Exile:Estrangement/Enrichment

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

An increasingly dominant feature of contemporary reality, exile has a long and almost glamorous history, starting with the banishment of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden at the mythical beginning of human civilization. Throughout millennia, deposed leaders, subversive thinkers, rebellious artists as well as millions of ordinary people have endured exile at different historical periods and for different reasons, ideological, political, economic, artistic, social, and personal. In the words of Edward Said, “exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted” (Reflections on Exile..., 2000). This course is designed to help students of international affairs develop a more nuanced approach to the issue of exile, exploring its various meanings and forms which include emigration, immigration, banishment, and its various ‘masters’: exiled poets and philosophers, internal émigrés, expatriates, and displaced political refugees. What is exile? Is it a place of hiding or hope? Does it bring about only estrangement or can it also offer enrichment? What does it mean for the exile’s identity? What are its metaphorical or symbolic layers? Students will attempt to answer these and other questions through a thoughtful examination of selected readings by exiled authors and/or texts about different forms of exile, including literature and poetry as well as non-fiction works. The course may also include watching movies and/or documentaries.