Culture Project

Culture Project:

Period 1:

Research your chosen culture:

• Provide basic historical/geographical information about the country.
• Find 1 famous or significant poet from the culture & include a short poem from that author.
• Find 1 famous author (prose) from the culture and include a short excerpt from a story or prose piece from that author.
• Discuss pop culture (film, leisure, media, sports, trends, music, etc.)
• Compare traditions with us in the US.
• Include a works cited page

If you have time, check out this material as we tour the world...

For those of you who are not completely exhausted from learning, you may find these resources here helpful in setting your fiction, poetry, plays, and essays in a European setting. Since we are running out of time to cover the entire world in this course, we will only briefly glimpse at a very rich and extensive culture. For your benefit click on these links and learn about these cultures. Some of their literature can be found in the packets of reading as well.

Czeslaw Milosz is one of Poland's best loved poets. His poems can be found here.
Forget by Czeslaw Milosz

Forget the suffering
You caused others.
Forget the suffering
Others caused you.
The waters run and run,
Springs sparkle and are done,
You walk the earth you are forgetting.

Sometimes you hear a distant refrain.
What does it mean, you ask, who is singing?
A childlike sun grows warm.
A grandson and a great-grandson are born.
You are led by the hand once again.

The names of the rivers remain with you.
How endless those rivers seem!
Your fields lie fallow,
The city towers are not as they were.
You stand at the threshold mute.

Learn a little about Poland!  and Polish Culture and some cuisine...

Austria & Hungary:
Austria: Top 10 Interesting Facts & 7 Facts About Austria
Austrian contemporary poet: Jorg Piringer and Modernist poet Franz Werfel
Hungarian Poet: Janos Pilinszky
Picture Poems by Lajos Kassak
Hungarian Cuisine

Sweden & Switzerland:

• Friedrich Durrenmatt
• Both Lagerlof and Lagerkvist won Nobel Prizes for their work (not too shabby):
• Selma Lagerlof
• Par Lagerkvist
• Perhaps the most important and influential filmmaker in Sweden is Ingmar Bergman. His films are artistic masterpieces and generally regarded as excellent the world over.

Here's a few clips of various famous films by Bergman (this is a must-see for students interested in studying film):

• The Seventh Seal (1957)
• Wild Strawberries (1957) Italian dubbing.
• Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
• The Silence (1963)
• Persona (1966)
• Scenes from a Marriage (1973)
• The Magic Flute (1975)
• Autumn Sonata (1978)
• Fanny & Alexander (1982)
• Saraband (2002)

Other Western European Cultures:
Belgium & The Netherlands (and more info on the Netherlands)

Spain & Portugal:
Spain has an incredibly old history. From cave paintings found at Altamira to our contemporary period. The Romans and Carthaginians fought over Spain in the 3rd century B.C. Part of the Roman Empire Hispania rises and falls at the same time, being overrun by the Vandals in 409 A.D. (later repelled by the Visigoths who rule until the 8th century, followed by the Arabs). During 711-1492, Christians begin to reclaim the area at first slowly, until the Umayyad loss of power in 1031. You probably know what happens leading up to 1492 with the marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand in 1469.

Still curious about Spain & Spanish Customs? Watch this.

Spain suffered a vicious civil war between 1936-1939. The Spanish Civil War divided the country as tens of thousands of civilians were killed for their political or religious views. Those associated with the losing Republicans were persecuted by the victorious conservative Nationalists after the war. Some Leftist Spaniards fled to refugee camps in Southern France. The overthrow of the democratic government allowed dictator General Francisco Franco to rule the regime. During his reign, during the White Terror and the Red Terror, an attempt to genetically cleanse Leftists, including Catholic Priests and school teachers, anywhere between 200,000-350,000 people died, although this number is debated. You can learn more about the Spanish Civil War here. Parts II and III can be found here as well. (This is a high school student's work...something to strive for...)

Our first stop will be with Spanish Civil War poets Juan Ramón Jiménez & Miguel Hernandéz.
Juan Ramon Jimenez won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1956.

Portugal (culture & history) & The History of Portugal in 7 minutes.

Czech Republic
Czech history in 5 minutes (animated short)
Czech cuisine
Milan Kundera (writer)

And something from East Europe: an introduction to the Baltic States, Baltic States: Culture and images from the Baltic States:
Estonia: Estonian Literature
Latvia: Famous Latvian Authors/Filmmakers
Lithuania: Famous Lithuanian Writers
Belarus: Belarusian Writers
Ukraine: Ukrainian Authors

Period 2: In no particular order...

Jasmina: Colombia
Jahde: Russia
Alannah: Croatia
Rosalia: China

For Amanda (Thailand)
Some help...Poetry International & Words Without Borders...