Anglo-American Cultures I
A.Y. 2019/2020
Learning objectives
Knowledge and understanding: students, who are expected to know and be able to apply basic cultural studies methodologies, will be led to better define and analyse the relationships between culture, discursive strategies, social phenomena, mass communication, production and consumption of cultural products, and to analyze them from the perspective of ideology and their social, spatial, historical and political contexts. Within the frame of their improved language competences and awareness , they will be led to gain an improved awareness of the relationship between language and cultures within the US context and in connection with the chosen syllabus. MA courses are meant for qualitative, more than quantitative, study and tends to privilege a limited number of texts that must be read and analyzed with sophisticated skills.
Expected learning outcomes
Students will be required to be fluent in both written and spoken English in approaching texts and topics of relevant complexity and belonging to the field of culture, society and literature, managing the required critical lexis and organizing contents coherently. They must prove familiar with the texts proposed in the syllabus and they must be able to analyse them both at the syntagmatic level and at the paradigmatic one.
Moreover they must prove able to approach texts and topic autonomously, exploiting the methodological tools acquired during their MA training, therefore completing their linguistic training through the cultural one.
Moreover they must prove able to approach texts and topic autonomously, exploiting the methodological tools acquired during their MA training, therefore completing their linguistic training through the cultural one.
Lesson period: Second semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
Second semester
Course syllabus
We will focus on the current political and cultural situation in the US, emphasizing the condition of African American women in particular (Unit II) and their ability to fight through art.
Diachronically, the course articulates a reflection on the end of what used to be the American dream, its failure and the current need to reshape it, imagining new and different forms of the fight for freedom and equality as basic needs stated by the US constitution. The selection of texts wants to foreground the prevailing issues concerning class, gender and race discriminations and the ways in which these are represented in documents, literature, filmic narratives and popular cultures.
The analysis deliberately includes documents, music, films and fiction, with the purpose of introducing a critical discourse on languages and genre contamination in contemporary cultures.
Unit I - Nightmares with lipstick
Unit II: Fighting Women: from Nina Simone to Angela Davis and Toni Morrison
Diachronically, the course articulates a reflection on the end of what used to be the American dream, its failure and the current need to reshape it, imagining new and different forms of the fight for freedom and equality as basic needs stated by the US constitution. The selection of texts wants to foreground the prevailing issues concerning class, gender and race discriminations and the ways in which these are represented in documents, literature, filmic narratives and popular cultures.
The analysis deliberately includes documents, music, films and fiction, with the purpose of introducing a critical discourse on languages and genre contamination in contemporary cultures.
Unit I - Nightmares with lipstick
Unit II: Fighting Women: from Nina Simone to Angela Davis and Toni Morrison
Prerequisites for admission
students must have taken the exam of AngloAmerican Culture I. They must be able to read and understand complex texts in English and they must prove able to express their own critical position on the suggested issues, in a fluent though simple English. They maus also be familiar with the basic notions of British Cultural Studies, that will be given as pre-knowledges.
Teaching methods
Classes will develop on a lecture-based method, occasionally encouraging students to take parto to classroom discussions. Whenever possible, guest speakers of international relevance will be invited.
Teaching Resources
Unit I -Nightmares with lipstick
ATTENDING STUDENTS:
Documents:
Declaration of independence - Congress Assembled - July 4, 1776: http://www.foundingfathers.info/documents/decindep.html
Gettysburg address - Abraham Lincoln - Nov. 19, 1863: http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm
I have a dream - Martin Luther King - Aug 28, 1963: https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm
Yes We Can - Barack Obama, Jan 8, 2008:https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/us/politics/08text-obama.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dunIj0rzeU8
Victory Speech - Barack Obama Nov 4- 2008:
http://obamaspeeches.com/E11-Barack-Obama-Election-Night-Victory-Speech-Grant-Park-Illinois-November-4-2008.htm
Victory Speech - Donald Trump Nov. 9, 2016: https://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/09/politics/donald-trump-victory-speech/index.html; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsvy10D5rtc
Tweets - Donald Trump: https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2017/politics/trump-tweets/
Films:
John Ford, The Grapes of Wrath (1940) (Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOuAZLA_jWQ)
Raul Peck, I'm not your Negro (2016)
NON ATTENDING STUDENTS:
Documents:
Declaration of independence - Congress Assembled - July 4, 1776: http://www.foundingfathers.info/documents/decindep.html
Gettysburg address - Abraham Lincoln - Nov. 19, 1863: http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm
I have a dream - Martin Luther King - Aug 28, 1963: https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm
Yes We Can - Barack Obama, Jan 8, 2008: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/us/politics/08text-obama.html
Victory Speech - Barack Obama Nov 4 - 2008:
http://obamaspeeches.com/E11-Barack-Obama-Election-Night-Victory-Speech-Grant-Park-Illinois-November-4-2008.htm
Victory Speech - Donald Trump Nov. 9, 2016: https://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/09/politics/donald-trump-victory-speech/index.html; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsvy10D5rtc
Novel:
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (1939, any edition)
Bibliographical ref. as for history:
D. Campbell, D. Levinson (eds), This is America. A Short History of the United States (also Kindle Edition)
UNITA' II: Fighting Women: from Nina Simone to Angela Davis and Toni Morrison
ATTENDING STUDENTS:
Music and words:
Nina Simone, A selection of songs. Main ref.: http://www.ninasimone.com/; https://www.azlyrics.com/n/ninasimone.html
(the texts to work on will be uploaded on the course website)
Angela Davis, A selection of essays, mostly from Women, Race and Class, 1983 (uploaded on the course website)
Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987, any edition)
Films:
What happened, Miss Simone? (Liz Garbus, 2015)
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, 2019)
Critical resources (selection to be referred to in classroom practice):
M. G. Fabi, America nera: la cultura afroamericana (Roma, Carocci, 2002)
J. Forress Bennet, "Introducing Tony Morrison" (Jstor)
T.P. Caesar, "Slavery and Motherhood in Toni Morrison's Beloved" (Jstor)
D. A. Brooks, "Nina Simone's Triple Play" (Jstor)
NON ATTENDING STUDENTS
O. Butler, Kindred (1979, any edition)
Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987, any edition)
Nora K. Jemisin, The Fifth Season (2015, any edition)
Critical references:
M. G. Fabi, America nera: la cultura afroamericana (Roma, Carocci, 2002)
J. Forress Bennet, "Introducing Tony Morrison" (Jstor)
T.P. Caesar, "Slavery and Motherhood in Toni Morrison's Beloved" (Jstor)
Megan Obourn, "Octavia Butler's Disabled Futures" (Jstor)
NB: Students are required to get info on the authors, their works and their contexts.
ATTENDING STUDENTS:
Documents:
Declaration of independence - Congress Assembled - July 4, 1776: http://www.foundingfathers.info/documents/decindep.html
Gettysburg address - Abraham Lincoln - Nov. 19, 1863: http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm
I have a dream - Martin Luther King - Aug 28, 1963: https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm
Yes We Can - Barack Obama, Jan 8, 2008:https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/us/politics/08text-obama.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dunIj0rzeU8
Victory Speech - Barack Obama Nov 4- 2008:
http://obamaspeeches.com/E11-Barack-Obama-Election-Night-Victory-Speech-Grant-Park-Illinois-November-4-2008.htm
Victory Speech - Donald Trump Nov. 9, 2016: https://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/09/politics/donald-trump-victory-speech/index.html; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsvy10D5rtc
Tweets - Donald Trump: https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2017/politics/trump-tweets/
Films:
John Ford, The Grapes of Wrath (1940) (Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOuAZLA_jWQ)
Raul Peck, I'm not your Negro (2016)
NON ATTENDING STUDENTS:
Documents:
Declaration of independence - Congress Assembled - July 4, 1776: http://www.foundingfathers.info/documents/decindep.html
Gettysburg address - Abraham Lincoln - Nov. 19, 1863: http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm
I have a dream - Martin Luther King - Aug 28, 1963: https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm
Yes We Can - Barack Obama, Jan 8, 2008: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/us/politics/08text-obama.html
Victory Speech - Barack Obama Nov 4 - 2008:
http://obamaspeeches.com/E11-Barack-Obama-Election-Night-Victory-Speech-Grant-Park-Illinois-November-4-2008.htm
Victory Speech - Donald Trump Nov. 9, 2016: https://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/09/politics/donald-trump-victory-speech/index.html; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsvy10D5rtc
Novel:
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (1939, any edition)
Bibliographical ref. as for history:
D. Campbell, D. Levinson (eds), This is America. A Short History of the United States (also Kindle Edition)
UNITA' II: Fighting Women: from Nina Simone to Angela Davis and Toni Morrison
ATTENDING STUDENTS:
Music and words:
Nina Simone, A selection of songs. Main ref.: http://www.ninasimone.com/; https://www.azlyrics.com/n/ninasimone.html
(the texts to work on will be uploaded on the course website)
Angela Davis, A selection of essays, mostly from Women, Race and Class, 1983 (uploaded on the course website)
Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987, any edition)
Films:
What happened, Miss Simone? (Liz Garbus, 2015)
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, 2019)
Critical resources (selection to be referred to in classroom practice):
M. G. Fabi, America nera: la cultura afroamericana (Roma, Carocci, 2002)
J. Forress Bennet, "Introducing Tony Morrison" (Jstor)
T.P. Caesar, "Slavery and Motherhood in Toni Morrison's Beloved" (Jstor)
D. A. Brooks, "Nina Simone's Triple Play" (Jstor)
NON ATTENDING STUDENTS
O. Butler, Kindred (1979, any edition)
Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987, any edition)
Nora K. Jemisin, The Fifth Season (2015, any edition)
Critical references:
M. G. Fabi, America nera: la cultura afroamericana (Roma, Carocci, 2002)
J. Forress Bennet, "Introducing Tony Morrison" (Jstor)
T.P. Caesar, "Slavery and Motherhood in Toni Morrison's Beloved" (Jstor)
Megan Obourn, "Octavia Butler's Disabled Futures" (Jstor)
NB: Students are required to get info on the authors, their works and their contexts.
Assessment methods and Criteria
Attending students will be given the opportunity to sit for a midterm, written test graded as "PASS or FAIL"; final evaluation will be reckoned at the end of the oral exam. A specific syllabus will be provided for non-attending students; no mid-term is available for them and the whole syllabus will be tested during the oral interview, that will be in English.
Teaching Unit 1
L-LIN/11 - ANGLO - AMERICAN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor:
Vallorani Nicoletta
Shifts:
-
Professor:
Vallorani Nicoletta
Teaching Unit 2
L-LIN/11 - ANGLO - AMERICAN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor:
Caponi Paolo
Shifts:
-
Professor:
Caponi PaoloProfessor(s)