Courses in the FIG:
UGST 109 FIG Seminar
Monday/Wednesday | 15:00-15:50 | 16579 | 1 Credit
In this FIG comprised of ITAL 101 and RL 151 (Mediterranean Foodways), you will explore new perspectives that will help you become a more informed global citizen. In RL 151, you will examine the cultural, historical, and religious significance of food across the Mediterranean region, considering how foodways reflect identity, community, sustainability, and social change. You will explore how traditions surrounding food intersect with issues such as migration, globalization, and environmental challenges, and how communities adapt while preserving cultural heritage. In ITAL 101, you will learn how to communicate in a new language and culture, becoming an active user of Italian from day one. As part of this immersive experience, you will engage with Italy’s rich food culture, discovering its regional diversity, culinary traditions, and everyday practices while building your language skills and cultural understanding. In the UGST component of this FIG, you will build a strong learning community, reflect on your development as a learner, and participate in shared experiences such as preparing a simple Mediterranean-inspired meal while connecting with faculty and peers.
Together, these courses invite you to think critically about food as a lens for understanding culture, identity, and global interconnection. You will consider how what we eat—and how we eat—shapes social relationships, reflects historical processes, and raises important ethical and environmental questions. We hope that this FIG will strengthen your ability to analyze culture, language, and society through both critical and experiential approaches. You will explore how these factors shape identities and reveal both opportunities and inequalities, helping inform the decisions we make as members of local and global communities.
ITAL 101 First Year Italian
Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday | 12:00-13:50 | 12832 | 4 Credits
Introduction to the language, cultural practices, and perspectives of Italian-speaking communities in Italy and elsewhere. Cultivates listening, speaking, reading, writing, and intercultural competence through conversation, cultural exploration, and other activities. Designed for beginners as the first of three in the sequence of Beginning Italian courses (ITAL101, 102, and 103).
RL 151 Mediterranean Food Ways
Tuesday/Thursday | 10:00-11:20 | 16551 | 4 Credits
Mediterranean foodways show how Italy, France, and Spain connect through common politics, geography and trade routes. This course uses food as a lens to introduce you to Southern European culture and to examine broader questions of national identity in global Europe.
