines the distribution of wealth and the structuring of society and politics, the development of humanist inquiry and pedagogy, the religious climate and artistic patronage. Surveys, for comparison, Rome and Venice.

Europe and Cities: The Modern City (3 credits)

Studies the foundations of the 19th and 20th century city, examining the cultural dynamics of key European cities. Uses film and other texts to question and explore urban modernity.

Approaches to Culture: Frames, Practices, and Objects (3 credits)

Introduces students to the methods of contemporary cultural studies, through a combination of theoretical readings and practical analysis. Understands cultural phenomena in terms of their framing contexts - the institutions, traditions, and physical spaces that surround them and control their meanings - and in terms of the dutiful or idiosyncratic ways in which individuals and groups use them.

Philosophy and the City (3 credits)

Offers an interdisciplinary, historically informed reflection on the city and its role in civilization from the perspective of philosophy, with emphasis on urban dwelling and citizenship. Topics to be considered: the city and politics, the city and tolerance (law, multiculturalism and religion), the city and its limits (urbs and sub-urbs), real to virtual cities (philosophy, space and digital communities).

Four courses (12 credits) from the list below:

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European and Mediterranean Urban Cultures


ES_HI301	European Urban Culture: Berlin From Imperial Germany to the Third Reich
ES_HI302	European Urban Culture: Berlin From Allied Occupation to German Capital
ES_CL303	European Urban Culture: Naples and Palermo: The Two Sicilies
ES_HI304	The History of Paris
ES_HI305	European Urban Culture: Rome from the Renaissance to the Counter-Reformation
ES_HI306	European Urban Culture: Vienna From Baroque to Modernism
ES_AH307	European Urban Culture: The Glory of Ancient Athens
ES_HI308	European Urban Culture: Amsterdam and Antwerp from the 15th to the 17th Century
ES_HI309	European Urban Culture: Venice from the Renaissance to the Fall of the Republic
ES_CL310	European Urban Culture: Edinburgh the City, Scotland the Kingdom
ES_HI311	European Urban Culture: Prague: From Imperial City to National Capital
ES_HI312	European Urban Culture: The Jewish Presence I: From the Origins to the 17th Century
ES_HI313	European Urban Culture: The Jewish Presence II: From the 17th to the 20th Century
ES_AH314	European Urban Culture: Istanbul, an Imperial Palimpsest
ES_HI317	Mediterranean Urban Culture: The Islamic City: History, Spaces, and Visual Culture
ES_HI318	European Urban Culture: Paris at War
ES_FS321	Paris au Quotidien: "Témoignages Littéraires I" - Du Moyen Age à la Fin de l'Ancien Régime
ES_FS322	Paris au Quotidien: "Témoignages Littéraires II" - De la Révolution à la fin du XIXème siècle
ES_FS323	Paris au Quotidien: "Témoignages Littéraires III" - De la Belle Epoque à nos Jours
ES_CL343	The Attraction of Paris: Modernist Experiments in Migration

Plus three courses (9 credits) from the two lists below:

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European and Mediterranean Film Studies


FM_CM232	Paris Documentaries
FM275	Introduction to the History and Analysis of Narrative Film I: From Méliès through the Hollywood Studio Era and World War II
FM276	Introduction to the History and Analysis of Narrative Film II: From 1945 to the Present
FM281	Film Directors: Alfred Hitchcock
FM292	Film Genres and Topics: Women and Film
FM293	Film Genres and Topics: Cinema and Poetry
FM294	Film Genres and Topics: The Documentary
FM_PL295	Film Genres and Topics: Philosophy and Film
FM300	Topics in Film Studies
ES_FM300	Topics: The Film Culture of Europe's Cities
FM327	Film Theory and Criticism
FM330	Directors and Directing
CM_FM372	German Cinema
FM374	Italian Cinema
FM375	East European Cinema
FM376	Arab Cinema
FM_FS386	French Cinema: La Nouvelle Vague
FM_FS387	Paris Cinema
FM396	Junior Seminar

Contexts, Illuminations, and Reflections


ES_GS205	Daughters of Hera and Hecate: Women's Life in Ancient Greece and Rome, 800 BC-300 AD
ES_HI210	French Cultural History 1453 - 1715
ES_PL213	Philosophy and Religion I: From the Ancient to the Medieval World
ES_PL214	Philosophy and Religion II: From the Early Modern to the Postmodern World
ES300	Topics in European and Mediterranean Cultures
CL_ES323	Chaucer and Medieval Culture
CL_ES325	Dante and Medieval Culture
ES_CL354	The 18th Century Divide Between Philosophy and Literature
CM_ES370	Cultural Dimensions of the European Idea - Selves and Others
ES381	History of French Civilization I: Origins of France to 1610
ES382	History of French Civilization II: 1610-1914
ES384	Contemporary French Civilization: 1914 to the Present

Nine credits to be chosen from the three lists above: European and Mediterranean Urban Cultures; European and Mediterranean Film Studies; Contexts, Illuminations, and Reflections.

General electives to total 120 credits can be chosen from any other degree program in the university. See AUP Catalog for details.