Collins Living-Learning Center

Festivals, carnivals, and public entertainments may seem like simple amusements, yet throughout world history they have served as powerful arenas in which power is displayed, negotiated, and contested. This course treats popular celebrations as a lens for examining how states and communities articulated power and forged civic identity. From Graeco–Roman forums and Ottoman imperial celebrations to the spectacles of Versailles, and today’s Fourth of July fireworks, and Pride marches, the course traces how public festivals expressed belonging, reinforced political power or enabled protest. Far from timeless recreations, festivals emerge as central instruments of state power, as we examine how celebrations shaped — and were shaped by — the state, revealing the shifting boundaries between governors and the governed from antiquity to the present. 

Instructor: Fatih Torun

• S&H
• What are CASE requirements?