Cultures of the United States I

The course aims to provide advanced tools for the framing of the fundamental discursive strategies of U.S. cultural production and representation in the relevant spatial-temporal context and through the lens of the diversity of identity belonging (broadly defined as race, ethnicity, gender, social class, migratory status).
The course aims to provide students with the knowledge, methodological tools of analysis and conceptual categories necessary for the in-depth reading, contextualization, analysis and critical understanding of the texts addressed and related to the crucial narratives of U.S. culture in literary, historical, political, sociological, media and environmental contexts. It also aims, through class discussion, to promote the capacity for argumentative critical debate both as a tool for better understanding of texts and critical issues and as a goal in itself.

Students will be required to demonstrate in-depth knowledge of the historical, social and cultural contexts of the major U.S. narratives from the 1700s through contemporary times. Students must demonstrate mastery of the formal and thematic features of the texts under study, the historical and cultural issues addressed, and the categories of theoretical and conceptual reflection analyzed in the course. Therefore, they must be able to critically analyze and interpret the texts, place them in relation to their historical and cultural context, and reflect on their forms and modes of representation, demonstrating the ability to construct a rigorous, original and methodologically aware critical argumentation, supported by textual evidence and theoretical reflections, and to do so in critically appropriate English - both written and oral.