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Campus | Bryn Mawr |
Semester | Fall 2020 |
Registration ID | ITALB312001 |
Course Title | Black, Queer, Jewish Italy |
Credit | 1.00 |
Department | Comparative Literature |
Instructor | Giammei,Alessandro |
Times and Days | T 01:10pm-04:00pm
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Room Location | |
Additional Course Info | Class Number: 1256 This seminar approaches the two most studied phases of Italian history, the Renaissance and the 20th century, by placing what we call ‘otherness’ at the center of the picture rather than at its supposed margins. The main aim is to challenge traditional accounts of Italian culture, and to look at pivotal events and phenomena (the rise of Humanism, the rise of fascism, courtly culture, the two World Wars, 16th century art, futurism) from the point of view of black, queer, and Jewish protagonists, authors, and fictional characters. Our theoretical bedrock will be offered by modern and contemporary thinkers such as Fred Moten, Antonio Gramsci, Edie Segdwick, and Hannah Arendt. Our primary sources will come from cultural epicenters of Renaissance, Baroque, and late Modern Italy, such as Leo X papal court, fascist Ferrara, 17th century Venice, and colonial Libya. In class, we will adopt a trans-historical, intersectional, and interdisciplinary perspective inspired by Fred Moten’s work, which will serve as the poetic common ground for our investigations. Themes and issues will be analyzed at the crossing of the two historical phases and of the three topics in exam, and the material will include historical and theoretical analyses, narrative texts, poems, films, and visual art. The course is taught in English. No previous knowledge of Italian is required, as readings will be in English translation. An additional hour in Italian will be offered for departmental credits. Students taking the course for departmental credit will also read part of the readings in the original language, and produce three short response-papers in Italian in lieu of the Midterm.; A full description of this course is available on the Dept.'s website https://www.brynmawr.edu/italian/courses#ITALB312 . In short, it is a course about Renaissance and 20th century Italy from the point of view of Black, Queer, and Jewish authors, artists, historical protagonists, and fictional characters. I would like to add that my field, Italian Studies, is an inherently racist and normative discipline, with an infamous antisemitic legacy. The Italian Renaissance was in many ways the cradle of colonialism, and in the 20th century Italy was the epicenter of the spreading of fascism in Europe. I designed this course to try to undo the kind of academic training that I received myself, while still addressing all the topics that are considered the "core" of my field, from Renaissance treatises to Neorealist films. The syllabus is based on texts, works of art, essays, and films that I think should be in any "Introduction to the Renaissance" or "Introduction to modern Italy" course. But they almost never are. Approach: Course does not meet an Approach; Enrollment Cap: 18; If the course exceeds the enrollment cap the following criteria will be used for the lottery: This is a seminar based on class discussion and interactive lecturing. All instruction will be synchronous (Tuesdays 1:10-4:00pm EST). The plan is to meet in person with students who are on campus, and to have students off campus join the class live through zoom, using a classroom webcam and ambient microphone. During class time, small-group activities will be arranged by pairing 'remote students' with 'in person students'. If the totality of enrolled students will be off campus (or in case of force majeure events), the seminar will be still conducted synchronously on zoom. Most of the work for this class is based on weekly readings (before class), and collective discussion of the readings and the problems and questions they generate (in class). |
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