Description & Syllabus
The Art of Travel
K55.1200
Professor Steve Hutkins
Fall 2009
2-credit course, runs entire semester
Enrollment restricted to students studying abroad in the spring of 2009 at an NYU abroad site.
Description
This online course provides an opportunity for students studying abroad to reflect, analytically and creatively, on their travel experiences. We examine some of the art created by travelers—travel literature, photography, paintings—and consider how traveling can itself be viewed as an art, with its own conventions, styles, traditions, and opportunities for innovation. All of the course activities are conducted on the class website: students blog about their responses to the readings and their own travels, post photos, etc. Enrollment is limited to students studying at one of NYU’s study abroad sites. Reading assignments are individualized for the city and country of each study-abroad site, but some readings are for the whole class.
Requirements
18 blog posts, approx. 400 words each.
18 comments on other students' blogs, approx. 100 words each.
Read two travel narratives or books about your abroad site.
Readings
The required required readings include two travel narrative or travel essay books about the place you’re studying, plus selections from Alain de Botton's The Art of Travel (available on this website). Here is the suggested readings page to help choose your two travel books. If you want to read a book not on the list, please get approval in advance.
Schedule of Topics
| POST DATE | ASSIGNMENT |
| Sept. 13 | 1. Introductions |
| Sept. 18 | 2. Departure-Arrival |
| Sept. 23 | 3. De Botton, ch. 1 - 3 |
| Sept. 28 | 4. Open Topic |
| Oct. 3 | 5. Discuss a reading (1) |
| Oct. 8 | 6. Quotidian life |
| Oct. 13 | 7. The "art" of travel |
| Oct. 18 | 8. Open Topic |
| Oct. 23 | 9. Authenticity |
| Oct. 28 | 10. Open Topic |
| Nov. 3 | 11. Discuss a reading (2) |
| Nov. 8 | 12. Open topic |
| Nov. 13 | 13. Place |
| Nov. 18 | 14. Person |
| Nov. 23 | 15. De Botton on habit |
| Dec. 1 | 16. Thanksgiving story |
| Dec. 6 | 17. Advice |
| Dec. 13 | 18. Final Thoughts & Course Evaluation |
Contact
Office: 715 Broadway, room 608
Phone: 998-7361
E-mail: ssh1@nyu.edu
Policies
Deadlines
The syllabus and assignment page give deadlines for each post, but don't worry if you a day or even a few days off the schedule. The main idea is to post regularly, about once every five days.
Plagiarism
In writing your posts, you are encouraged to copy and paste quotations from other websites, but it is extremely important that you cite your source and provide a link to it. The citation formats are explained here. The blog posts are a form of academic writing, and plagiarism is a serious violation of the rules of academic integrity.
