2018-2019 Academic Year

Fall 2018

FYSM 100 First-Year Seminar
The First-Year Seminar (FYS) introduces students to Dickinson as a "community of inquiry" by developing habits of mind essential to liberal learning. Through the study of a compelling issue or broad topic chosen by their faculty member, students will: - Critically analyze information and ideas - Examine issues from multiple perspectives - Discuss, debate and defend ideas, including one's own views, with clarity and reason - Develop discernment, facility and ethical responsibility in using information, and - Create clear academic writing The small group seminar format of this course promotes discussion and interaction among students and their professor. In addition, the professor serves as students' initial academic advisor. This course does not duplicate in content any other course in the curriculum and may not be used to fulfill any other graduation requirement.

MEST 200 Italian Colonialism
Cross-listed with ITAL 323-01. In this class, we will study how various Italian governments after the unification tried to create a "greater Italy" by colonizing vast portions of East Africa and Libya. Which rhetorical strategies were used to convince Italian citizens, many of whom were emigrating to the Americas to escape poverty, to espouse this imperialist ideology? How did Mussolini manage to create an empire in the 1930s? How did African governments and citizens of African descent living in US and elsewhere respond to Italy's imperialism? Finally, what were the consequences of Italian colonialism? To answer these questions, we will read historical and fictional works and screen movies and documentaries authored by both European and African authors. The class will be taught in English and all the materials will be available in English as well. Advanced students of Italian may take this class as a Foreign Language integrated Class (FLIC), and do some of the coursework in Italian.

ITAL 323 Italian Colonialism
Cross-listed with MEST 200-03. In this class, we will study how various Italian governments after the unification tried to create a "greater Italy" by colonizing vast portions of East Africa and Libya. Which rhetorical strategies were used to convince Italian citizens, many of whom were emigrating to the Americas to escape poverty, to espouse this imperialist ideology? How did Mussolini manage to create an empire in the 1930s? How did African governments and citizens of African descent living in US and elsewhere respond to Italy's imperialism? Finally, what were the consequences of Italian colonialism? To answer these questions, we will read historical and fictional works and screen movies and documentaries authored by both European and African authors. The class will be taught in English and all the materials will be available in English as well. Advanced students of Italian may take this class as a Foreign Language integrated Class (FLIC), and do some of the coursework in Italian.

Spring 2019

ITAL 101 Elementary Italian
Intensive study of the fundamentals of Italian grammar, with a view to developing reading, writing, speaking, and understanding skills. Laboratory and other audiovisual techniques are used. Cultural elements are stressed as a context for the assimilation of the language.

ITAL 332 Real and Imaginary Journeys
By exploring the inner conflicts of their own soul and venturing beyond the boundaries of their native culture, Italian authors – from Dante and Petrarch to Italo Calvino and Federico Fellini – have opened new paths that often influenced the development of Western art and literature and touched the lives of countless readers and viewers around the world. In this course, we use the theme of the journey to analyze the work of some of the most influential Italian authors and trace their cultural legacy. This course is taught in Italian. Prerequisites: 231 and 232, or permission of the instructor. Offered every two years.

ITAL 400 Giovanni Verga and Sicily
In this the seminar we will study some of the most important works by Giovanni Verga, the novelist who inspired generations of XX century Italian writers and filmmakers. We will focus in particular on his representation of Sicilian people and landscapes after the Italian unification (1861) and students will be offered the opportunity to translate into English one novella by Verga, which will be published by the Giovanni Verga Foundation.