Study Abroad in London Summer 2025

Join us in London this summer from May 27 to June 28 for Literature of the Witch, co-taught by Dr. Joanna Ruocco and Dr. Sarah Hogan!

ENG 302 (D) / CRW 286 / WGS 377:

This 3-credit study away summer course will introduce you to wide-ranging works of English literature-mostly by women writers–that portray the lives of rebellious women, and particularly those who seek uncommon or magical means for personal empowerment, and in so doing, confront cultures that persecute or alienate those who defy patriarchal ideals of passive femininity. In reading works that span the centuries between the medieval and the contemporary, we’ll be discussing how and why the witch came to be a central feminist archetype. At the same time, the course will be a writing-intensive experience that bridges critical-creative divides, in asking you to write reading responses and to compose and workshop your own short story on the figure of the witch. This framework draws upon Dr. Joanna Ruocco’s training in fiction and her accomplishments as a novelist and experimental writer, and Dr. Sarah Hogan’s expertise as a scholar of British Renaissance literature.

You will be challenged to track a powerful, mutable female archetype across centuries and genres, and to consider the literary and social construction of identity through focus on the witch as a marginal and maligned figure and also as a figure of resistance. You will do this outside of your home contexts; this defamiliarization will help you build knowledge in exciting new ways. Traveling to the UK (London, Cornwall, and Stratford-upon-Avon) will enrich your understanding of textual materials. We’ll attend theatrical productions at the Globe Theatre in London and in Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon, and see the sites you will read about firsthand. We’ll also visit Cornwall to tour a seascape and ruined castle associated with Morgan Le Fay and Merlin. Moreover, you will write fiction in response to your experiences, participating in the ongoing tradition of writers inspired by the history of the witch trials and the enduring figure of the witch (e.g. Sylvia Townsend Warner, Virginia Woolf, Maryse Condé, Maggie O’Farrell) and developing your skills as a creative observer and writer.

This course can count toward the English major (and for pre-1800 credit in the major), the WGS major, the Creative Writing minor, or as Division II (Literature) credit. 

For more information, email Dr. Hogan (hogansa@wfu.edu) or Dr. Ruocco (ruoccoj@wfu.edu), or see us at the Study Abroad Fair on Thursday, September 19th from 12-4 in 401 Benson. 

Applications through GPS at: https://studyabroad.wfu.edu/program/wfu-london-literature-of-the-witch-summer-session-i/