Interdisciplinary Graduate Program

Description:

Italian Studies at Brown not only teaches language and literature to students, but guides their research toward problems that are cross-disciplinary in both content and method, rather than merely confirming a fixed canon or predetermined field of study.

The interdisciplinary program in Italian Studies offers students the opportunity to study the literature, history and culture of Italy under the guidance of internationally renowned scholars in Anthropology, History, History of Art, Literature and Media. Our program draws on traditional alliances with Comparative Literature, Musicology, and Philosophy, but we also join forces with disciplines such as History of Science, Film Studies, Cultural Studies, Women's Studies, and the use of Computers for the Humanities. Recent Ph.D. graduates have consistently published their dissertations on topics ranging from medieval to contemporary literature and culture, and currently teach at such institutions as the University of Massachusetts, the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University and Wellesley College.

Our object of study, that "geographical expression" that was and is Italia, has long been central to that "greater" Mediterranean that Fernand Braudel conceived as stretching from Cathay to the Americas; it has also been a conduit in time, funneling antique cultures to the nation states of Early Modern Europe. In its own history Italy has been the stage for moments of cultural achievement that have been both widely extolled and vehemently decried. Italy's middle ages gave us Giotto and Boccaccio, but also perfected the instruments of economic rationalization and global capitalism; Paolo Toscanelli's mathematics and Guarino Veronese's translation of Strabo helped pave the way for Columbus and the conquest of the New World; Renaissance popes employed Raphael and Michelangelo to update the lustre of ancient Rome, but also set loose the Inquisition and established the Index of Forbidden books. In the 19th century, Italy became one of the great laboratories of social experiment, from modern nationalism to mass emigration; during the twentieth century, through film, futurism, and fascism, Italy led the way in making the radical turn to technology that characterizes our own age, exercising a true cultural hegemony in style, fashion and design. In the 21st century Italy is once again playing an important role in the creation of Europe as a cultural and economic unit, even as its political system seems to be perennially in crisis and Italy's national identity itself is transformed by the parallel processes of immigration and globalization. We take understanding these phenomena in their fully described and often problematic historical, material, and social contexts as the proper challenge to our scholarly and intellectual ambitions.

The Doctoral program in Italian Studies is aimed at preparing students for academic positions in a market that is shifting its traditional focus from language and literature teaching positions toward an interdisciplinary “cultural studies” perspective. One of the fundamental assets we offer our students, in preparation for their career, is advanced training and intensive experience in teaching language and culture at various levels, along with preparation in the most current teaching methodologies.

Requirements for the Ph.D.

There are three stages in the Ph.D. program: 1) Preparation for Candidacy, which includes Coursework, the First Year Review and fulfillment of the Teaching and Foreign Language Requirement; 2) Advancement to Candidacy, which includes the Preliminary Examination and the writing of an approved Dissertation Proposal; and 3) the writing of a Dissertation in completion of the degree.

NOTA BENE: The Graduate School requires a total of 24 credits to complete the Ph.D. degree. For students entering with an M.A. or Laurea,* up to 8 credits can be transferred from the M.A. or Laurea granting institution, upon Advancement to Candidacy. Credits reflect a combination of coursework, independent study and preparation for Examinations, etc., including the completion of the Dissertation (1 credit is assigned to each course, independent study, Preliminary Examination preparation, and Dissertation work).

1) Preparation for Candidacy.

1.1 Course requirements.

At least 12 courses in Italian Studies are required of doctoral students. All courses must be taken at the 1000-, or 2000-level (Brown designates 1000-level courses as upper-level undergraduate courses and those at the 2000-level courses as graduate courses). The following are courses required of all graduate students:

IT2100 Introduction to Italian Studies (1st year)

IT02820 Italian Studies Colloquium (offered every Spring semester) When in residency, all students are expected to attend the colloquium for credit once and for audit thereafter.

IT02900 Teaching Methodology (no later than the first semester of the second year).

Graduate students are required to take three courses in Medieval/Early Modern Italian Studies (one must be on Dante), and three courses in Modern/Contemporary Italian Studies. Graduate students are also required to take at least one course in three out of four disciplinary fields (Italian literature; Italian history and anthropology; history of Italian art and architecture; Italian film and media studies). However, one course can fulfill both the chronological and the field requirement (for example: a course in Renaissance art can fulfill both the Medieval/Early Modern and the field requirement). In either area (Medieval/Early Modern or Modern/Contemporary Italian Studies) students may enroll in one independent study course (IT 2920: Reading and Research) in order to fulfill their requirements in that area.

Students entering the program with a fellowship normally take 8 courses or independent studies in their first year. Students entering with a Teaching Assistantship are permitted to take up to 6 courses or independent studies.

1.2 First Year Review.

At the end of the first year, each student – whether entering with a B.A. or an M.A. – will participate in a review of his or her progress in the program. This review by the Department Graduate Committee (GC) will be based on a sample of work completed during the year (e.g. seminar papers) and on reports by the student’s instructors. The Graduate Committee will meet with the student to discuss the materials submitted and the student’s performance and to advise the student about possible fields for the Preliminary Examination.

On the basis of the First Year Review, the GC will make a recommendation to the department as to whether the student may continue in the Ph.D. program. The committee can decide to award an M.A. and recommend that the student proceed towards advanced candidacy; or the GC can award the student an M.A. but determine that the student should not continue in the Ph.D. program.

Students who have entered the department with an M.A. and who have completed all the first year requirements may elect to receive a Brown University M.A. at their discretion.

1.3 Foreign Language Requirement.

2 Foreign languages, other than English and Italian, are required. Examinations in other languages are administered by the relevant departments, and coursework in the FL at 1000-level may also fulfill the requirement.

1.4 Teaching Requirement

A minimum of two years of teaching experience is required for the degree.

2) Advancement to Candidacy

2.1 Preliminary Examination

Students entering the program with a B.A. are expected to take the Preliminary Examination (PE) by the end of the 5th-semester (Semester 1 of the third year). Students entering with an M.A. are expected to take the PE by the end of the 4th-semester (second year). Successful completion of the PE authorizes the candidate to proceed with the dissertation proposal. All course requirements and the First Year Review must be successfully completed prior to the PE.

There are three necessary steps for the preparation and completion of the PE: 1) The student must define his or her fields of examination and form a PE committee; 2) He or she must select a list of texts and other materials for the examination in consultation with the PE committee; 3) The student must take the examination.

Defining the fields and constituting a committee: By the end of the second year for students entering the program with a B.A. or the end of the third semester for those entering with an M.A., candidates must define three fields, one primary and two secondary. The candidate must also form a committee of at least two faculty members in Italian Studies and designate a chair for that committee. It is the student’s responsibility to approach a prospective chair and ask whether he or she is willing to serve on the committee. It is also the student’s responsibility to make arrangements with the committee members in order to prepare for the PE.

Taken together, the three fields should delimit academic area(s) in which the student is preparing to teach, as well the scholarly context(s) for the student's projected research. The configuration of the fields for all students will be as follows:

*Field 1: Medieval/Early Modern or Modern/Contemporary Italian Studies.
*Field 2: A theoretical, disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspective within field 1 (or across fields): ex. microhistory, history of the book, gender studies, literary theory, political symbolism, film studies, computing for the humanities, etc.;
*Field 3: An elective field such as a specific topic, theme or author within field 1: ex. Dante or Boccaccio studies, Renaissance or Baroque theatre and architecture, history of the family, fascism, (post)colonialism, migrant literature and film, etc.

Reading Lists for the PE. The candidate must submit three field lists, one for each field, of at least 40-30-20 (for each list respectively) key scholarly books or the equivalent materials, such as articles and chapters, or media materials (films, etc.). All of these texts should be chosen in consultation with the student’s committee members, and the final lists must be approved by the PE committee.

The Preliminary Examination. The PE consists in a written and an oral part. Part One (written examination): A take-home written exam, consisting in answers to three questions, one for each field, formulated by the PE committee and based on the lists previously submitted and approved. The candidate will have one week (Friday 9 a.m. to the following Friday 5 p.m.) to complete the assignment. Part Two (oral examination): A two-hour discussion of the written exam and field lists. This part of the exam will begin from but not be limited to the student’s written exam and the core field bibliographies. It will probe the student’s understanding of his or her field and the debates within them. The purpose of the PE is to establish both the breadth and the depth of the student’s competence and knowledge in those areas where he or she plans to teach and do research. Upon the completion of the PE, the committee will come to one of the following determinations: a) Pass; or b) directed to retake the exam. Students may retake the exam once.

2.2 The Dissertation Proposal

After passing the preliminary examination, the candidate proceeds to the dissertation proposal. He or she forms a dissertation committee, writes a dissertation proposal, en route to writing the dissertation and finishing the degree.

It is the student's responsibility to approach a faculty member and ask if he or she is willing to serve as dissertation director. The candidate then constitutes a dissertation committee, in consultation with the dissertation director. The dissertation committee normally consists of three faculty members, at least two of whom must be in Italian Studies or affiliated with the Department. (In some cases, a candidate may request an additional faculty member – including one from another university – when it is necessary to cover unusual interests or fields pertinent to the dissertation.) The dissertation committee is often the same as the Preliminary Examination committee, but this is not required.

The candidate then writes a dissertation proposal in consultation with committee members. The dissertation proposal should furnish a clear description of the object or concern of the study, the methodological, historical or literary issues raised in the dissertation, the scholarly context and bibliography within which the work positions itself, as well as its the organization and structure.

The dissertation is generally a book-length study. It must constitute an original contribution to its fields of concern and meet the highest standards of scholarly competence. Even with a firm idea about the dissertation topic, the student should not assume that he or she can write the proposal quickly and gain fast approval by the committee. Since this is probably the first time a student will conduct research of this scale, the committee will want to ensure that the proposal demonstrates not only intellectual and scholarly depth, range, and significance; the committee will also be concerned that the project is feasible and can be completed within a reasonable amount of time.

When the candidate and the dissertation director believe the proposal is ready, the committee will hold a dissertation proposal meeting with the candidate. The committee will either approve the proposal or recommend revisions. The student must submit a file copy of the final, approved proposal, along with a cover sheet signed by all members of the committee, to the Director of Graduate Studies. A file of previous dissertation proposals is kept in the Italian Studies Department office and is available for students to consult.

* Laurea quadriennale, or “specialistica (3+2 year).