ART OF TRAVEL
ART OF TRAVEL
K55.1200
Professor Steve Hutkins
Spring 2009
2-credit course, runs entire semester
Enrollment restricted to students studying abroad in the spring of 2009 at an NYU abroad
site.
This online course provides an opportunity for students studying abroad to reflect,
analytically and creatively, on their travel experiences. We examine some of the art created by
travelers—travel literature, photography, paintings—and consider how traveling can itself be
viewed as an art, with its own conventions, styles, traditions, and opportunities for
innovation. All of the course activities are conducted on the class website: students blog
about their responses to the readings and their own travels, post photos, etc. Enrollment is
limited to students studying at one of NYU’s study abroad sites. Reading assignments are
individualized for the city and country of each study-abroad site, but some readings are for
the whole class.
Requirements
18 blog posts, approx. 400 words each.
18 comments on other students' blogs, approx. 100 words each.
Read two travel narratives or books about your abroad site.
Reading:
Two travel narrative or travel essay books about the place you’re studying, plus selections
from Alain de Botton's The Art of Travel (available on this website). Here is the suggested
readings page to help choose your two travel books.
Schedule of Topics
POST DATE
ASSIGNMENT
Jan. 25
1. Introductions
Jan. 30
2. Departure-Arrival
Feb. 5
3. De Botton, ch. 1 - 3
Feb. 10
4. Open Topic
Feb. 15
5. Discuss a reading (1)
Feb. 20
6. Quotidian life
Feb. 25
7. The "art" of travel
March 2
8. Open Topic
March 7
9. Authenticity
March 12
10. Cultural activity
March 23
11. Discuss a reading (2)
March 28
12. Open topic
April 3
13. Place
April 10
14. Person
April 15
15. De Botton on habit
April 20
16. Advice
April 25
17. Course Evaluation
April 30
18. Final Thoughts
Contact:
Office: 715 Broadway, room 608
Phone: 998-7361
E-mail: ssh1@nyu.edu
For more information, go to the course website: www.placestudies.com
