Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this module, students will have:
• An awareness of Italy as a country
• Familiarity with cultural elements of Italy
• A new knowledge of certain aspects of historical and modern Italy
• An ability to respond to basic quiz questions on module content
• An ability to prepare a presentation on one or more aspects of Italy touched on during this module
Note that students must not use generative AI in any assignment for any purpose.
Indicative Module Content:
This module will cover a wide variety of weekly topics taught by specialist lecturers:
Week 1, Tuesday 21 January. Introduction to the module. Constructing and Deconstructing Italianness (Dr Marco Bellardi)
Week 2, Tuesday 28 January. Dante's World: The Divine Comedy and Its Cultural Context (Dr Giulia Cipriani)
Week 3, Tuesday 4 February. Dante Today: The Modern Adaptations of an Italian Icon (Dr Giulia Cipriani)
Week 4, Tuesday 11 February. Understanding a cultural revolution: an introduction to the Italian Renaissance (Dott. Matilde Icardi)
Week 5, Tuesday 18 February. Commedia dell’Arte Masks as Stereotypes in Early Modern Theatre (Dr Serena Laiena)
Week 6, Tuesday 25 February. Gioachino Rossini and Italian opera (Dr Francesco Milella González Luna)
Week 7, Tuesday 4 March. The Resistenza - History and Context (Dr Paolo Acquaviva)
Reading weeks, 10-23 March. No class
Week 8, Tuesday 25 March. The Resistenza - Issues and Legacy (Dr Paolo Acquaviva)
Week 9, Tuesday 1 April. Primo Levi and the Italian Holocaust Literature (Dr Mara Josi)
Week 10, Tuesday 8 April. The Mafia in Italy: Men of Honour, Repentants and the Maxi Trial (Dr Mara Josi)
Week 11, Tuesday 15 April. Inspector Montalbano’s Sicily: the Local Dimension from National to Transnational (Dr Serena Laiena)
Week 12, Tuesday 22 April. Old and new migrations. Emanuele Crialese’s 'Golden Door' and Andrea Segre’s 'Shun Li' and the Poet (Dr Marco Bellardi) + Q&A