Travels to Medieval Holy Lands, Otherworlds and "New Worlds"

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Medieval sources preserve amazing stories about journeys to far-flung and fantastical places told from the perspectives of women and men, migrants, pilgrims, colonizers and indigenous peoples. Accounts of Jerusalem, Purgatory, the pagan Otherworld, Ireland and even the Americas, highlight transformative encounters with new peoples, landscapes, and ideas. These stories also illuminate familiar anxieties and beliefs about place and identity, what it means to cross borders, to be exiled from home, and how that can change us, for better and for worse. We consider Celtic, Norse and British sources (voyage tales, Otherworld quests, pilgrimage guides, world maps) as well as contemporary works (Anzaldúa’s La Frontera/Borderlands) and speculative reinventions (an Inuit YA fantasy account of Vikings in America, films like The Green Knight and Howl's Moving Castle). Requirements include an exam, multiple writing exercises (creative writing an option), oral presentations, and 1-2 longer papers. No previous experience is necessary and all are welcome!