ITALIAN STUDIES COURSES SPRING 2013
Language and Culture Courses
ITAL0200 - Elementary Italian
Elective for students without previous training in Italian. No credit for first semester alone. Fundamentals of Italian grammar and development of skills in speaking, comprehension, and writing. Overview of contemporary Italian society. Sufficient for enrollment in the Bologna Program. Five meetings per week, audio and video work, two Italian films. Note: This is a year course.
ITAL0200 - S01 – 23836
M.,W.,F. 1:00-1:50 PM and T.,Th. 1:00-2:20 PM
ITAL0200 S02 – 23837
M.,W.,F. 10:00-10:50 AM and T.,Th. 9:00-10:20 AM
ITAL0200 S03 – 23838
M.,W.,F. 10:00-10:50 AM and T.,Th. 10:30-11:50AM
ITAL0200 S04 – 23839
M.,W.,F. 12:00-12:50 PM and T.,Th. 10:30-11:50AM
ITAL0400 Intermediate Italian II
Review of specific grammar problems. Reading of one novel and newspaper articles. Compositions and oral presentations. Three Italian films. Prereq: IT 300, or placement by examination.
ITAL0400 S01 – 23865
M.,W. 12:00- 12:50 AM and T.,Th. 12:00-12:50 PM
ITAL0400 S03 - 23867
M.,W. 2:00- 2:50 PM and T.,Th. 12:00-12:50 PM
ITAL0600 Advanced Italian II - 23868
Continuation of 500. Emphasis on formal and informal styles of writing and speaking, using literary and nonliterary texts. Compositions, oral presentations, and film screenings. Prerequisite: IT 500, placement by examination, or written permission.
IT0600 S01 - T.,Th. 2:30- 3:50 PM
Instructor: Cristina Abbona-Sneider
Literature and Culture Courses
ITAL1020 – 24255 - Boccaccio's "Decameron"
Close study and discussion of Boccaccio's collection of 100 tales told by ten narrators over a period of two weeks, while in flight from the devastating plague of 1348. The Decameron defined the standard of Italian prose narrative for almost four centuries, and furnished a great number of the plots of Italian (and French and English) Renaissance drama. Students will be invited to contribute to the Decameron Web, the Boccaccio award-winning web site administered by the department of Italian Studies. Other, shorter, works of Boccaccio will be read to prepare for tackling the Decameron. Sections in both English and Italian.
Instructor: Ronald Martinez
IT 1020 S01 – Tu+Th. 1-2:20PM
ITAL1350A –23871 - Naratives for theNext Millenium: Italian Mysteries and the New Italian Epic
"New Italian Epic" (Wu Ming 1) describes a body of literary works published in Italy between 1993 and 2010. Blending fiction and non-fiction, many of these works investigate shady aspects of Italian history and society, such as organized crime and political corruption. The term has also been applied to cinematic works such as Matteo Garrone's film Gomorrah (based on Roberto Saviano's best seller of the same name) and other multi-media hybrids emerging from the contemporary world of garage media. We will explore this textual/visual mini-corpus, within the context of the Berlusconi era. Taught in Italian.
Instructor: Massimo RIVA
Tu+Th 2:30-3:50PM
ITAL1390 – 24400 - Modern Italy
Examination of Italian society, culture, and politics over the past two centuries. Topics include: the struggle to unify Italy in the 19th Century; the creation of a national identity; the political role of the Catholic Church; changing family life and gender relations; conflict between North and South; Mussolini and the fascist ventennio; and the struggle for political stability over the past 50 years.
Instructor: Prof. David Kertzer
Tu+Th: 9-10:20AM
ITAL1400J – 23869 - The Many Faces of Casanova
Philosopher or charlatan, magician or trickster, seducer or seduced, Casanova's life contains multitudes. His name, unlike those of Sade or Sacher Masoch, does not designate a "perversion," but a sort of exuberant hetero-sexual "normalcy." He is the Venetian alter-ego (and possibly real-life inspiration) of Mozart's Don Juan. In this course, we will dissect the myth of Casanova, from his own monumental autobiography to novels, films and plays which cast him as protagonist (films by Federico Fellini, Ettore Scola, Lasse Hallström, impersonations by Donald Sutherland, Marcello Mastroianni and Heath Leger). Lectures in English; discussion group in Italian.
Instructor: Massimo RIVA
Tu+Th 10:30-11:50AM
Truth on Trial: Justice in Italy, 1400-1800 HIST1430) - ITAL1431
Interested students must register for HIST 1430 S01 (CRN 24748).
Law courts had a profound impact on Italian society and culture between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Law courts helped define what constituted deviance, legitimate knowledge, and individual rights. They did so in a long ago world in which it was possible to imagine that some gifted individuals could fly, that certain people were created superior to others, and that the sun revolved around the earth. From the persecution of heretics and witches, to the trial of Galileo and the increasing use of courts by women and other marginalized groups, the Italian legal arena mediated what was political, social, scientific, and religious truth. By the eighteenth century many judicial practices came under criticism, including the use of torture and the death penalty. How did reformers attempt to remake the legal regime and the society in which it was by then so intricately entangled? LILE WRIT P
nstructor: Prof. Caroline Castiglione
Tu+Th. 1-2:20PM
ITAL1620 - The Divina Commedia: Dante's Paradiso: Justifying a Cosmos - 24256
Close study of the third and final part of Divine Comedy, in which Dante unfolds how, in his view, the planetary and stellar spheres condition human lilfe and fashion the Providential plan of history. There will be ancillary readings from Dante's other works: Convivio, the Monarchia, and the Epistles. In Italian. Prerequisite: IT 0500 or 0600.
Instructor: Ronald Martinez
M 3-5:20PM
ITAL2050 - Microhistory – 23884
Italian historians pioneered a methodology called "microhistory," emphasizing the importance of interpreting seemingly insignificant details in order to understand individuals for whom we typically have little information. We will examine some classic examples of this genre, alongside debates about the method. Students should pursue their own geographic and disciplinary interests in the final assignment by writing a microhistory.
Instructor: Prof. Caroline Castiglione
W 3-5:20 PM
ITAL 2820 - S01 - Italian Studies Colloquium - 24257
The Italian Studies Colloquium is a forum for an exchange of ideas and work of the community of Italian scholars at Brown and invited outside scholars. Students are expected to come prepared with informed questions on the topic presented. Presentations in both Italian and English. Written permission required.
Instructor: Ronald Martinez
W. 5:30-7:00PM
ITALIAN STUDIES COURSES FALL 2012
ITAL0100 - Elementary Italian
Elective for students without previous training in Italian. No credit for first semester alone. Fundamentals of Italian grammar and development of skills in speaking, comprehension, and writing. Overview of contemporary Italian society. Five meetings per week, audio and video work, two Italian films. Note: This is a year course.
ITAL0100 S01 – 14414
M.,W.,F. 1:00-1:50 PM and T.,Th. 1:00-2:20 PM
ITAL0100 S02 – 14415
M.,W.,F. 10:00-10:50 AM and T.,Th. 9:00-10:20 AM
ITAL0100 S03 – 14416
M.,W.,F. 10:00-10:50 AM and T.,Th. 10:30-11:50AM
ITAL0100 S04 – 14417
M.,W.,F. 11:00-11:50 AM and T.,Th. 10:30-11:50AM
ITAL0300 - Intermediate Italian I
Review of the fundamentals of grammar, with emphasis on speaking and writing. Reading of representative short stories. Weekly compositions, presentations, and a paper. Three Italian films. Prerequisite: IT 100-200, or placement by examination. Requirement for enrollment in the Bologna Program.
ITAL0300 S01 – 14419
M.,W. 2:00- 2:50 PM and T.,Th. 12:00-12:50 PM
ITAL0300 S03 – 144210
M.,W. 1:00- 1:50 PM and T.,Th. 1:00-1:50 PM
ITAL0500 - 14459 - Advanced Italian I
The purpose of this advanced course is to improve speaking and writing skills by offering extensive practice in a variety of styles and forms. Students will discuss various aspects of contemporary Italian culture. Reading, analysis and class discussion of texts (articles, songs, pictures, short stories, movies and television), oral presentations based on research, and a writing portfolio (compositions, essays, blog and a journal). . Three meetings per week plus film screenings. Prerequisites: ITAL0400, or placement by examination.
W. 2-2:50PM+
T.,Th. 2:30- 3:50 PM – Prof. Abbona-Sneider
ITAL0751 - 14472 - When Leaders Lie: Machiavelli in International Context
This course examines the the writing of Niccolo Machiavelli, a Renaissance author praised and condemned for his insistence of analyzing the realities of politics, rather than the ideals of political behavior. Machiavelli’s view of the tenuous relationship of ethics to politics has cast him as the founder of political science, the architect of realpolitik, and the proponent of “consequential morality” or the notion that the end justifies the means. We will also examine precedents for his ideas in the Greek and Islamic world and conclude by examining the relevance of Maciavelli’s insights for understanding political practices and ethics in the twenty-first century. Enrollment limit to 20 first year students. Instructor permission required. FYS LILE WRIT
W 3-5:20PM - Prof. Castiglione
ITAL 1340 – 14460 – Garibaldi Panorama: the Invention of a Hero (from pre-cinema to digital)
Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) is the ultimate 19th-century icon, a larger-than-life figure in the struggle for Italy's unification. In this course, we will focus on the critical role of media in shaping Garibaldi’s image and career as the first tabloid Super-Hero of modern times: from the Garibaldi panorama, a 270-foot-long painted scroll, to 20th-century films. Students will use touch screens and interactive software to study the panorama and explore extensive archival materials from the Brown Library digital repository. Selected projects will be published online. Taught in English, discussion group in Italian.
W 3-5:20PM - Prof. Riva
ITAL1580 – 14483 – Word, Image and Power in Renaissance Italy
This class is designed to introduce cultural and historical perspectives on Italy from Siena in the Middle Ages to Venice in the High Renaissance. Taught by professors of Italian Literature, Art History and History, we will move across Italy and the centuries focusing on monuments of literature, art, architecture, and history through different disciplinary lenses. WRI
M, W and F1-1:50PM – Profs. Caroline Castiglione, Evelyn Lincoln and Ronald Martinez
ITAL1610 - The Divina Commedia: Inferno and Purgatorio
A close reading of the first two canticles of Dante's poem in the light of contemporary European and American critical interpretations. In Italian.
Th. 4:00- 6:20PM - R. L. MARTINEZ
ITAL 2100 - Introduction to Italian Studies
Introduction to problems, instruments, and techniques of interdisciplinary research, as applicable to Italian studies (anthropology, history, art history, literary and media studies, including computing for the humanities). Taught in Italian for graduate students or concentrators.
M3-5:20PM – M.Riva
ITAL 2820A – 14940 - Italian Studies Colloquium
The Italian Studies Colloquium is a forum for an exchange of ideas and work of the community of Italian scholars at Brown and invited outside scholars. Students are expected to come prepared with informed questions on the topic presented. Presentations in both Italian and English. Written permission required.
Wednesday 5:30-7.00PM - Ronald Martinez