Re-imagining Dante's Inferno: Social Justice and the Arts
THEA 222
Spring 2025
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
COL 235, ITAL 244, MDST 224, RL&L 222 |
Sentenced to death for crimes he did not commit, Dante Alighieri wrote his epic poem about a journey from hell to heaven in an impoverished state of exile. Drawing on innovative techniques of music, dance, painting, and theater Dante denounced political corruption and social injustice in a story that has inspired artists throughout the world to create new work about the search for freedom, including the Russian dissident poet Osip Mandelstam, Black revolutionary playwright Amiri Baraka, the Chinese artist/activist Wei Wei, and 17th century prisoners of the Inquisition. Students will read selected cantos from Dante's "Commedia," consider contemporary news accounts of modern equivalents to medieval injustices, examine previous adaptations of the poem, and devise their own responses to Dante in the art form of their choice (theater, dance, poetry, playwriting, rap, music, spoken-word, visual arts). |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA THEA |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 50% - 74% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
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Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise by Dante Alighieri
The System of Dante¿s Hell by Amiri Baraka
Dante¿s Performance by Francesco Ciabattoni
Dante, Artist of Gesture by Heather Webb
Conversation about Dante by Osip Mandelstam
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Examinations and Assignments:
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Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
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| Instructor(s): Jenkins,Ronald Times: ....R.. 01:20PM-04:10PM; Location: TST114; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 12 | | SR major: 0 | JR major: 0 | | |
| Seats Available: 3 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 0 | JR non-major: 0 | SO: 0 | FR: 12 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 3 | 1st Ranked: 1 | 2nd Ranked: 1 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 1 | Unranked: 0 |
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