ITAL 295 - Topics in Italian Culture

Credits: 3

Prerequisite: ITAL 163 or equivalent. A second-year topics course focusing on issues and texts related to Italian literature and culture. All discussion, writing, and exercises are in Italian. May be repeated for degree credit with permission and if the topics are different.

Fall 2021, ITAL 295A-01: Topics in Italian Culture: Contemporary Italy through Film and Literature (3). Prerequisite: ITAL 163. This course introduces students to a panorama of issues and debates of contemporary Italy through the lens of literature and film. Students will have ample opportunity to improve their critical writing and literary analysis skills, in addition to making further progress in their listening and speaking skills through discussion of the readings and films. The course is divided into four units interrogating Italy’s historical memory, immigration and emigration, the politics of organized crime, and the “questione meridionale,” or the place the southern peninsula occupies in current Italian society. We will explore each area through the perspectives of literature, film, and media. Students will present independently researched projects on twentieth and twenty-first century Italian history to give context to the literature and films. An important goal of this course is also to review and develop Italian grammar and vocabulary. Students will practice targeted linguistic forms through critical analysis of literature and film. All classes, discussions, homework and projects are conducted entirely in Italian. McCormick.