Cultures of the United States I
A.Y. 2026/2027
Learning objectives
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.
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.
Expected learning outcomes
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.
Lesson period: First semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course can be attended as a single course.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
First semester
Course syllabus
Feminisms in American Culture: From the 19th Century to the Present
The course is organized into three units. The first unit examines selected foundational myths and key concepts (keywords) that are essential to understanding the history and culture of the United States, from its origins to the present day. The second and third units adopt an interdisciplinary historical and cultural approach to the evolution of American feminisms, tracing their development from the nineteenth-century suffrage movement through second-wave feminism of the 1960s and 1970s to the most recent developments, including the successive waves of feminist thought and activism.
Particular attention will be devoted to an intersectional perspective, exploring how gender, race, class, sexuality, and other dimensions of identity intersect in the production of inequality as well as in forms of resistance, thereby contributing to the plurality and complexity of contemporary feminisms.
Historical and cultural analysis will be complemented by the close reading of literary texts (short stories and novels) and the viewing and discussion of documentary films, which will serve as key sources for examining the changing representations of gender and identity in American culture from the nineteenth century to the present.
Unit 1: Myths, Keywords, Foundational Texts
Pocahontas, Wilderness, Witch Hunt, City upon a Hill, Exceptionalism, Declaration of Independence, Pursuit of Happiness, Lost Cause, Frontier, Civil Religion, American Dream, Essentialism.
The course is organized into three units. The first unit examines selected foundational myths and key concepts (keywords) that are essential to understanding the history and culture of the United States, from its origins to the present day. The second and third units adopt an interdisciplinary historical and cultural approach to the evolution of American feminisms, tracing their development from the nineteenth-century suffrage movement through second-wave feminism of the 1960s and 1970s to the most recent developments, including the successive waves of feminist thought and activism.
Particular attention will be devoted to an intersectional perspective, exploring how gender, race, class, sexuality, and other dimensions of identity intersect in the production of inequality as well as in forms of resistance, thereby contributing to the plurality and complexity of contemporary feminisms.
Historical and cultural analysis will be complemented by the close reading of literary texts (short stories and novels) and the viewing and discussion of documentary films, which will serve as key sources for examining the changing representations of gender and identity in American culture from the nineteenth century to the present.
Unit 1: Myths, Keywords, Foundational Texts
Pocahontas, Wilderness, Witch Hunt, City upon a Hill, Exceptionalism, Declaration of Independence, Pursuit of Happiness, Lost Cause, Frontier, Civil Religion, American Dream, Essentialism.
Prerequisites for admission
Students must be able to read and understand complex texts in English and to express a well-structured critical opinion on the proposed content, also demonstrating good methodological competence.
Teaching methods
The course combines lectures with seminar-style discussions based on both in-class activities—close reading and close watching—and preparatory work completed at home through a flipped classroom approach.
In addition, three class sessions (equivalent to 10% of the course's total 60 contact hours) will be devoted to focused textual analysis using Microsoft Whiteboard, a collaborative digital tool already integrated into the ecosystem used by UNIMI students. These sessions fall within the categories of Interactive Teaching, E-tivity, and Assignment.
The sessions will focus on the semantic, rhetorical, and cultural analysis of two short stories included in the syllabus. Microsoft Whiteboard will transform reading into an active, visual, and collaborative process through shared text annotation, collaborative interpretive questions, peer discussion and response, and guided close reading activities.
In addition, three class sessions (equivalent to 10% of the course's total 60 contact hours) will be devoted to focused textual analysis using Microsoft Whiteboard, a collaborative digital tool already integrated into the ecosystem used by UNIMI students. These sessions fall within the categories of Interactive Teaching, E-tivity, and Assignment.
The sessions will focus on the semantic, rhetorical, and cultural analysis of two short stories included in the syllabus. Microsoft Whiteboard will transform reading into an active, visual, and collaborative process through shared text annotation, collaborative interpretive questions, peer discussion and response, and guided close reading activities.
Teaching Resources
Required Primary Texts
Fiction (any edition)
· Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper" (1892) - Open Access, available online via Minerva (UNIMI)
· Edith Wharton, "Roman Fever" (1934) - available online
· Grace Paley, "Faith in a Tree" (1967) - available online
· Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar (1963) - any edition; also available at the Sesto Campus Library
Documentaries
· Miss America, directed by Lisa Ades (2002) - available at the Sesto Campus Library
· Feminist, directed by Jennifer Lee (2013) - available at the Sesto Campus Library
· Yours in Sisterhood, directed by Irene Lusztig (2018) - available at the Sesto Campus Library
Required Critical Bibliography
Students must choose 12 chapters/articles from the list below, according to their interests. All readings are available digitally (via Minerva/Open Access) or through the University of Milan Library System: https://sba.unimi.it/.
Students are required to present the list of the 12 selected readings during the oral examination.
Students are strongly advised to download the required materials as early as possible from the University Library website (https://sba.unimi.it/).
Students who take and pass the midterm examination are required to prepare 9 chapters/articles for the final oral examination instead of 12. The critical reference text for preparing the midterm is Donatella Izzo, Letteratura degli Stati Uniti d'America, Vols. I and II (see below).
Nancy E. Cott (ed.), History of Women in the United States, Vol. 20: Feminist Struggle for Sex Equality (1994)
Choose one or more of the following chapters (Open Access via Minerva):
· M. A. Hill, Charlotte Perkins Gilman: A Feminist's Struggle with Womanhood
· P. Geidel, The National Woman's Party and the Origins of the ERA, 1920-23
· J. Sealander, Feminist Against Feminist: The First Phase of the ERA Debate, 1923-1963
· B. T. Dill, Race, Class, and Gender: Prospects for an All-Inclusive Sisterhood
Maggie Humm, The Dictionary of Feminist Theory (2003)
· Choose five entries (Open Access via Minerva)
Adrienne Trier-Bieniek, Feminist Theory and Pop Culture (2019)
· Choose one chapter (Open Access via Minerva)
Amy Erdman Farrell, Yours in Sisterhood: Ms. Magazine and the Promise of Popular Feminism (1998)
· Choose one chapter (Open Access via Minerva)
Mary Pernal, Explorations on Contemporary Feminist Literature (2002)
· Choose one chapter (Open Access via Minerva)
K. M. Stanchi et al. (eds.), Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court (2016)
· Chapter 8: "Roe v. Wade" (1973) (Open Access via Minerva)
Angie Maxwell (ed.), The Legacy of Second-Wave Feminism in American Politics (2018)
· Choose one chapter (Open Access via Minerva)
Caroline J. Smith, Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, Mademoiselle Magazine and the Domestic Ideal (2010)
· Article (Open Access via Minerva)
Renée Dowbnta, Consuming Appetites: Food, Sex, and Freedom in Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar (2014)
· Article (Open Access via Minerva)
Janet McCann, The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath (2012)
· Choose one chapter (Open Access via Minerva)
Donatella Izzo, Letteratura degli Stati Uniti d'America, Vol. II: XX e XXI secolo (2026)
· Keywords (available at the School of Mediation Library)
Kathleen Wilson (ed.), Short Stories for Students, Vol. 1: "The Yellow Wallpaper" (1997), pp. 277-292
· Article (Open Access via Minerva)
Ira Mark Milne (ed.), Short Stories for Students, Vol. 7: "Roman Fever" (2000), pp. 298-315
· Article (Open Access via Minerva)
Additional Requirements for Non-Attending Students
In addition to the required primary texts and critical bibliography, non-attending students must read one of the following novels (any edition):
· Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence (1920)
· Alice Walker, The Color Purple (1982)
Fiction (any edition)
· Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper" (1892) - Open Access, available online via Minerva (UNIMI)
· Edith Wharton, "Roman Fever" (1934) - available online
· Grace Paley, "Faith in a Tree" (1967) - available online
· Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar (1963) - any edition; also available at the Sesto Campus Library
Documentaries
· Miss America, directed by Lisa Ades (2002) - available at the Sesto Campus Library
· Feminist, directed by Jennifer Lee (2013) - available at the Sesto Campus Library
· Yours in Sisterhood, directed by Irene Lusztig (2018) - available at the Sesto Campus Library
Required Critical Bibliography
Students must choose 12 chapters/articles from the list below, according to their interests. All readings are available digitally (via Minerva/Open Access) or through the University of Milan Library System: https://sba.unimi.it/.
Students are required to present the list of the 12 selected readings during the oral examination.
Students are strongly advised to download the required materials as early as possible from the University Library website (https://sba.unimi.it/).
Students who take and pass the midterm examination are required to prepare 9 chapters/articles for the final oral examination instead of 12. The critical reference text for preparing the midterm is Donatella Izzo, Letteratura degli Stati Uniti d'America, Vols. I and II (see below).
Nancy E. Cott (ed.), History of Women in the United States, Vol. 20: Feminist Struggle for Sex Equality (1994)
Choose one or more of the following chapters (Open Access via Minerva):
· M. A. Hill, Charlotte Perkins Gilman: A Feminist's Struggle with Womanhood
· P. Geidel, The National Woman's Party and the Origins of the ERA, 1920-23
· J. Sealander, Feminist Against Feminist: The First Phase of the ERA Debate, 1923-1963
· B. T. Dill, Race, Class, and Gender: Prospects for an All-Inclusive Sisterhood
Maggie Humm, The Dictionary of Feminist Theory (2003)
· Choose five entries (Open Access via Minerva)
Adrienne Trier-Bieniek, Feminist Theory and Pop Culture (2019)
· Choose one chapter (Open Access via Minerva)
Amy Erdman Farrell, Yours in Sisterhood: Ms. Magazine and the Promise of Popular Feminism (1998)
· Choose one chapter (Open Access via Minerva)
Mary Pernal, Explorations on Contemporary Feminist Literature (2002)
· Choose one chapter (Open Access via Minerva)
K. M. Stanchi et al. (eds.), Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court (2016)
· Chapter 8: "Roe v. Wade" (1973) (Open Access via Minerva)
Angie Maxwell (ed.), The Legacy of Second-Wave Feminism in American Politics (2018)
· Choose one chapter (Open Access via Minerva)
Caroline J. Smith, Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, Mademoiselle Magazine and the Domestic Ideal (2010)
· Article (Open Access via Minerva)
Renée Dowbnta, Consuming Appetites: Food, Sex, and Freedom in Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar (2014)
· Article (Open Access via Minerva)
Janet McCann, The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath (2012)
· Choose one chapter (Open Access via Minerva)
Donatella Izzo, Letteratura degli Stati Uniti d'America, Vol. II: XX e XXI secolo (2026)
· Keywords (available at the School of Mediation Library)
Kathleen Wilson (ed.), Short Stories for Students, Vol. 1: "The Yellow Wallpaper" (1997), pp. 277-292
· Article (Open Access via Minerva)
Ira Mark Milne (ed.), Short Stories for Students, Vol. 7: "Roman Fever" (2000), pp. 298-315
· Article (Open Access via Minerva)
Additional Requirements for Non-Attending Students
In addition to the required primary texts and critical bibliography, non-attending students must read one of the following novels (any edition):
· Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence (1920)
· Alice Walker, The Color Purple (1982)
Assessment methods and Criteria
· Attending Students:
May take a midterm test after Unit 1. If passed, Unit 1 will be excluded from the final oral exam. The midterm consists of two open-ended written questions (90 min) and contributes to the final grade. Midterm grades (in 30esimi) are valid for all exams held from January to September 2027.
· Non-Attending Students & Others:
Final oral examination covering all required materials.
For attending students, the final assessment will also take into account the quality of their active, informed, and critically engaged participation in class discussions and course activities.
May take a midterm test after Unit 1. If passed, Unit 1 will be excluded from the final oral exam. The midterm consists of two open-ended written questions (90 min) and contributes to the final grade. Midterm grades (in 30esimi) are valid for all exams held from January to September 2027.
· Non-Attending Students & Others:
Final oral examination covering all required materials.
For attending students, the final assessment will also take into account the quality of their active, informed, and critically engaged participation in class discussions and course activities.
ANGL-01/B - Anglo-American Literature - University credits: 9
Lessons: 60 hours
Professor:
Scarpino Cinzia
Professor(s)