Honors Dialogue of Civilizations

Ancient Forests: Legal and Philosophical Perspectives (Summer 1)

Professor Andrew J. Haile (School of Law) and Professor Meica Magnani (Philosophy and Computer Science, CSSH)

This Dialogue explores legal and philosophical frameworks for protecting “old growth” forest—woods that have never been logged since European settlement of North America. Combining an overview of key environmental laws and a philosophical exploration of foundational questions in environmental ethics, the trip will immerse students in the magic of ancient forests. We will study indigenous approaches to conservation and take a deep dive on the “timber wars” in the Pacific Northwest as a precursor to modern culture wars. The Dialogue will take place in British Columbia in western Canada (Vancouver and Vancouver Island) and the Olympic peninsula in Washington state and will include a 5-day guided backpacking trip into Olympic National Park, home to one of the largest intact old growth forests in the country.

---

Climate Science, Engineering Adaptation, and Policy in Emerging Economies (Summer 1)

Professor Auroop R. Ganguly (Civil and Environmental Engineering, COE)

Climate change has been called the defining challenge of our era. While this grand challenge is global, the magnitude of the challenge is especially intense in emerging economies. This course will study the scientific basis, impacts and adaptation, as well as mitigation related to climate change, with a focus on emerging economies. Transformative solutions such as AI and data sciences will be discussed, along with principles in natural and engineering sciences as well as social sciences and policy. The 2024 program with travel to Bangkok in Thailand, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, as well as Jakarta and Bali in Indonesia, idyllic places where a diverse tapestry of history, culture, customs, religion, and lifestyles intersect.

---

Novel Antibiotic Discovery and Landscape Photography in Chile (Summer 2)

Professor Veronica Godoy-Carter (Biology and Biochemistry, COS) and Professor Joey Morris (Art and Design)

This Dialogue will cultivate two ways of seeing and pursue two fields of endeavorfor which the extreme environment of the Atacama are uniquely suited: microbial sampling and landscape photography. The world’s oldest desert and one of the driest on earth offer the chance to sample novel bacteria, enhancing our knowledge of bacterial diversity, plant associated bacteria (whenever plants are found) that could potentially aid plant growth in dry and salty environments, and potentially the discovery of new antibiotics. We will also visit oasis in which we will sample soil and plant associated bacteria to learn whether these are the same or different to the ones isolated in the drier areas. Later in the Dialogue, the samples will be analyzed using molecular methods. In parallel with their microscopic investigations, students will also learn how to view and capture the otherworldly landscape on film. San Pedro de Atacama with some of the most beautiful and unusual settings in the world, as well as unparalleled views of the stars. Students will thus learn to see their surroundings anew at both the micro and the macroscale.​​​​​​​

---

Finding Refuge in the World and the Self: Asylum and Refugee Law and the History and Practice of Mindfulness Meditation (Summer 2)

Professor Elizabeth Knowles (School of Law)

This Dialogue explores asylum and refugee law, and the practice of mindfulness and meditation through the lens of Thailand’s unique history, culture, and geography. This program will introduce honors students to the human rights framework of asylum in the United States and provide opportunities to become familiar with the history of Myanmar and Cambodian refugees in Thailand, visit UNHCR and refugee assistance orgs, and learn about issues affecting the large refugee population in Thailand. We will also explore the practice of mindfulness and meditation in Thailand from a secular perspective, immersing ourselves in the rich landscape and history of Thailand to illustrate and bring to life the practice of meditation in temples and monasteries and how these practices were brought to the West.

In this course, students explore the practice of mindfulness and engage in various practices for cultivating compassion and present moment awareness. We will visit Thich Nhat Hahn’s meditation center near Khao Yai National Park and learn from readings and engagement in meditation opportunities locally. We will also explore the benefits of mindfulness meditation for students and professionals and explore readings from Western mindfulness leaders.

Ancient Forests: Legal and Philosophical Perspectives (Summer 1)

Professor Andrew John Haile, School of Law & Professor Meica Magnani, Philosophy and Religion, CSSH

This Dialogue explores legal and philosophical frameworks for protecting “old-growth” forests—woods that have never been logged since the European settlement of North America. Combining an overview of key environmental laws and a philosophical exploration of foundational questions in environmental ethics, the trip will immerse students in the magic of ancient forests. We will study indigenous approaches to conservation and take a deep dive into the “timber wars” in the Pacific Northwest as a precursor to modern culture wars. The Dialogue will take place in British Columbia in western Canada (Vancouver and Vancouver Island) and the Olympic peninsula in Washington state and will include a 5-day guided backpacking trip into Olympic National Park, home to one of the largest intact old-growth forests in the country.

---

Storytelling, Landscape & Contested Identities in the North of Ireland (Summer 1)

Michael Patrick MacDonald, Honors Professor of the Practice

Join us for a trip through lush glens and along the rugged coastline of Ireland, North and South, with stays in urban Dublin, Derry, and Belfast as well as in the rural Donegal area where Gaelic is still a first language. We will take excursions to places such as the Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery and the Antrim Coast. Through visual art, music, poetry, story, and even political testimony, we will witness how the primary cultural, social, and political life of this island is bound up in the esteemed position of the Storyteller. This dialogue will look at the role of storytelling in both the landscape and the contested identities of “Northern Ireland” in particular. The dialogue will be informed by an understanding of the social, political, and geographic history of Ireland and the role of story in establishing political and social worldviews in a colonized country. Students will read, write about, and discuss the social, political, and geographic history of the island of Ireland, North and South, with an eye on colonization, trauma, and recovery, as well as the role of storytelling as a way to make sense of one’s world, to connect with one another and to the bigger picture, as well as its role in asserting either pride and resistance, or power and dominance.

---

Novel Antibiotic Discovery and Landscape Photography in Chile (Summer 2)

Professor Veronica Godoy-Carter, Biology, COS

This Dialogue will cultivate two ways of seeing and pursue two fields of endeavor for which the extreme environment of the Atacama is uniquely suited: microbial sampling and landscape photography. The world’s oldest and driest desert on earth offer the chance to sample novel bacteria, enhancing our knowledge of bacterial diversity, plant associated bacteria (whenever plants are found) that could potentially aid plant growth in dry and salty environments, and potentially the discovery of new antibiotics. Samples will be analyzed using molecular methods. In parallel students will learn how to view and capture the otherworldly landscape on film. San Pedro de Atacama has some of the most beautiful and unusual settings in the world, as well as unparalleled views of the stars. Students will learn to see their surroundings anew at both the micro and the macro scale.

---

Climate Science, Engineering, and Policy (Summer 2)

Professor Auroop Ganguly, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, COE

From the Taj Mahal in Agra to the world’s highest mountain peaks near Kathmandu, from the Little Tibet of Leh in Ladakh to the houseboats in the backwaters of Kerala, from the ancient capital city of Delhi to the beautiful beaches of Kovalam, we will travel across Nepal and India from the high Himalayas in the north to the Indian Ocean in the south during the Summer Monsoon season as we learn about climate change in emerging economies. We will learn about the sciences, engineering, data sciences, social sciences, public health, and policy aspects of climate change as well as how resilience can be developed across multiple sectors ranging from water, energy and food resources to critical infrastructures and hazards management. We will discover adaptation and mitigation through role playing exercises called climate war games, and frugal innovation (such as India’s Mars mission which it is said cost less than the production cost of the movie Gravity) through experiential learning. We will explore cultures ranging from Tibetan Buddhism practiced in Ladakh to one of the oldest form of Christianty in Kerala, an amalgamation of Hindu and Islamic traditions and architectures in Delhi and in Kovalam, the tradition of Tantric Hinduism including the worship of the Mother Goddess in Nepal, and an ethos that passionately welcomed persecuted minorities including the Zoroastrains and the Jewish peoples. We will learn about a culture that developed the concept of zero and the decimal system, arguably the world’s first urban civilization, and Golden Age economies that were the envy of the contemporary world, but which also let itself be devastated by divisive forces within and inconceivably cynical destructive forces without, only to gradually attempt to rise again from the ashes post Independence in 1947.

---

Italy: 2000 Years of Innovation and Inspiration

Prof. Carey Rappaport, Electrical and Computer Engineering, COE
Dr. Jonna Iacono, Director, University Scholars Program

There is an old saying that “All roads lead to Rome.” The saying is both a material fact – about an imperial infrastructure designed and built to lead towards Rome – and an important metaphor – about how many Western cultures and people have looked to the innovations of Rome and Italy more broadly as a source of inspiration on their own journeys into becoming.

In these two courses, we’ll contemplate both the fact and the metaphor. In one course, focused on engineering, we’ll explore Italian technological innovation in science and engineering. From Roman aqueduct design to Renaissance construction techniques, to present day gravitational-wave sensing, we will examine with a critical eye Italian scientific contributions and place them in their historical context. A particular focus will be on the constantly evolving ways of looking skyward, from imperial sundials to the first telescopes, to 21st century satellite communication. And, in the other, focused on literature and culture, we’ll analyze consider the ways that visitors to Italy, some of America’s leading writers and thinkers, have seen what we will be seeing and used Italian inspiration to reinvent themselves and create new ideas about race, class, gender, sexuality, and what it means to be American. Using these artists as guides, we’ll consider how we travel and why, producing our own travel narratives along the way.

---

Happiness and Sustainability in the Nordics: Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Norway and Iceland

Professor Yakov Bart, DMSB

The US Declaration of Independence affirms that every person has the right to “the pursuit of happiness,” and many other countries are monitoring the happiness of their citizens as a key parameter for progress. At the same time, sustainability has often been framed as implying a way of life that could compromise freedom of choice and constrain individual lifestyles. This notion implies that sustainable living and happiness are inherently incompatible: since people want healthy and safe environments for themselves and future generations, but at the same time do not want to compromise their quality of life, they face a difficult choice. How to resolve this dilemma? This Dialogue offers you an opportunity to explore this fundamental question by focusing on Northern Europe. While no Scandinavian country has ever appeared outside the top ten in the World Happiness Report, and many lead on sustainability measures, not all happy countries are alike. We will investigate the various ways by which companies and policymakers work to enable happiness while building a sustainable future.

---

The Camino Del Santiago

Led by Professor Liz Bucar, the Camino Del Santiago Dialogue was designed to have students learn about pilgrimage while simultaneously becoming actual pilgrims. Students completed the last 150 miles/240 km of the popular pilgrimage route in northern Spain known as “the Camino.” They walked for 11 days, spoke to pilgrims, saw relics, attended pilgrim masses, read scholarly articles, journaled, and met daily for class discussions. In the end, students not only learned about the act of pilgrimage, but also about themselves.

---

Human Rights Communications:

Part 1: Crimes against Humanity

Part 2: Humanity Against Crimes

Offered by Professor Michael Hoppmann, in this Twin-Dialogue, students metaphorically and literally followed the journey from the formative grounds of European fascism (Vienna) and Nazi propaganda and rhetoric (Munich), to modern reasoning (Brussels and Amsterdam) and Human Rights (The Hague). Students will come into close interaction with local experts and scholars on Human Rights, Argumentation, and Rhetoric. They will visit many of the key sites of Human Rights and Communication of the 20th and 21st century. Finally, they will bring some of the landmark trials and decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, the International Criminal Court and the Tribunal on Former Yugoslavia to life again, and critically question the reasoning they present.