Introductory description

The module's thematic emphasis will be on stories of marginalized spaces, subjects and communities in contemporary Italy. Through analysing novels, graphic novels, films and TV series, students will develop an understanding of how minority identities in Italy are negotiated and expressed through both individual narratives of interior experience and an outsider’s observational gaze. The module will discuss normative and non-normative constructions of what is ‘contemporary Italy’ and what it is to be a ‘contemporary Italian’, and explore the strategies used by a wide range of authors and filmmakers to articulate, challenge, and re-imagine these positions. Questions of exploration and discovery, and of the construction of knowledge in relation to spaces and subcultures, will be followed through the different sections and texts.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Module structure:
wk 1: Introduction and Sexuality [primary text: 'La dea fortuna', movie by Ferzan Özpetek]
wks 2 and 3: Transnational Identities within and outside Italy [primary texts: 'La straniera', novel by Claudia Durastanti, translation available; excerpts from 'Sotto il velo' and 'Il mio migliore amico è fascista', graphic novels by Takoua Ben Mohamed, translations to be provided for post-beginners and students not taking Italian]
wks 4 and 5: Migration [primary texts: 'Io sono Li', movie by Andrea Segre; 'La via del pepe', illustrated short story by Massimo Carlotto, translations to be provided for post-beginners and students not taking Italian]
wks 7 and 8: Urban Spaces and Climate Change [primary texts: 'Lazzaro Felice' movie by Alice Rohrwacher; 'Arzestula', short story by Wu Ming 1, translation available]
wks 9 and 10: Technology and Posthuman [primary texts: 'Anna', TV series by Niccolo' Ammaniti; excerpts from 'Sirene', short novel by Laura Pugno]

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• L6: demonstrate a sophisticated and informed understanding of Italian culture in the 20th and 21st century, and specifically of key authors and literary-cultural questions within this period
• L6: demonstrate an ability to critically analyse and evaluate questions of transnational identity, migration, gender, sexuality, climate change and/or technology in contemporary Italian culture by applying key theoretical concepts and principles as appropriate (genre and readership, gender and sexuality, transnationalism, ecocriticism, posthumanism)
• L6: Show an ability to engage with and critically evaluate primary and secondary source materials (in target language for students of Italian) along with the ability to describe and personally reflect upon particular aspects of current research, or advanced scholarship, in the subject area.
• L6: Demonstrate a refined capacity to analyse both formal and thematic features of texts (in target language for students of Italian)
• L6: Communicate existing scholarly debates, independent research, arguments and analysis effectively and clearly in structured oral presentations. Show an ability to respond to questions and engage in informed discussions on the topic of the presentation.
• L6: Demonstrate an ethical awareness of internal diversity and transcultural connectedness in relation to Italian culture. Show sensitivity to cultural and linguistic context.
• L6: Demonstrate research skills and digital literacy skills in English and, for students of Italian, in the target language.
• L6: Apply and extend knowledge obtained from lecture presentations and seminar discussions. Conduct independent scholarship and work on their own initiative to manage their learning.
• L6: Demonstrate relevant IT skills including the effective use of Powerpoint or similar for the presentation, as key transferable and employability skills.
• L5: Demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of key features of Italian culture in the 20th and 21st century, and specifically of key authors and literary-cultural questions within this period.
• L5: Demonstrate an ability to critically analyse questions of transnational identity, migration, gender, sexuality, climate change and/or technology in contemporary Italian culture by applying key theoretical concepts and principles as appropriate (genre and readership, gender and sexuality, transnationalism, ecocriticism, posthumanism).
• L5: Show an ability to access, read and critically analyse primary and secondary source materials (in target language for students of Italian).
• L5: Demonstrate a capacity to analyse both the formal and thematic features of texts (in target language for students of Italian).
• L5: Communicate information, arguments and analysis clearly and effectively in oral presentations.
• L5: Demonstrate familiarity with the distinctive features and diversity of Italian culture, showing sensitivity to the cultural and linguistic context.
• L5: Demonstrate research skills and digital literacy skills in English and, for student of Italian, the target language.
• L5: Use lecture presentations and seminar discussions to inform independent research and manage their own learning.
• L5: Demonstrate relevant IT skills including the effective use of Powerpoint or similar for the presentation, as key transferable/employability skills.
• L5: Show an ability to organise, synthesize and review existing debates review existing debates, and demonstrate an ability to develop and present argumentative reasoning in academic essays.
• L6: Demonstrate an ability to frame appropriate questions, devise and sustain persuasive arguments and work towards their resolution in academic essays.

Indicative reading list

Primary bibliography:

• Özpetek, Ferzan, 2019, La dea fortuna, Warner Bros [film].
• Durastanti, Claudia, 2022, Strangers I know, trans. by Elisabeth Harris, London: Fitzcarraldo Editions.
• Durastanti, Claudia, 2019, La straniera, Milan: La Nave di Teseo.
• Ben Mohamed, T., 2016, Sotto il velo, Padua: Beccogiallo. Excerpts
• Ben Mohamed, T., 2021, Il mio migliore amico è fascista, Milan: Rizzoli. Excerpts
• Segre, Andrea, 2011, Io sono Li, France: CD [film].
• Carlotto, Massimo, 2014, La via del pepe: finta storia africana per europen benpensanti, illustrated by Alessandro Sanna, Rome: E/O. Excerpts
• Rohrwacher, Alice, 2018, Lazzaro felice [film]
• Wu Ming 1, 'Arzestula', 2009, in Giorgio Vasta, ed., Anteprima nazionale: nove visioni del nostro futuro invisibile, Rome: Minimum Fax.
• Wu Ming 1, 'Arzestula', trans. by Romy Clark, 2011, in Mark Martin, ed., I'm With the Bears: Short Stories From a Damaged Planet, London: Verso.
• Pugno, Laura, 2007, Sirene, Torino: Einaudi. Excerpts
• Ammaniti, Niccolo’. 2015. Anna. Turin: Einaudi
• Ammaniti, Niccolo’. 2018. Anna, trans. by Jonathan Hunt. London: Canongate Books.
• Skystudios, Anna, 2021, 6 episodes.

Additional suggested reading/viewing per week will be provided. This would include for instance:

• Campofreda, Olga, ‘Young Writers: Anthologies as an Instrument for Exploring Italian Youth’, Journal of Modern Italian Studies 2018; 23(1): 108-121.
• Mehta, B. and P. Mukherji, eds. 2015. Postcolonial Comics: Texts, Events, Identities. New York/London: Routledge
• Burdett, C. 2016. Italy, Islam and the Islamic World: Representations and Reflections from 9/11 to the Arab Uprisings. Italian Modernities, vol. 24. Oxford: Peter Lang
• Spadaro, Barbara, 2020, ‘The transcultural comics of Takoua Ben Mohamed: Memory and translation a fumetti’. Modern Italy, 25(2), 177-197.
• Braidotti, Rosi, 2013, The Posthuman. Cambridge and Malden: Polity Press.
• Braidotti, Rosi, 2011, Nomadic subjects: embodiment and sexual difference in contemporary feminist theory, New York: Columbia University Press.
• Amici, Marco,2020, ‘Post-Anthropocentric Perspectives in Laura Pugno’s Narrative’, in Posthumanism in Italian literature and film: boundaries and identity, ed. by Enrica Maria Ferrara, Cham, Switz, Palgrave.
• Ross, Charlotte, 2005, “Creating the Ideal Posthuman Body? Cyborg Sex and Gender in the Work of Buzzati, Vacca, and Ammaniti.” Italica, vol. 82, no. 2, American Association of Teachers of Italian, pp. 222–47
• Zagarrio, Vito, 2022, Nouvelle Vague Italiana: Il cinema del nuovo millennio, Venice: Marsilio.
• Atay, Ahmet, 2019, 'Seeing the Italian culture through the eyes of Ferzan Ozpetek: Queers, immigrants, global nomads and the changing nature of Italian society', Queer Studies in Media & Popular Culture, 4.3, pp. 271-285
• O'Healy, Aine, 2019, Migrant Anxieties: Italian Cinema in a Transnational Frame, Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press [Especially Ch. 6)
• Bond, E., G. Bonsaver and F. Faloppa, eds., 2015, Destination Italy: Representing Migration in Contemporary media and Narrative, Bern: Peter Lang.
• Di Bianco, Laura, 2020, 'Ecocinema Ars et Praxis: Alice Rohrwacher’s Lazzaro Felice', The Italianist, 40:2, 151-164.
• Iovino, Serenella, 2016, Ecocriticism and Italy: Ecology, Resistance and Liberation, London: Bloomsbury.
• Mengozzi, Chiara, 2019, 'La letteratura italiana all’epoca della crisi climatica', Narrativa, 41, 23-39.

General secondary bibliography

• Bondanella, Peter and Andrea Ciccarelli (eds), 2003, The Cambridge Companion to the Italian Novel (Cambridge: CUP)
• Caesar, Ann Hallamore and Michael Caesar, 2007, Modern Italian Literature (Cambridge: Polity Press)

Research element

Independent research for essay and presentation.

Interdisciplinary

Combines history, film studies, visual culture, literary history, critical theory.

International

All modules delivered in SMLC are necessarily international. Students engage with themes and ideas from a culture other than that of the UK and employ their linguistic skills in the analysis of primary materials from a non-Anglophone context. Students will also be encouraged to draw on the experiences of visiting exchange students in the classroom and will frequently engage with theoretical and critical frameworks from across the world.

Subject specific skills

This module will develop the linguistic skills of students of Italian through engaging with primary materials in the target language. It will build all students’ capacity to engage with aspects of Italian culture through analysis of this primary material and through seminar discussion aimed at deeper critical thinking. In particular, students’ awareness of spaces and narratives of marginality in contemporary Italian culture will be enhanced through lectures and seminars which engage in scholarship in the field.

Transferable skills

Critical analysis, research, written and oral presentation, time management.