These plays will use as background the city and architecture of Florence. Class discussion and group reading of the plays will enhance the understanding of the literature. This course will use the physical remains of Roman society, the art and architectural fabric of Medieval and Renaissance Florence, and the structure and nature of contemporary Italian Legal Institutions to study the interface among legal systems and practices and ancient and contemporary social life of Italy past and present. It will use the history of Florence and its physical environment to examine how law is both a force for social change, as well as an instrument of control. There is an intimate connection between self and society.
Selves are both a reflection and construction of the society in which they emerge.
Communication and meaning are also central to the development and understanding of self. Daily life in Florence provides unlimited opportunities for exploring the relationship among self, society, communication, and meaning, from living in the pensione to engaging in business transactions with local merchants. Being foreigners in a foreign land, we can use ourselves to examine through comparing and contrasting the connection among self, experience, and social life in Italy and America.