BA Politics and Italian / Course details

This course unit focuses on how Italian narratives reach global audiences, and influence global images (and imagined forms) of Italian culture since the 1960s. The specific aim of this course unit is to provide a transcultural and transmedial understanding of contemporary Italian culture within a global market and historical context. In this course unit we will analyse both the local and global factors that influence the production and reception of Italian culture across media, genres, and borders. 

Historical and political issues that will be discussed in this course unit include the role of Italy within the Cold War, the role of gender in cultural production and reception, Italian terrorism within a wider context of uprising and political violence, the global scope of the Italian mafia. 

Parallel to these and other issues, we will examine in detail five cultural artifacts of global cultural resonance, discussing their meaning, as well as how they were produced and received. Particular emphasis will be put on how influential cultural objects shape transnational cultural imaginaries, and how audiences can avoid oversimplified interpretations of ‘Italianness’ by challenging established visions of Italian culture.    

On successful completion of this course unit, students will be able to:

• Presentation skills
• Critical-thinking skills
• Communication skills
• Time-management skills
• Research skills
• Transcultural skills
• Writing skills 

Students’ research will be supported through lectures and seminars, which aim to provide a background of essential knowledge on Italian recent history, culture, politics, art, and cinema; enable students to develop a critical attitude and analytical skills; make the class acquire the relevant methodology to interrogate written texts, visual art, and moving images.  

It is vital that students engage with the primary texts under analysis (CF. THE ‘RECOMMENDED READING’ SECTION BELOW) effectively and in due time; it is of primary importance, therefore, that the students watch the movies and read the required novels (or the agreed part thereof) in order to be able to contribute effectively in class in the seminar in which the texts/movies are discussed.

An active participation in class is also of vital importance for the teaching and learning outcomes of this course unit. 

Demonstrate knowledge of the history and culture of post-war Italy since the 1960s, and contextualise it within a broader historical and cultural framework;

Apply relevant notions of cultural theory and literary criticism to an independent analysis

Demonstrate awareness of the role played by gender, background, and language in the shaping of cultural markets and receptions;

An ability to carry out independent research; recognise the importance of social and historical contexts in the study of literature, cinema, and the visual/plastic arts.

An ability to deal with abstract ideas; an ability to engage with different types of texts;

Develop an argument independently, and present it coherently to an audience; know how to engage with pre-existing knowledge in order to develop a consistent argument.

The ability to communicate ideas effectively to an audience;

An ability to present complex ideas in clear form.

Their ability to work towards deadlines and manage tasks effectively;

Their ability to communicate and discuss ideas in public, both in written and oral form;

Their ability to critically assess conceptual problems, and build an argument about them.

Primary Texts

• Movie: Federico Fellini, La dolce vita (1960)  
• Novel: Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose [Il nome della rosa]  (1980)
• Movie: Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather (1972)
• Novel/Movie: Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend [L’amica geniale] (1991)
• Novel/Movie/Tv-series: Roberto Saviano, Gomorrah [Gomorra] (2006)

Basic Bibliography

• Peter Bondanella, The Cinema of Federico Fellini. Princeton University Press, 1992. 
• Rocco Capozzi, Reading Eco: An Anthology. Indiana University Press, 1997.
• Christopher Duggan, A Concise History of Italy. Cambridge University Press, 1994.
• Elena Ferrante, Frantumaglia. A Writer’s Journey. Europa Editions, 2017.
• Paul Ginsborg, A History of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics: 1943-1980. Penguin History, 1990.
• Salvatore Lupo, History of the Mafia. Columbia University Press, 2009.