Legacies of Empires: Power and Diversity in Rome, Budapest and Istanbul

The goal of this program is to reveal how our world of nation states is a very recent and fragile historical phenomenon. For many centuries, vast empires ruled and determined the lives and destinies of diverse peoples. Many of the ideas, ideals, ideologies and policies of the Roman, Byzantine, Hapsburg and Ottoman Empires are still relevant to understanding the often contradictory and unresolved issues of today’s world. This program will allow students to investigate these ideas and relationships in the sites where they once flourished. 

As we examine the roots of contemporary issues of religious and cultural tolerance and intolerance, the program will also incorporate a forum for discussion and reflection on the ways in which we imagine and define our own identities - individually and collectively. We will examine Roma identity discourse and personally connect with Roma communities in each destination in order to explore the limits of our notions of Identity and Alterity.