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MEDIEVAL 255

BLACK DEATH AND MEDIEVAL LIFE THROUGH BOCCACCIO'S DECAMERON

3 credits.

Have you ever wondered what it was like to live during the Black Death? Were our medieval and early-modern ancestors different from us, or are we challenged with similar problems? What can we learn from their lives? And, if we could, what could we teach each other? Discuss these topics while reading one of the world's greatest literary classics, Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron, a text that will make us both laugh and cry. Through reading the Decameron, investigate medicine, art, culture, music, politics, religion, interpersonal and transcultural relations, warfare, fashion, gender and gender roles, as well as everyday life in the Middle Ages and early modernity. Also examines medieval written documents, twentieth-century feminist responses to the Decameron and filmic renditions of it, medieval frescoes, historical descriptions of the plague, and modern descriptions of, and reactions to, the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prerequisites & course information

Requisites: Sophomore standing Course Designation: Core GenEd - Humanities & Arts Breadth - Literature Level - Intermediate L&S Credit - L&S Liberal Arts and Science Repeatable for Credit: No Last Taught: Fall 2025 Learning Outcomes: 1. Learn about Giovanni Boccaccio and his Decameron, medieval civilization and its human culture(s) Audience: Undergraduate 2. Acquire intercultural knowledge and competence and apply them to past and current issues Audience: Undergraduate 3. Analyze a text, a situation, a context Audience: Undergraduate 4. Synthesize information acquired from primary and secondary sources Audience: Undergraduate 5. Learn the dangers of anachronism Audience: Undergraduate 6. Engage in problem solving Audience: Undergraduate 7. Develop critical and creative thinking skills Audience: Undergraduate 8. Engage in effective teamwork Audience: Undergraduate 9. Design and construct new content based on skills acquired throughout the semester Audience: Undergraduate Learning Outcomes: 1. Learn about Giovanni Boccaccio and his Decameron, medieval civilization and its human culture(s) Audience: Undergraduate 2. Acquire intercultural knowledge and competence and apply them to past and current issues Audience: Undergraduate 3. Analyze a text, a situation, a context Audience: Undergraduate 4. Synthesize information acquired from primary and secondary sources Audience: Undergraduate 5. Learn the dangers of anachronism Audience: Undergraduate 6. Engage in problem solving Audience: Undergraduate 7. Develop critical and creative thinking skills Audience: Undergraduate 8. Engage in effective teamwork Audience: Undergraduate 9. Design and construct new content based on skills acquired throughout the semester Audience: Undergraduate

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