Faculty Profile
Nicoletta Marini Maio
(she/her/hers)Professor of Italian and Film Studies, Director of Mosaics (2007)
Contact Information
Bosler Hall Room 219
717-245-1592
http://blogs.dickinson.edu/marinin/
Bio
Professor Marini-Maio completed her Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in Italian cinema. She is the founding Editor of the international open-access peer reviewed journal gender/sexuality/italy. Her main fields of research are film studies and Italian cinema, particularly the intersections between politics, gender, cultural representations, popular culture, the narrative mode, and collective memory. She recently published a book on Silvio Berlusconi in cinema. Her monograph on the representation of left-wing terrorism in Italian film and theatre is near to completion. In addition, she published her research on the "decamerotici," a series of movies inspired by Boccaccio's Decameron produced in Italy in the 1970s, and on "Winx Club," an international comic strip and video series for young girls created in Italy. She has published articles on Italian cinema and theatre, Italian teaching pedagogy, and technology-enhanced language learning. In this areas, she has also co-edited the scholarly volumes "Set the Stage! Teaching Italian through Theater" (Yale University Press, 2009) and "Dramatic Interactions" (Cambridge Scholars, 2011). At Dickinson, where she is the Director of the Mosaics Programs, she is sharing with her students her passion for Italian culture and film studies. She is the Vice President of the American Association for italian Studies.
Education
- B.A., University of Perugia, Italy, 1986
- M.A., University of Rome, 1998
- M.A., University of Pennsylvania, 2001
- Ph.D., 2006
2023-2024 Academic Year
Fall 2023
FMST 101 Intro to Film Studies
An introductory study of the preeminent art form of the 20th Century. The course will focus upon the fundamentals of film study as an academic discipline, including formal analysis of film narrative and cinematic technique (the art of film), contextual approaches to film, study of various film genres, and rudimentary experience with film production. Students will be exposed to aesthetically and historically important films from a number of cultural traditions.
FMST 310 Demystifying Mafia Universe
Cross-listed with ITAL 323-01.Additional time slot: Wednesday 11:30-12:30 pm is for students taking the class for FLIC credit.Mafia is synonymous with organized crime, violence, underworld trafficking, and black market trade. It is identified as a secret organization that operates as a shadow state within a nation. However, due to popular stories and fictional narratives, the term Mafia has become so encrusted with legend and myth that it is difficult to establish its true nature and scope. Through an analysis of literary texts and films, this course explores and deconstructs the representations of the Italian Mafia in Italian and American film from the 1960s to today. We will discuss how these representations shifted as Italians have ceased to occupy the privileged category of the "immigrant" in American imagination and as Italy has transitioned from a country of emigration to one of immigration. We will then focus on how cinema and TV have registered the evolution of the Mafia from a local organization to a global network in the 21st century. We will also delve into the unique origins and challenges of the Italian anti-Mafia resistance and the threats of Eco-Mafia. In addition to raising key questions about cultural representation and power (stereotypes; immigration and national identity; racial, gender and class difference), the course will foster students' knowledge of film genres and techniques. Taught in English with a discussion session (FLIC) for Italian Studies majors, Italian minors, and INBM/IS majors. In addition to classroom time, films will also be shown throughout the semester (per the syllabus schedule).
ITAL 323 Demystifying Mafia Universe
Cross-listed with FMST 310-01.Additional time slot: Wednesday 11:30-12:30 pm is for students taking the class for FLIC credit in Bosler 305 and 306.Mafia is synonymous with organized crime, violence, underworld trafficking, and black market trade. It is identified as a secret organization that operates as a shadow state within a nation. However, due to popular stories and fictional narratives, the term Mafia has become so encrusted with legend and myth that it is difficult to establish its true nature and scope. Through an analysis of literary texts and films, this course explores and deconstructs the representations of the Italian Mafia in Italian and American film from the 1960s to today. We will discuss how these representations shifted as Italians have ceased to occupy the privileged category of the "immigrant" in American imagination and as Italy has transitioned from a country of emigration to one of immigration. We will then focus on how cinema and TV have registered the evolution of the Mafia from a local organization to a global network in the 21st century. We will also delve into the unique origins and challenges of the Italian anti-Mafia resistance and the threats of Eco-Mafia. In addition to raising key questions about cultural representation and power (stereotypes; immigration and national identity; racial, gender and class difference), the course will foster students' knowledge of film genres and techniques. Taught in English with a discussion session (FLIC) for Italian Studies majors, Italian minors, and INBM/IS majors. In addition to classroom time, films will also be shown throughout the semester (per the syllabus schedule).
Spring 2024
ITAL 231 Read/Writ Contemp Ital Culture
Designed to increase student's awareness of various rhetorical conventions and command of written Italian through analysis and imitation of model texts of a literary and non-literary nature.
Two and a half hours classroom and one hour laboratory per week. Prerequisite: 201 or the equivalent.
FMST 320 Dickinson Wears Prada
Cross-listed with ITAL 323-01.
Note: Part of the Fashioning the Body, Shaping the Nation Mosaic.
Additional Time Slot: Wed. 11:30-12:30 pm for FLIC Students in Bosler 310.
In Italian culture, fashion plays a vital role in enabling individuals to construct, sculpt and express their identities. This course examines Italian fashion as a cultural dimension, an industry, and an indicator of social change. We will analyze fashion "texts," such as ads, pictures, feature films, documentaries, television shows, fashion shows, magazines, and literary pieces to investigate the fashion universe from multiple critical perspectives (including history, semiotics, culture, ethnicity, and gender). A specific section will be devoted to explore sustainable fashion. This course is taught in Engiish. It can be taken on its own or as part of the spring 2024 mosaic, "Fashioning the Body, Shaping the Nation: Fashion through the lens of History, Culture, Gender, and Race."
ITAL 323 Dickinson Wears Prada
Cross-listed with FMST 320-01.
Part of the Fashioning the Body, Shaping the Nation Mosaic. Additional Time Slot Wednesday 11:30-12:30pm for FLIC Students in Bosler 310.
In Italian culture, fashion plays a vital role in enabling individuals to construct, sculpt and express their identities. This course examines Italian fashion as a cultural dimension, an industry, and an indicator of social change. We will analyze fashion "texts," such as ads, pictures, feature films, documentaries, television shows, fashion shows, magazines, and literary pieces to investigate the fashion universe from multiple critical perspectives (including history, semiotics, culture, ethnicity, and gender). A specific section will be devoted to explore sustainable fashion. This course is taught in English. It can be taken on its own or as part of the spring 2024 mosaic, "Fashioning the Body, Shaping the Nation: Fashion through the lens of History, Culture, Gender, and Race."
AMST 500 Independent Study
Cross-listed with WGSS 500-01, HIST 500-01, FMST 500-01 and ITAL 500-01. Permission of Instructor Required. Part of the Fashioning the Body, Shaping the Nation Mosaic.
FMST 500 Independent Study
Cross-listed with WGSS 500-01, HIST 500-01, AMST 500-01 and ITAL 500-01. Permission of Instructor Required. Part of the Fashioning the Body, Shaping the Nation Mosaic.
HIST 500 Independent Study
Cross-listed with WGSS 500-01, FMST 500-01, AMST 500-01 and ITAL 500-01. Permission of Instructor Required. Part of the Fashioning the Body, Shaping the Nation Mosaic.
ITAL 500 Independent Study
Cross-listed with WGSS 500-01, HIST 500-01, AMST 500-01 and FMST 500-01. Permission of Instructor Required. Part of the Fashioning the Body, Shaping the Nation Mosaic.
WGSS 500 WGSS Independent Study
Cross-listed with AMST 500-01, HIST 500-01, FMST 500-01 and ITAL 500-01. Permission of Instructor Required. Part of the Fashioning the Body, Shaping the Nation Mosaic.
ITAL 550 Independent Research