The Epic Tradition: Literature as Mode of Knowledge
At the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture
July 9-27, 2012
Living Globally will require much more than economic synchronicity. To live with all of our differences in a global community, we will need to seek out and nurture the things we have in common as human beings.
If our task in this age is to prepare students for global living, nothing could be more important than for them to develop a truly universal--an EPIC--sensibility.
TEACHERS CANNOT TEACH WHAT THEY HAVE NOT BEEN TAUGHT, SO IT IS CRUCIAL THAT EVERY TEACHER FIRST ATTEND TO THE EPIC CONVERSATION, the large questions and images explored in great works in every culture that have shaped the identities of peoples and nations throughout history.
In this context, studying perennial Western classics and epics from other traditions once regarded as secondary serves to modify and expand the new culture inevitably being formed around us even now.
MORE THAN EVER, IT IS IMPORTANT TO TEACH THE YOUNG--THOSE WHO MUST MAKE THE DIFFICULT TRANSITION FROM OLDER CULTURES TO EVOLVING NEW ONES--TO UNDERSTAND AND TRUST THE EPIC VISION.
Not only does the confrontation of traditional worlds with new ones break open the mind and imagination, but it also beckons teacher and student alike to do what will be required to create and maintain a truly global community, what the gods demand of the West African epic hero Mwindo: "Widen your heart!"
Works studied include: Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Divine Comedy, Moby-Dick, West African Mwindo Epic, The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Declaration of Independence , and the Letter from Birmingham Jail;. Excerpts from Paradise Lost, the Ramayana, and the Mayan Popul Vuh are typically included.
FELLOWSHIP STIPENDS
Stipends will be available for all selected participants, the amount to be determined when fundraising is complete.
COST
A non-refundable $300.00 cost-sharing fee paid to the Dallas Institute by the school or district (or by the participant, if school support is not available) will hold a spot for those accepted into the class. See the application for further details.
GRADUATE CREDIT
Qualified applicants may earn 6 hours of graduate credit from the University of Dallas. (The University of Dallas offers the 6 credits tuition-free; an additional application fee for UD is required.) Details are on the application.
The Teachers Academy of the Dallas Institute was conceived in 1983 with the "Summer Institute"--a literature class for high school English teachers sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and that called the class a "model for the nation."
The Teachers Academy program at the Dallas Institute offers classes, programs and conferences for school teachers throughout the year but its cornerstone event is this yearly Summer Institute for Teachers--a two-summer sequence of three-week, multi-cultural, interdisciplinary literature courses held at the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture. In even-numbered years, the course is "The Epic Tradition: Literature as a Mode of Knowledge" and in odd-numbered years, the course is "Tragedy and Comedy: Literature as a Mode of Knowledge." Teachers are encouraged to attend both summers but they may take one or both classes.
The Summer Institute convenes each July for fifteen weekday classes, from 8:45 am - 4:00 pm. Mornings are given over to a lecture on the reading material for the day and a two-hour seminar exploring the work in detail, trying out ideas and approaches. Afternoon schedules vary to include guest lectures, films and discussions, panels, and writing. Journal writings and a weekly in-class essay are expected of every participant; for those seeking graduate credit, a longer, carefully written essay submitted one week after the course concludes is required.
The Dallas Institute requests a $300 fee from each participant's school or district. For teachers taking the Summer Institutes for graduate credit, the total scholarship package for each participant is approximately $7,200.00 per summer. This scholarship package includes graduate tuition, books, materials, and instruction, as well as breakfast, lunch and break snacks each day of the program.
The University of Dallas also provides a full-tuition scholarship to qualified applicants who apply to earn the 6 hours of graduate credit available for each of the two summer classes.
Click here to see teachers talking about the Summer Institute.