Louis Menand’s The Metaphysical Club, daunting in its choice of subject matter, closely aligns itself with the ancient sense of the word ‘history’ as a fluid, almost epic narrative. The Metaphysical Club of the title was a conversation group that met in Cambridge for a few months in 1872. Its membership roster listed some of the greatest intellectuals of the day: Charles Peirce, William James, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Chauncey Wright, amongst others. There is no record of the Club’s discussions or debates—in fact, the only direct reference to the Club is made by Peirce in a letter written thirty-five years later. Menand utilizes the Club as a jumping-off point for a sweeping analysis of the beliefs of the day. The subtitle of the book belies its true mission: ‘a story of ideas in America.’ Menand discusses the intellectual and social conditions that helped shape these men by the time they were members of the Club. He then shows the philosophical, political, and cultural impact that these men went on to have. In doing so, Menand traces a history of ideas in the United States from immediately prior to the Civil War to the beginning of the Cold War.

One way to prepare students for life in a "flat world" is through study abroad experiences. The Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Villanova offers students several ways to go abroad during their time in our department: one or two semesters at a university overseas, summer programs run by Villanova, and internships. Since the class of 2001, 35 civil engineering students have studied abroad either at a university or through a summer program run by Villanova. Civil engineers comprised 37% of the engineering students that studied abroad in that time period; however, typically civil engineers make up 22% of each graduating class. In addition, the numbers of students participating in such programs increases every year: in the class of 2001 just one student went abroad as compared to 12 in the class of 2007. This indicates that within our college, the civil engineers are eager to study abroad and that they are enabled to act on this desire. This paper will discuss what we have done to increase the number of students studying abroad and provide student perspectives on their experiences. We will also describe how we propose to assess the program systematically so that we may continually enhance the program.

A discussion of the city’s relation to study abroad provides an opportunity to insert a theoretical element into the pedagogy of the profession. This article presents an essay that first introduces the Foucauldian concepts of “genealogy” and “heterotopia” to the idea of the “city,” and in turn applies the same terms to the place of the city in the study abroad experience. Then, turning from Michel Foucault as “philosopher of space” to Paul Virilio, “philosopher of time,” the article demonstrates the interplay between Foucault’s heterotopia and Virilio’s “anti-city,” showing how study abroad in the contemporary, globalized city requires distinct programmatic changes to the (s)pace of education abroad.

Ania Loomba, a professor of English, utilizes multiple Shakespearean examples to illustrate postcolonial theory (The Tempest in particular). Robert J. C. Young, also a professor of English, instead uses a montage approach, providing “real world” examples of postcolonial theory before working backwards towards a definition or some exposition on power relations. A middle road between these two authors’ works might be one that quotes not Caliban (the postcolonial posterchild) but his master/oppressor, Prospero. Referring to the duplicitous brother who overthrew him as Duke of Milan, Prospero describes Antonio as “one/Who having, unto truth by telling of it,/ Made such a sinner of his memory,/ To credit his own lie,—he did believe/He was indeed the duke.” In other words, Prospero’s brother, by performing the duties associated with the Duke, came to believe that he was the Duke. Antonio’s hierarchical relationships—with his brothers, with his peers, with his subjects— led to the creation of a specific type of knowledge. In this realm of knowledge, it is right for Antonio to seize power from Prospero. This enforced paradigm shift (Antonio’s actions creating the parameters in which “truth” is created) was labeled by Nietzsche as “will-to-knowledge.”