English Culture Ii
A.Y. 2020/2021
Learning objectives
Focusing on the literary and non-literary works, films, art forms, discourses and cultural practices which inform and characterize the current British debate on national and cultural identity against the backdrop of the country's imperial past and with a view to redefine its role in Europe and globally, this course aims to enhance the students' knowledge and understanding of these themes, which are central concerns in the British and European experience of contemporaneity.
This aim is pursued through the methodological and critical tools of cultural studies, which, in line with the main objectives of the Degree Course, favour an understanding of ideological, intercultural and socio-spatial relations, as well as a multicultural and interdisciplinary approach. The course is meant to foster active participation from the students, and, besides advancing their spoken English skills, aims to enhance their ability to make judgements and recognize the differences and connections among divergent forms, genres, and cultures, according to the wider multicultural and intercultural mission of Mediazione Linguistica.
- Knowledge and understanding - Students will gain knowledge and understanding of a variety of cultural practices and productions (visual art, films, writing, performances) and literary texts, primarily in English, presented through the lens of Cultural Studies and against the backgrounds of contemporary British culture, history and society. Attention will be devoted to representations and redefinitions of British identity/ies, multi-culturalism, new ethnicities, the reemergence of nationalism, and current social inequalities and tensions. Cultural production and consumption will also be considered, along with the discourses and practices of consent construction and resistance, and youth cultures.
· Applying knowledge and understanding - Students will the opportunity to apply their acquired knowledge and understanding to close read and analyze cultural productions and literary texts; synthesize and compare relevant information; debate and discuss texts and issues in the class and in groups; produce brief oral or written work, and powerpoint presentations, consistent with the topics of the course.
- Making judgements - Students will acquire the skills relevant to making more informed and autonomous judgements. Thanks to their familiarity with different perspectives of intercultural analysis, they will develop analytical and critical attitudes towards cultural productions and literary texts and draw comparisons and establish connections between the various contexts under scrutiny and their own situated experience.
· Communication skills - The course will enable students to improve their oral skills in English, and, in particular, to discuss given topics, present their own work to an audience of peers; structure group work among peers; use IT technology to support both academic study and networking.
This aim is pursued through the methodological and critical tools of cultural studies, which, in line with the main objectives of the Degree Course, favour an understanding of ideological, intercultural and socio-spatial relations, as well as a multicultural and interdisciplinary approach. The course is meant to foster active participation from the students, and, besides advancing their spoken English skills, aims to enhance their ability to make judgements and recognize the differences and connections among divergent forms, genres, and cultures, according to the wider multicultural and intercultural mission of Mediazione Linguistica.
- Knowledge and understanding - Students will gain knowledge and understanding of a variety of cultural practices and productions (visual art, films, writing, performances) and literary texts, primarily in English, presented through the lens of Cultural Studies and against the backgrounds of contemporary British culture, history and society. Attention will be devoted to representations and redefinitions of British identity/ies, multi-culturalism, new ethnicities, the reemergence of nationalism, and current social inequalities and tensions. Cultural production and consumption will also be considered, along with the discourses and practices of consent construction and resistance, and youth cultures.
· Applying knowledge and understanding - Students will the opportunity to apply their acquired knowledge and understanding to close read and analyze cultural productions and literary texts; synthesize and compare relevant information; debate and discuss texts and issues in the class and in groups; produce brief oral or written work, and powerpoint presentations, consistent with the topics of the course.
- Making judgements - Students will acquire the skills relevant to making more informed and autonomous judgements. Thanks to their familiarity with different perspectives of intercultural analysis, they will develop analytical and critical attitudes towards cultural productions and literary texts and draw comparisons and establish connections between the various contexts under scrutiny and their own situated experience.
· Communication skills - The course will enable students to improve their oral skills in English, and, in particular, to discuss given topics, present their own work to an audience of peers; structure group work among peers; use IT technology to support both academic study and networking.
Expected learning outcomes
Beside consolidating their skills in comprehension, and oral and written English, students will acquire interdisciplinary methodological and cultural tools for discussing and analyzing cultural, political and media discourses and practices, fictional and non-fictional texts, visual culture, documentaries and films. This will be done from a variety of perspectives and using the methodological approaches of Cultural Studies. The acquisition of these skills will be fostered by encouraging active participation and dialogue, and by enabling the students to draw comparisons between the British context and their own situated experience of being Italians and citizens of the world, so as to facilitate forms of analysis and engagement with the issues and challenges of the British present which are consistent with the avowed specialist and intercultural mission of their Degree Course. Through active participation and independent work, students will be invited to develop a higher degree of intellectual curiosity, autonomy, and ability to discriminate; transfer the acquired skills to related fields of analysis; and to apply a methodological approach to future research and activities.
Lesson period: First semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
A-L
Lesson period
First semester
Due to the spread of Covid-19, the course of English Culture II 2020-2021 will be delivered online and exams procedures will include written assignments and activities in addition to an oral test. These variations will be always fine-tuned to the University's official directions and, hopefully, applied only during the first term of the academic year 2020-2021.
· Lectures will be delivered online. Most of them will be synchronous, in line with the official time-table, and will be accessed through the Microsoft TEAMS platform. Occasionally, and certainly during the weeks in which some courses of our Degree Program will be classroom-taught, asynchronous lessons (video-recordings, audio/video ppt) will be made available. Other teaching materials and suggestions will be provided through the ARIEL platform of the course. Asynchronous lectures may be shorter, and particularly designed to facilitate the achievement of learning objectives. They may be followed by online discussions and interactions. Active involvement will be encouraged.
· Testing has been redesigned so as to be equally accurate and effective in the case of classroom teaching and remote teaching (see the official programme).
These temporary provisions are meant not to interfere with the achievement of the intended learning objectives and acquired skills which define this course.
Programmes and teaching materials are the same in the case of classroom and remote teaching.
Information, announces and further changes will be published on TEAMS and on the ARIEl website of the course.
· Lectures will be delivered online. Most of them will be synchronous, in line with the official time-table, and will be accessed through the Microsoft TEAMS platform. Occasionally, and certainly during the weeks in which some courses of our Degree Program will be classroom-taught, asynchronous lessons (video-recordings, audio/video ppt) will be made available. Other teaching materials and suggestions will be provided through the ARIEL platform of the course. Asynchronous lectures may be shorter, and particularly designed to facilitate the achievement of learning objectives. They may be followed by online discussions and interactions. Active involvement will be encouraged.
· Testing has been redesigned so as to be equally accurate and effective in the case of classroom teaching and remote teaching (see the official programme).
These temporary provisions are meant not to interfere with the achievement of the intended learning objectives and acquired skills which define this course.
Programmes and teaching materials are the same in the case of classroom and remote teaching.
Information, announces and further changes will be published on TEAMS and on the ARIEl website of the course.
Course syllabus
This course, which relies mainly on a cultural studies approach, addresses some relevant and controversial moments in the UK's recent history. After a section discussing the toughening of British immigration laws and attempts to countermands them through acts of civil commitment and storytelling, the syllabus will focus on relevant critical voices which have emerged, in different forms and across diverse backgrounds, to question and denounce dominant public discursive constructions of British nationhood. Migrants, asylum-seekers, the young and the working class feature prominently among those who, over the last decades, have managed to crack the consensual veneer of hegemonic discourses on Britishness and to force a wedge into the seeming homogeneity of British national identity. Relying on a multidisciplinary perspective, these issues will be examined not only in their political and discursive expressions, but also through the analysis of their portrayals in literature, films, and art works. They will bring to the fore a polyphony of "other" voices, witnessing to the existence of previously silenced subjectivities now in search of representation and agency.
The programme is the same for attending and non-attending students.
Module 1 - Challenging "Crimmigration" and Xenophobia. Walking, Listening and Storytelling as Ways of Resisting the UK "Hostile Environment": The Refugee Tales Project
Against the framework of the complex and controversial political, social and cultural conjuncture which has characterized last decade in British history - marked by the return to power of the Conservative Party in 2010 and the resurfacing of isolationist attitudes, module 1 will address the re-emergence of exclusive and nostalgic understandings of British/English national identity. Often fueled by segments of the so-called 'popular' media and by nationalist parties, this misplaced feeling of belonging is at the heart of the anti-immigrant positions lying behind the 2016 vote for Brexit and the increasing tightening of immigration legislation under the governments of Theresa May and Boris Johnson. Xeno-racism and hostility towards migrants, in a context of incremental poverty and precaritization, will be the main foci of this module, which will address literary and non- literary texts that attempt to resist such widespread fears through alternative representations of migrants, asylum-seekers, and 'racialized others'. Attention will be paid, in particular, to the civil action project "Refugee Tales", which aims to denounce and countermand the practice of indefinite immigration detention in the UK. Combining the extraordinary power of storytelling and the empathetic potential of walking in solidarity, "Refugee Tales" attempts to rescue the English language from hate discourse, restore the voices of the migrants, and reconfigure the English landscape as a welcoming space of inclusion and hope.
Module 2 - "The Whites Have Become Black!". From Youth Subcultures to the "Underclass" and "British Black Lives Matter"
After a brief introduction to subcultural studies and some of the most representative British subcultures, this module will investigate a few major protests which have occurred since the 1980s, starting with the Brixton riots. Attention will be paid, then, to the 2011 London Riots, where resistance against racism was just one of the factors, while a major involvement of the so called "underclass", destitute people belonging to multiple ethnicities, including whites, was clearly recorded. The course will address the public denial of racial and social exclusion which characterized the official discourse on the UK riots of 2011 and its overall endorsement by the mainstream media. Concepts such as "feral youth" and the "underclass" helped to de-politicize and oversimplify the crisis into a matter of "sheer criminality" and "moral corruption". Finally, the module will briefly focus on the recent rethinking of violence and discrimination against African-Americans in terms of a "British Black Lives Matter" perspective. A close reading of excerpts from Gillian Slovo's verbatim play The Riots and other literary texts, songs and performances, alongside the viewing of independent documentaries, will help to deconstruct the multiple facets and interpretations of the such events against a wider ideological and discursive backdrop.
Module 3 - A Dis-United Kingdom: New Geographies of Social and Cultural Unease and the Return of Border Cultures in Brexit Britain
Building on the previous section, module 3 will throw into sharp focus the economic, socio-cultural and identity contexts which, beside fostering the success of "Vote Leave" in the occasion of Brexit, still continue to sustain the circulation of discourses, narratives and communicative strategies that advocate the return to nostalgic views of "Englishness" as a mythical and "authentic" identity. The analysis, based on a cultural studies approach, will rely on essays and literary works that have contributed to open a platform for debate and understanding of the deep faultlines and ruptures currently characterizing today's polarized national imaginary in the UK. Manipulative public discourse, the division between "the people" and "the elite", the fear of losing one's traditions and cultural references, and the return of "the border" will be approached, in particular, through the dystopian lens of John Lanchester's novel The Wall.
The programme is the same for attending and non-attending students.
Module 1 - Challenging "Crimmigration" and Xenophobia. Walking, Listening and Storytelling as Ways of Resisting the UK "Hostile Environment": The Refugee Tales Project
Against the framework of the complex and controversial political, social and cultural conjuncture which has characterized last decade in British history - marked by the return to power of the Conservative Party in 2010 and the resurfacing of isolationist attitudes, module 1 will address the re-emergence of exclusive and nostalgic understandings of British/English national identity. Often fueled by segments of the so-called 'popular' media and by nationalist parties, this misplaced feeling of belonging is at the heart of the anti-immigrant positions lying behind the 2016 vote for Brexit and the increasing tightening of immigration legislation under the governments of Theresa May and Boris Johnson. Xeno-racism and hostility towards migrants, in a context of incremental poverty and precaritization, will be the main foci of this module, which will address literary and non- literary texts that attempt to resist such widespread fears through alternative representations of migrants, asylum-seekers, and 'racialized others'. Attention will be paid, in particular, to the civil action project "Refugee Tales", which aims to denounce and countermand the practice of indefinite immigration detention in the UK. Combining the extraordinary power of storytelling and the empathetic potential of walking in solidarity, "Refugee Tales" attempts to rescue the English language from hate discourse, restore the voices of the migrants, and reconfigure the English landscape as a welcoming space of inclusion and hope.
Module 2 - "The Whites Have Become Black!". From Youth Subcultures to the "Underclass" and "British Black Lives Matter"
After a brief introduction to subcultural studies and some of the most representative British subcultures, this module will investigate a few major protests which have occurred since the 1980s, starting with the Brixton riots. Attention will be paid, then, to the 2011 London Riots, where resistance against racism was just one of the factors, while a major involvement of the so called "underclass", destitute people belonging to multiple ethnicities, including whites, was clearly recorded. The course will address the public denial of racial and social exclusion which characterized the official discourse on the UK riots of 2011 and its overall endorsement by the mainstream media. Concepts such as "feral youth" and the "underclass" helped to de-politicize and oversimplify the crisis into a matter of "sheer criminality" and "moral corruption". Finally, the module will briefly focus on the recent rethinking of violence and discrimination against African-Americans in terms of a "British Black Lives Matter" perspective. A close reading of excerpts from Gillian Slovo's verbatim play The Riots and other literary texts, songs and performances, alongside the viewing of independent documentaries, will help to deconstruct the multiple facets and interpretations of the such events against a wider ideological and discursive backdrop.
Module 3 - A Dis-United Kingdom: New Geographies of Social and Cultural Unease and the Return of Border Cultures in Brexit Britain
Building on the previous section, module 3 will throw into sharp focus the economic, socio-cultural and identity contexts which, beside fostering the success of "Vote Leave" in the occasion of Brexit, still continue to sustain the circulation of discourses, narratives and communicative strategies that advocate the return to nostalgic views of "Englishness" as a mythical and "authentic" identity. The analysis, based on a cultural studies approach, will rely on essays and literary works that have contributed to open a platform for debate and understanding of the deep faultlines and ruptures currently characterizing today's polarized national imaginary in the UK. Manipulative public discourse, the division between "the people" and "the elite", the fear of losing one's traditions and cultural references, and the return of "the border" will be approached, in particular, through the dystopian lens of John Lanchester's novel The Wall.
Prerequisites for admission
Students are expected to have a good command of English, as most of the lessons and texts, audiovisual material and some lectures are in that language. Students have to pass English Culture I before taking English Culture II. Basic Italian is advisable for international students.
Teaching methods
The lectures will mainly rely on synchronous teaching (including internet usage, online material and articles, films, slides, talks by guest speakers moderated by the course lecturers, discussion sessions with the participation of the students). Further suggestions and material will be found on the ARIEL website of the course when lessons start. Group work and students' autonomous productions and commentary will be highly encouraged. The lectures will be mainly in English, although Italian also will be used, while most texts and audiovisual material will be in English.
During the Covid-19 emergency lectures will be delivered through remote teaching. Most of them will be synchronous, in line with the official timetable, and will be accessed through the Microsoft TEAMS platform. Occasionally, and certainly during the weeks in which some courses of our Degree Program will be classroom-taught, asynchronous lessons (video-recordings, audio/video ppt) will be made available. Other teaching materials and suggestions will be provided through the ARIEL platform of the course. Asynchronous lectures may be shorter, and particularly designed to facilitate the achievement of learning objectives. They may be followed by online discussions and interactions. Lectures will be delivered online.
During the Covid-19 emergency lectures will be delivered through remote teaching. Most of them will be synchronous, in line with the official timetable, and will be accessed through the Microsoft TEAMS platform. Occasionally, and certainly during the weeks in which some courses of our Degree Program will be classroom-taught, asynchronous lessons (video-recordings, audio/video ppt) will be made available. Other teaching materials and suggestions will be provided through the ARIEL platform of the course. Asynchronous lectures may be shorter, and particularly designed to facilitate the achievement of learning objectives. They may be followed by online discussions and interactions. Lectures will be delivered online.
Teaching Resources
Study material and readings are the same for attending and non-attending students.
Module 1 -
Literary texts:
David Herd, Anna Pincus (eds), Refugee Tales, Comma Press, 2016 [Tales - First volume in the series].
In addition to the "Prologue" and '"Afterword", students will have to prepare the stories listed below: "The Unaccompanied Minor's Tale"; "The Lorry Driver's Tale"; "The Arriver's Tale"; The Visitor's Tale"; "The Interpreter's Tale"; "The Appellant's Tale.
Essays:
· Claudia Gualtieri, "A tale of conversations and encounters"
· David Herd, "Calling for an End to Indefinite Detention: The Spatial Politics of Refugee Tales",
· Lidia De Michelis, "Reclaiming Human Movement, Restor(y)ing Hope",
These essays are included in the dossier edited by Claudia Gualtieri, "Mobility, Immobility and Encounters along the South-North European Route", published in the November issue, n. 5 (2019), of the open access academic journal From the European South (freely available at:
http://europeansouth.postcolonialitalia.it/8-journal-issue/20-5-2019-contents
· Plus: All the files and slides made available on the Ariel website of the Course
Audio readings of the tales in English will be freely available at:
https://www.28for28.org/
Module 2 -
Monograph:
· Roberto Pedretti, Dalla Lambretta allo skateboard 2.0. Sottoculture e nuovi movimenti dagli anni '50 alla globalizzazione, Milano, Unicopli (forthcoming, end of October 2020). A list of the chapters students have to cover for the exam will soon be published on the Ariel website of the course.
Essays:
· Newburn, Tim and Paul Lewis (The Guardian and the London School of Economics), "Reading the Riots: Investigating England's Summer of Disorder", 2011.
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/46297/1/Reading%20the%20riots%28published%29.pdf
· Lidia De Michelis, "Challenging Dominant Discourses of Risk and Crisis: Verbatim Drama and the 2011 British Riots", in in Sandten, Cecile, Gualtieri, Claudia, Pedretti, Roberto, Kronshage, Eike (eds.), Crisis, Risks and New Regionalisms in Europe: Emergency Diasporas and Borderlands, Trier, Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, pp. 255-272
Plus 1 more essay to be chosen among the following ones:
· Emma Casey, "'Urban Safaris': Looting, Consumption and Exclusion in London 2011", Sociological Research Online, 18(4)8, 30 Nov 2013, pp. 1-16
· Mark Schmitt, "The whites have become black": Plan B's and George Amponsah's Representations of the 2011 English Riots and the Echoes of Stuart Hall's "New Ethnicities", Coils of the Serpent, 3, 2018, pp. 43-61
Alternatively, students may choose to watch and discuss the documentary listed below instead of preparing the supplementary essay:
· Documentary: Riot from Wrong, Fullyfocussed, (UK, 2012)
(available free at: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10bql8_riot-from-wrong-awarding-winning-doco-on-youth-in-revolt_shortfilms)
· All the files and slides made available on the Ariel website of the Course
Module 3
Literary texts:
· John Lanchester, The Wall, London, Faber & Faber, 2019 (novel)
· Plus: All the files and slides made available on the Ariel website of the course
Most of the essays included in the syllable can be downloaded freely from the internet or accessed through the Ariel website or the University Digital Library (don't forget to log in!).
Module 1 -
Literary texts:
David Herd, Anna Pincus (eds), Refugee Tales, Comma Press, 2016 [Tales - First volume in the series].
In addition to the "Prologue" and '"Afterword", students will have to prepare the stories listed below: "The Unaccompanied Minor's Tale"; "The Lorry Driver's Tale"; "The Arriver's Tale"; The Visitor's Tale"; "The Interpreter's Tale"; "The Appellant's Tale.
Essays:
· Claudia Gualtieri, "A tale of conversations and encounters"
· David Herd, "Calling for an End to Indefinite Detention: The Spatial Politics of Refugee Tales",
· Lidia De Michelis, "Reclaiming Human Movement, Restor(y)ing Hope",
These essays are included in the dossier edited by Claudia Gualtieri, "Mobility, Immobility and Encounters along the South-North European Route", published in the November issue, n. 5 (2019), of the open access academic journal From the European South (freely available at:
http://europeansouth.postcolonialitalia.it/8-journal-issue/20-5-2019-contents
· Plus: All the files and slides made available on the Ariel website of the Course
Audio readings of the tales in English will be freely available at:
https://www.28for28.org/
Module 2 -
Monograph:
· Roberto Pedretti, Dalla Lambretta allo skateboard 2.0. Sottoculture e nuovi movimenti dagli anni '50 alla globalizzazione, Milano, Unicopli (forthcoming, end of October 2020). A list of the chapters students have to cover for the exam will soon be published on the Ariel website of the course.
Essays:
· Newburn, Tim and Paul Lewis (The Guardian and the London School of Economics), "Reading the Riots: Investigating England's Summer of Disorder", 2011.
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/46297/1/Reading%20the%20riots%28published%29.pdf
· Lidia De Michelis, "Challenging Dominant Discourses of Risk and Crisis: Verbatim Drama and the 2011 British Riots", in in Sandten, Cecile, Gualtieri, Claudia, Pedretti, Roberto, Kronshage, Eike (eds.), Crisis, Risks and New Regionalisms in Europe: Emergency Diasporas and Borderlands, Trier, Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, pp. 255-272
Plus 1 more essay to be chosen among the following ones:
· Emma Casey, "'Urban Safaris': Looting, Consumption and Exclusion in London 2011", Sociological Research Online, 18(4)8, 30 Nov 2013, pp. 1-16
· Mark Schmitt, "The whites have become black": Plan B's and George Amponsah's Representations of the 2011 English Riots and the Echoes of Stuart Hall's "New Ethnicities", Coils of the Serpent, 3, 2018, pp. 43-61
Alternatively, students may choose to watch and discuss the documentary listed below instead of preparing the supplementary essay:
· Documentary: Riot from Wrong, Fullyfocussed, (UK, 2012)
(available free at: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10bql8_riot-from-wrong-awarding-winning-doco-on-youth-in-revolt_shortfilms)
· All the files and slides made available on the Ariel website of the Course
Module 3
Literary texts:
· John Lanchester, The Wall, London, Faber & Faber, 2019 (novel)
· Plus: All the files and slides made available on the Ariel website of the course
Most of the essays included in the syllable can be downloaded freely from the internet or accessed through the Ariel website or the University Digital Library (don't forget to log in!).
Assessment methods and Criteria
The final exam will consist of a critical and detailed oral discussion on the texts, presentations, films and files included in the programme. Students are free to take the exam in Italian or in English and are required to demonstrate their full knowledge of the texts and the syllabus, and to be able to analyse them in the light of the analytical tools and cultural studies approach developed during the course. Building on the information and bibliography provided during the course, they must be able, as well, to contextualize notions, issues texts, and cultural products showing an awareness of contemporary British history, culture, and cultural networks.
Students will have the opportunity, if they wish, to take at least 1 or 2 mid-term written tests or assignments: their contents and format will be advertised during the lectures and published in advance on the Microsoft TEAMS platform and the Ariel website of the course. The results will be published on ARIEL. Passing this test will allow students to prepare a shorter programme for the oral exam which will be made known in the early stages of the course. Students will be free, if they prefer, to take the whole exam orally, without taking the mid-term tests.
Excellence will be awarded in the final exam to students who will show deep understanding of the methodological approach, will adopt originality of presentation, and will be able to critically connect events and cultural practices.
Prerequisites and testing are the same as for attending and non-attending students.
Students are welcome to refer to their lecturers for questions and further comment about the contents and programme of the course during office hours, by email and skype.
THIS EXAM COUNTS FOR 9 CREDITS AND ITS PARTS ARE NOT ELIGIBLE AS A 3 CREDITS EXAM
Students will have the opportunity, if they wish, to take at least 1 or 2 mid-term written tests or assignments: their contents and format will be advertised during the lectures and published in advance on the Microsoft TEAMS platform and the Ariel website of the course. The results will be published on ARIEL. Passing this test will allow students to prepare a shorter programme for the oral exam which will be made known in the early stages of the course. Students will be free, if they prefer, to take the whole exam orally, without taking the mid-term tests.
Excellence will be awarded in the final exam to students who will show deep understanding of the methodological approach, will adopt originality of presentation, and will be able to critically connect events and cultural practices.
Prerequisites and testing are the same as for attending and non-attending students.
Students are welcome to refer to their lecturers for questions and further comment about the contents and programme of the course during office hours, by email and skype.
THIS EXAM COUNTS FOR 9 CREDITS AND ITS PARTS ARE NOT ELIGIBLE AS A 3 CREDITS EXAM
L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE - University credits: 9
Lessons: 60 hours
Professor:
De Michelis Lidia Anna
M-Z
Responsible
Lesson period
First semester
COVID-19 EMERGENCY TEACHING
Due to the spread of Covid-19, the course of English Culture II 2020-2021 will be delivered online and exams procedures will include written assignments and activities in addition to an oral test. These variations will be always fine-tuned to the University's official directions and, hopefully, applied only during the first term of the academic year 2020-2021. See the sections "Teaching methods" and "Testing and evaluation".
These temporary provisions are meant not to interfere with the achievement of the intended learning objectives and acquired skills which define this course.
Programmes and teaching materials are the same in the case of classroom and remote teaching.
Information, announces and further changes will be published on TEAMS and on the ARIEl website of the course.
Due to the spread of Covid-19, the course of English Culture II 2020-2021 will be delivered online and exams procedures will include written assignments and activities in addition to an oral test. These variations will be always fine-tuned to the University's official directions and, hopefully, applied only during the first term of the academic year 2020-2021. See the sections "Teaching methods" and "Testing and evaluation".
These temporary provisions are meant not to interfere with the achievement of the intended learning objectives and acquired skills which define this course.
Programmes and teaching materials are the same in the case of classroom and remote teaching.
Information, announces and further changes will be published on TEAMS and on the ARIEl website of the course.
Course syllabus
Course Syllabus
The syllabus will include three modules of 20 hours each, and will be complemented by audiovisual material, films, and lectures by guest speakers. Further suggestions and material will be found on the ARIEL website of the course when lessons start. The lectures will primarily rely on: internet usage, online material and articles, films, slides, talks by guest speakers moderated by the course lecturers, discussion sessions with the participation of the students, however, will also be prominent characteristics of the course. The lectures will be mainly in English, although Italian also will be used, while most texts and audiovisual material will be in English. Students are free to choose whether to take their exam in Italian or English. This course, which relies mainly on a cultural studies approach, focuses on these issues will be examined not only in their political and discursive expressions, but also through the analysis of their imaginative representations in literature, films, and art works.
The programme is the same for attending and non-attending students.
This course, which relies mainly on a cultural studies approach, addresses some relevant and controversial moments in the UK's recent history. After a section discussing the toughening of British immigration laws and attempts to countermands them through acts of civil commitment and storytelling, the syllabus will focus on relevant critical voices which have emerged, in different forms and across diverse backgrounds, to question and denounce dominant public discursive constructions of British nationhood. Migrants, asylum-seekers, the young and the working class feature prominently among those who, over the last decades, have managed to crack the consensual veneer of hegemonic discourses on Britishness and to force a wedge into the seeming homogeneity of British national identity. Relying on a multidisciplinary perspective, these issues will be examined not only in their political and discursive expressions, but also through the analysis of their portrayals in literature, films, and art works. They will bring to the fore a polyphony of "other" voices, witnessing to the existence of previously silenced subjectivities now in search of representation and agency.
THIS EXAM COUNTS FOR 9 CREDITS AND ITS PARTS ARE NOT ELIGIBLE AS A 3 CREDITS EXAM
Module 1 - "Challenging "Crimmigration" and Xenophobia. Walking, Listening and Storytelling as Ways of Resisting the UK "Hostile Environment": The Refugee Tales Project"
(Prof. Claudia Gualtieri)
Against the framework of the complex and controversial political, social and cultural conjuncture which has characterized last decade in British history - marked by the return to power of the Conservative Party in 2010 and the resurfacing of isolationist attitudes, module 1 will address the re-emergence of exclusive and nostalgic understandings of British/English national identity. Often fuelled by segments of the so-called 'popular' media and by nationalist parties, this misplaced feeling of belonging is at the heart of the anti-immigrant positions lying behind the 2016 vote for Brexit and the increasing tightening of immigration legislation under the governments of Theresa May and Boris Johnson. Xeno-racism and hostility towards migrants, in a context of incremental poverty and precaritization, will be the main foci of this module, which will address literary and non- literary texts that attempt to resist such widespread fears through alternative representations of migrants, asylum-seekers, and 'racialized others'. Attention will be paid, in particular, to the civil action project "Refugee Tales", which aims to denounce and countermand the practice of indefinite immigration detention in the UK. Combining the extraordinary power of storytelling and the empathetic potential of walking in solidarity, "Refugee Tales" attempts to rescue the English language from hate discourse, restore the voices of the migrants, and reconfigure the English landscape as a welcoming space of inclusion and hope.
Module 2 - "Youth Subcultures: From Shining Lifestyles to New Post-political Movements"
(Prof. Roberto Pedretti)
This module will offer a historical and theoretical introduction to Cultural and Subcultural Studies, and will include an analysis of the most popular and significant subcultures in Britain. The processes that lead to the construction of "youth" as a cultural and ideological category will be examined. "Youth" started to emerge as a social and cultural formation - independent from adulthood - in the 1950s. On the one side, young people were perceived as positive interpreters of the radical social and economic transformations of that decade, on the other side, they were constructed as a "problem". In this general frame, module 1 (and the whole course) investigate how the idea of "youth" has changed in time, and how these changes also highlight the social dynamics and tensions that have characterized British society from the '50s to the present moment. Case studies will be the violent protests in England in 2011, that marked a deep change in public speech concerning youth. These changes expose the need to rethink the intellectual categories and paradigms according to which young people's behaviour has been traditionally observed and interpreted.
Module 3 - "A Cut through the Heart of the Nation: Britain in the time of Brexit"
(Prof. Roberto Pedretti)
This module will examine how the divisions that have emerged in the country following the Brexit referendum contradict the public hegemonic discourse that, contrastively, articulates a stereotyped, unified British identity. This analysis will be mainly structured on Anthony Cartwright's novel The Cut and other media texts. The novel's leading themes are the apparently unbridgeable division and the prejudices which seem to characterise today's British society in ways that make communication almost impossible. Supporters of opposing fields - pro versus against Brexit, pro versus against a unified exclusionary national identity - show how deeply the country is divided and laden with social and ideological tensions. Against this unbalance, entire sectors of society have felt excluded and marginalized for many years. The remnants of the working class have grasped the Brexit vote as the occasion to raise their voice and, in different ways, reactivate dormant conflicts. A cultural reading of Cartwright's novel will help to listen to and analyse these voices in order to understand how the marginalisation and exclusion of the "alterity" within British society in public discourse have contributed to the Brexit vote.
The syllabus will include three modules of 20 hours each, and will be complemented by audiovisual material, films, and lectures by guest speakers. Further suggestions and material will be found on the ARIEL website of the course when lessons start. The lectures will primarily rely on: internet usage, online material and articles, films, slides, talks by guest speakers moderated by the course lecturers, discussion sessions with the participation of the students, however, will also be prominent characteristics of the course. The lectures will be mainly in English, although Italian also will be used, while most texts and audiovisual material will be in English. Students are free to choose whether to take their exam in Italian or English. This course, which relies mainly on a cultural studies approach, focuses on these issues will be examined not only in their political and discursive expressions, but also through the analysis of their imaginative representations in literature, films, and art works.
The programme is the same for attending and non-attending students.
This course, which relies mainly on a cultural studies approach, addresses some relevant and controversial moments in the UK's recent history. After a section discussing the toughening of British immigration laws and attempts to countermands them through acts of civil commitment and storytelling, the syllabus will focus on relevant critical voices which have emerged, in different forms and across diverse backgrounds, to question and denounce dominant public discursive constructions of British nationhood. Migrants, asylum-seekers, the young and the working class feature prominently among those who, over the last decades, have managed to crack the consensual veneer of hegemonic discourses on Britishness and to force a wedge into the seeming homogeneity of British national identity. Relying on a multidisciplinary perspective, these issues will be examined not only in their political and discursive expressions, but also through the analysis of their portrayals in literature, films, and art works. They will bring to the fore a polyphony of "other" voices, witnessing to the existence of previously silenced subjectivities now in search of representation and agency.
THIS EXAM COUNTS FOR 9 CREDITS AND ITS PARTS ARE NOT ELIGIBLE AS A 3 CREDITS EXAM
Module 1 - "Challenging "Crimmigration" and Xenophobia. Walking, Listening and Storytelling as Ways of Resisting the UK "Hostile Environment": The Refugee Tales Project"
(Prof. Claudia Gualtieri)
Against the framework of the complex and controversial political, social and cultural conjuncture which has characterized last decade in British history - marked by the return to power of the Conservative Party in 2010 and the resurfacing of isolationist attitudes, module 1 will address the re-emergence of exclusive and nostalgic understandings of British/English national identity. Often fuelled by segments of the so-called 'popular' media and by nationalist parties, this misplaced feeling of belonging is at the heart of the anti-immigrant positions lying behind the 2016 vote for Brexit and the increasing tightening of immigration legislation under the governments of Theresa May and Boris Johnson. Xeno-racism and hostility towards migrants, in a context of incremental poverty and precaritization, will be the main foci of this module, which will address literary and non- literary texts that attempt to resist such widespread fears through alternative representations of migrants, asylum-seekers, and 'racialized others'. Attention will be paid, in particular, to the civil action project "Refugee Tales", which aims to denounce and countermand the practice of indefinite immigration detention in the UK. Combining the extraordinary power of storytelling and the empathetic potential of walking in solidarity, "Refugee Tales" attempts to rescue the English language from hate discourse, restore the voices of the migrants, and reconfigure the English landscape as a welcoming space of inclusion and hope.
Module 2 - "Youth Subcultures: From Shining Lifestyles to New Post-political Movements"
(Prof. Roberto Pedretti)
This module will offer a historical and theoretical introduction to Cultural and Subcultural Studies, and will include an analysis of the most popular and significant subcultures in Britain. The processes that lead to the construction of "youth" as a cultural and ideological category will be examined. "Youth" started to emerge as a social and cultural formation - independent from adulthood - in the 1950s. On the one side, young people were perceived as positive interpreters of the radical social and economic transformations of that decade, on the other side, they were constructed as a "problem". In this general frame, module 1 (and the whole course) investigate how the idea of "youth" has changed in time, and how these changes also highlight the social dynamics and tensions that have characterized British society from the '50s to the present moment. Case studies will be the violent protests in England in 2011, that marked a deep change in public speech concerning youth. These changes expose the need to rethink the intellectual categories and paradigms according to which young people's behaviour has been traditionally observed and interpreted.
Module 3 - "A Cut through the Heart of the Nation: Britain in the time of Brexit"
(Prof. Roberto Pedretti)
This module will examine how the divisions that have emerged in the country following the Brexit referendum contradict the public hegemonic discourse that, contrastively, articulates a stereotyped, unified British identity. This analysis will be mainly structured on Anthony Cartwright's novel The Cut and other media texts. The novel's leading themes are the apparently unbridgeable division and the prejudices which seem to characterise today's British society in ways that make communication almost impossible. Supporters of opposing fields - pro versus against Brexit, pro versus against a unified exclusionary national identity - show how deeply the country is divided and laden with social and ideological tensions. Against this unbalance, entire sectors of society have felt excluded and marginalized for many years. The remnants of the working class have grasped the Brexit vote as the occasion to raise their voice and, in different ways, reactivate dormant conflicts. A cultural reading of Cartwright's novel will help to listen to and analyse these voices in order to understand how the marginalisation and exclusion of the "alterity" within British society in public discourse have contributed to the Brexit vote.
Prerequisites for admission
Prerequisites for admission
Students are expected to have a good command of English, as most of the lessons and texts, audiovisual material and some lectures are in that language. Students have to pass English Culture I before taking English Culture II. Basic Italian is advisable for international students.
Students are expected to have a good command of English, as most of the lessons and texts, audiovisual material and some lectures are in that language. Students have to pass English Culture I before taking English Culture II. Basic Italian is advisable for international students.
Teaching methods
Teaching methods
· Lectures will be delivered online. Most of them will be synchronous, in line with the official timetable, and will be accessed through the Microsoft TEAMS platform. Occasionally, and certainly during the weeks in which some courses of our Degree Program will be classroom-taught, asynchronous lessons (video-recordings, audio/video ppt) will be made available. Other teaching materials and suggestions will be provided through the ARIEL platform of the course. Asynchronous lectures may be shorter, and particularly designed to facilitate the achievement of learning objectives. They may be followed by online discussions and interactions. Active involvement will be encouraged.
· Testing has been redesigned so as to be equally accurate and effective in the case of classroom teaching and remote teaching (see the official programme).
· Lectures will be delivered online. Most of them will be synchronous, in line with the official timetable, and will be accessed through the Microsoft TEAMS platform. Occasionally, and certainly during the weeks in which some courses of our Degree Program will be classroom-taught, asynchronous lessons (video-recordings, audio/video ppt) will be made available. Other teaching materials and suggestions will be provided through the ARIEL platform of the course. Asynchronous lectures may be shorter, and particularly designed to facilitate the achievement of learning objectives. They may be followed by online discussions and interactions. Active involvement will be encouraged.
· Testing has been redesigned so as to be equally accurate and effective in the case of classroom teaching and remote teaching (see the official programme).
Teaching Resources
Study materials and readings
Study material and readings are the same for attending and non-attending students.
Module 1
Literary texts:
David Herd, Anna Pincus (eds), Refugee Tales, Comma Press, 2016 [Tales - First volume in the series].
In addition to "Prologue" and all'"Afterword", students will have to prepare the stories listed below: "The Unaccompanied Minor's Tale"; "The Lorry Driver's Tale"; "The Arriver's Tale"; The Visitor's Tale"; "The Interpreter's Tale"; "The Appellant's Tale.
Essays:
· Claudia Gualtieri, "A tale of conversations and encounters"
· David Herd, "Calling for an End to Indefinite Detention: The Spatial Politics of Refugee Tales",
· Lidia De Michelis, "Reclaiming Human Movement, Restor(y)ing Hope". These essays are included in the dossier edited by Claudia Gualtieri, "Mobility, Immobility and Encounters along the South-North European Route", published in the November issue, n. 5 (2019), of the open access academic journal From the European South (freely available at: http://europeansouth.postcolonialitalia.it/8-journal-issue/20-5-2019-contents
· Plus: All the files and slides made available on the Ariel website of the Course
· Audio readings of the tales in English will be freely available at: https://www.28for28.org/
Module 2
Monograph:
· Roberto Pedretti, Dalla Lambretta allo skateboard 2.0. Sottoculture e nuovi movimenti dagli anni '50 alla globalizzazione, Milano, Unicopli (forthcoming, end of October 2020).
Essays:
· Newburn, Tim and Paul Lewis (The Guardian, London School of Economics), "Reading the Riots. Investigating England's summer of Disorder", 2012, free on-line: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/46297/1/Reading%20the%20riots%28published%29.pdf
· Little, Ben, "A growing discontent: class and generation under neoliberalism", in Hall, S., Massey, D. e Rustin, M. (eds), After Neoliberalism? The Kilburn Manifesto, Lawrence & Wilshart, London, 2015, free on-line: https://www.lwbooks.co.uk/sites/default/files/free-book/after_neoliberalism_complete_0.pdf
· Zizek, Slavoj, "Shoplifters of the World Unite", London Review of Books, 19 August 2011, free on-line: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v33/n16/slavoj-zizek/shoplifters-of-the-world-unite
· Additional audio and video materials that will be presented during classes.
Module 3
Literary texts:
Cartwright, Anthony, The Cut, Peirene Press, London, 2017. (Trad. it., Il taglio, 66th & 2nd, Roma, 2019)
Essays:
· Cartwright, Anthony, "Black Country", Granta, 15, July 2016, free on-line: https://granta.com/black-country/
· "An interview with Anthony Cartwright conducted by Phil O'Brien", free on-line: https://muse-jhu-edu.pros.lib.unimi.it/article/601564 Access via log-in at: servizio d'Ateneo Explora
· "Intervista audio ad Anthony Cartwright", registrata a Roma il 9/12/2017, file audio free on-line: https://www.wumingfoundation.com/giap/2017/12/conversando-con-anthony-cartwright/
· Shaw, Kristian, "Brexlit", in Eaglestone, R., (ed.), Brexit and Literature, Routledge, London, 2018. Available in ebook at UNIMI digital library.
· "Brexit shorts: Giving voice to a divided Britain through new dramas", free on-line: https://www.theguardian.com/membership/2017/jun/23/brexit-shorts-giving-voice-divided-britain-dramas
· Additional audio and video materials that will be presented during classes.
Study material and readings are the same for attending and non-attending students.
Module 1
Literary texts:
David Herd, Anna Pincus (eds), Refugee Tales, Comma Press, 2016 [Tales - First volume in the series].
In addition to "Prologue" and all'"Afterword", students will have to prepare the stories listed below: "The Unaccompanied Minor's Tale"; "The Lorry Driver's Tale"; "The Arriver's Tale"; The Visitor's Tale"; "The Interpreter's Tale"; "The Appellant's Tale.
Essays:
· Claudia Gualtieri, "A tale of conversations and encounters"
· David Herd, "Calling for an End to Indefinite Detention: The Spatial Politics of Refugee Tales",
· Lidia De Michelis, "Reclaiming Human Movement, Restor(y)ing Hope". These essays are included in the dossier edited by Claudia Gualtieri, "Mobility, Immobility and Encounters along the South-North European Route", published in the November issue, n. 5 (2019), of the open access academic journal From the European South (freely available at: http://europeansouth.postcolonialitalia.it/8-journal-issue/20-5-2019-contents
· Plus: All the files and slides made available on the Ariel website of the Course
· Audio readings of the tales in English will be freely available at: https://www.28for28.org/
Module 2
Monograph:
· Roberto Pedretti, Dalla Lambretta allo skateboard 2.0. Sottoculture e nuovi movimenti dagli anni '50 alla globalizzazione, Milano, Unicopli (forthcoming, end of October 2020).
Essays:
· Newburn, Tim and Paul Lewis (The Guardian, London School of Economics), "Reading the Riots. Investigating England's summer of Disorder", 2012, free on-line: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/46297/1/Reading%20the%20riots%28published%29.pdf
· Little, Ben, "A growing discontent: class and generation under neoliberalism", in Hall, S., Massey, D. e Rustin, M. (eds), After Neoliberalism? The Kilburn Manifesto, Lawrence & Wilshart, London, 2015, free on-line: https://www.lwbooks.co.uk/sites/default/files/free-book/after_neoliberalism_complete_0.pdf
· Zizek, Slavoj, "Shoplifters of the World Unite", London Review of Books, 19 August 2011, free on-line: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v33/n16/slavoj-zizek/shoplifters-of-the-world-unite
· Additional audio and video materials that will be presented during classes.
Module 3
Literary texts:
Cartwright, Anthony, The Cut, Peirene Press, London, 2017. (Trad. it., Il taglio, 66th & 2nd, Roma, 2019)
Essays:
· Cartwright, Anthony, "Black Country", Granta, 15, July 2016, free on-line: https://granta.com/black-country/
· "An interview with Anthony Cartwright conducted by Phil O'Brien", free on-line: https://muse-jhu-edu.pros.lib.unimi.it/article/601564 Access via log-in at: servizio d'Ateneo Explora
· "Intervista audio ad Anthony Cartwright", registrata a Roma il 9/12/2017, file audio free on-line: https://www.wumingfoundation.com/giap/2017/12/conversando-con-anthony-cartwright/
· Shaw, Kristian, "Brexlit", in Eaglestone, R., (ed.), Brexit and Literature, Routledge, London, 2018. Available in ebook at UNIMI digital library.
· "Brexit shorts: Giving voice to a divided Britain through new dramas", free on-line: https://www.theguardian.com/membership/2017/jun/23/brexit-shorts-giving-voice-divided-britain-dramas
· Additional audio and video materials that will be presented during classes.
Assessment methods and Criteria
Testing and evaluation
The final exam will consist of a critical and detailed oral discussion on the texts, presentations, films and files included in the programme. Students are free to take the exam in Italian or in English and are required to demonstrate their full knowledge of the texts and the syllabus, and to be able to analyse them in the light of the analytical tools and cultural studies approach developed during the course. Building on the information and bibliography provided during the course, they must be able, as well, to contextualize notions, issues texts, and cultural products showing an awareness of contemporary British history, culture, and cultural networks.
Students will have the opportunity, if they wish, to take at least 1 or 2 mid-term written tests or assignments: their contents and format will be advertised during the lectures and published in advance on the Microsoft TEAMS platform and the Ariel website of the course. The results will be published on ARIEL. Passing this test will allow students to prepare a shorter programme for the oral exam which will be made known in the early stages of the course. Students will be free, if they prefer, to take the whole exam orally, without taking the mid-term tests.Excellence will be awarded in the final exam to students who will show deep understanding of the methodological approach, will adopt originality of presentation, and will be able to critically connect events and cultural practices.
Prerequisites and testing are the same as for attending and non-attending students.
Students are welcome to refer to their lecturers for questions and further comment about the contents and programme of the course during office hours, by email and skype.
The final exam will consist of a critical and detailed oral discussion on the texts, presentations, films and files included in the programme. Students are free to take the exam in Italian or in English and are required to demonstrate their full knowledge of the texts and the syllabus, and to be able to analyse them in the light of the analytical tools and cultural studies approach developed during the course. Building on the information and bibliography provided during the course, they must be able, as well, to contextualize notions, issues texts, and cultural products showing an awareness of contemporary British history, culture, and cultural networks.
Students will have the opportunity, if they wish, to take at least 1 or 2 mid-term written tests or assignments: their contents and format will be advertised during the lectures and published in advance on the Microsoft TEAMS platform and the Ariel website of the course. The results will be published on ARIEL. Passing this test will allow students to prepare a shorter programme for the oral exam which will be made known in the early stages of the course. Students will be free, if they prefer, to take the whole exam orally, without taking the mid-term tests.Excellence will be awarded in the final exam to students who will show deep understanding of the methodological approach, will adopt originality of presentation, and will be able to critically connect events and cultural practices.
Prerequisites and testing are the same as for attending and non-attending students.
Students are welcome to refer to their lecturers for questions and further comment about the contents and programme of the course during office hours, by email and skype.
L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE - University credits: 9
Lessons: 60 hours
Professors:
Gualtieri Claudia, Pedretti Roberto Giambattista
Professor(s)