Earn three credits and satisfy an honors requirement, an Arts and Humanities requirement, and two of the four requirements needed to earn the River Hawk Experience Distinction in Global Engagement this winter in Spain and Morocco.
Cross two continents, eight centuries of history, and the assumptions you bring to understanding how cultures meet, create, and influence one another. This interdisciplinary honors seminar invites you to stand in the Alhambra, a palace that belongs to no single culture, and to ask how and why artistic achievement flourishes in moments of exchange.
From January 2-9, 2027, you'll be based in Granada, the last stronghold of Islamic rule on the Iberian Peninsula, a city whose every street bears witness to eight centuries of Arab-Berber presence and the complex legacies of its loss. The Alhambra awaits you, but so do the neighborhoods that shaped it and the perspectives of those who know this landscape intimately.
Then, for two nights and three days, you'll cross the Strait of Gibraltar into northern Morocco: a journey of just 65 minutes by ferry. In Tétouan's medina, Tangier, and the Rif Mountains, you'll discover where Al-Andalus continued after Granada fell. You'll trace the journeys of those who carried their knowledge, their crafts, their music, and their grief across the water.
How do peoples benefit from collaboration? What happens when forced exile severs connection? What can art, architecture, food, and music teach us about resilience and cultural continuity? By the time you leave, these will not be abstract questions.
