Interdisciplinary Mediterranean Studies

Each student will complete an intensive Italian Language and Culture course. By beginning the term with an intensive 4-week Italian Language and Culture course, students are prepared for more meaningful engagement with their environment. Students will explore Italy’s history, culture, and language, both through lectures and local site visits. By developing an understanding of the unique historical and cultural context of Sicily as well as key Italian words and phrases, students are empowered to interact with the local community in a respectful and meaningful way. With this groundwork in place, students will be set up for success to engage with all that Sicily has to offer and to set themselves apart by completing their MADE program. Italian classes are offered at all levels, from A1-C2, and a placement exam is offered online, pre-departure. Detailed descriptions for each level of Italian language can be found below.

This course is required for all MADE semester study abroad students.

The Directed Undergraduate Research course provides MADE students with a foundation in interdisciplinary research methodologies and theoretical frameworks. Through ethical data collection, qualitative and quantitative methods, and literary reviews, students develop research skills. With mentorship from industry experts, they pursue individual projects, integrating Sicily’s unique resources.

Unraveling Cartographies is a field research-based course combining art and alternative mapping methods to explore human impact on the environment. Focusing on the Augusta-Priolo-Melilli area, students will use sensory art and participatory cartography to map landscapes, memories, and socio-political dynamics, culminating in a collective publication or multimedia installation.

Food serves as a link between the body and the landscape, shaping our connection to the environment. This site-based course explores sustainable food practices in contemporary Sicily, including local production, zero waste, and organic agriculture. Students analyze sustainability from multiple perspectives and develop a personal creative narrative, contributing to a collective experiential dinner design.

This course explores visual culture through decolonial and postcolonial theory, focusing on iconography to interrogate contemporary imagery. It includes visits to key historical and cultural sites in Siracusa, adopting a multipolar approach to understanding its role in modern history. Students will analyze and challenge dominant visual narratives, exploring their role in collective memory and identity.

The course invites students to explore Sicily's dynamic entrepreneurial landscape, focusing on the development of small businesses within local creative industries. Through readings, discussions, and field visits, students will examine how Sicily’s unique geographic, historical, and cultural context shapes innovation, addressing sustainability and business growth.

This course examines photography as a narrative tool for documenting landscape transformation in Sicily, with a focus on Siracusa and its socio-political context. Through walking, creative writing, and drawing, students will develop photography projects culminating in a collective publication or exhibition.

This interdisciplinary course blends volcanology, geology, and landscape photography to explore Sicily's active volcanoes: Mount Etna, Stromboli, and Vulcano. Students will engage in field expeditions, scientific observation, and artistic documentation, developing a photographic series that combines geological analysis with visual storytelling.

This course blends anthropology and art, focusing on the relationship between humans, the environment, and future imaginaries. It explores Mediterranean anthropology, fieldwork methods, and the impact of civilizations on the environment. Students will engage in a creative workshop, using their chosen medium to envision the Mediterranean of tomorrow, blending history and imagination.

This interdisciplinary course introduces Sicily's history and people through the lens of Migration Studies, examining its geographic, historical, philosophical, and political contexts. Through lectures and experiential workshops, students will critically analyze Sicily's role as a contested space, its migration legacy, and its relevance in shaping global dynamics.

This course explores the history of the Mafia, focusing on its cultural representations in cinema, art, and literature. Students will critically analyze historical events, figures, and narratives, examining how they’ve been mythologized in media. The course includes research on a specific Mafia figure and culminates in a creative "Impossible Interview" to reinterpret historical narratives and perspectives.