Geography of Languages and Literatures
A.Y. 2024/2025
Learning objectives
The existing relationships between linguistic forms, literary narratives and spatial organisation will be analysed in the course through the lenses and tools of human geography. The course will analyse the importance of languages and literatures in the various actions taken by different human groups in order to improve the space in which they live and to shape the different involved landscapes. Attention will also be given to the representations and narratives enacted in various regions of the world and in the vast literary production influenced by the geographical dimension, as well as to the new eco-critical, dystopian and post-apocalyptic forms of writing. The course therefore aims to highlight all the environmental, cultural, political, geo-political, social and territorial mechanisms present in the linguistic communities, in their related literary forms and in a group of authors considered representative of the main regions of the world.
Expected learning outcomes
At the end of the course, students will be able to interpret the main contemporary linguistic and literary systems set in the broader context of the geographical reality, the cultural and socio-economic contexts as well as the contemporary territorial practices. These systems will be interpreted by the students not only in their traditional and established dimensions, but also in their responsible, ethical, critical, solidarity-based and sustainable facets.
Lesson period: Second semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course can be attended as a single course.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
Second semester
Course syllabus
The course aims to introduce students to a critical reflection on the contents, practices and tools of the geography of languages and literatures. The course aims to present the peculiarities of the aforementioned geographies and their importance in complementing the traditional points of view offered by the linguistic and literary disciplines. Consequently, the course is divided into two parts, the first devoted to the geography of languages and the second to the geography of literatures. The different disciplinary contents will be dealt with both in general outlines and through specific case studies.
Prerequisites for admission
Attending students who have not previously taken a geography exam in their university career will have the opportunity to acquire a basic knowledge of the discipline by reading a few materials they will be given by the lecturer.
Non-attending students will refer to a textbook for acquiring such knowledge among the reference materials.
Non-attending students will refer to a textbook for acquiring such knowledge among the reference materials.
Teaching methods
Taught classes to privilege the logical-conceptual learning channel; participative lectures supported by linguistic and literary texts, films, images, photographs, cartographic and paracartographic representations to reinforce the different logical, visual and iconographic learning channels; dialogic lectures held by the lecturer and by experts on specific topics.
Teaching Resources
Without prejudice to the above in the "Prerequisites" section, the course consists of two teaching units:
Teaching Unit A for attending students:
- lectures by the teacher and documents available on Moodle, the teaching platform of the University;
- Russo Krauss D., Lingue e spazi. Elementi per l'analisi geografica dell'espressione linguistica, Aracne, Roma, 2011.
Teaching Unit B for attending students:
- lectures by the teacher and documents available on Ariel, the teaching platform of the University;
- Marengo M., Geografia e Letteratura. Piccolo manuale d'uso, Pàtron Editore, Bologna, 2022.
NON attending students will have to prepare their exam on three texts:
1) Russo Krauss D., Lingue e spazi. Elementi per l'analisi geografica dell'espressione linguistica, Aracne, Roma, 2011;
2) Marengo M., Geografia e Letteratura. Piccolo manuale d'uso, Pàtron Editore, Bologna, 2022;
3) A text chosen from:
- Aru S., Tanca M. (a cura di), Convocare esperienze, immagini, narrazioni. Dare senso al paesaggio vol. 2, Mimesis, Milano-Udine, 2015 (only until page 168, included);
- Brazzelli N. (a cura di), Isole. Coordinate geografiche e immaginazione letteraria, Mimesis, Milano-Udine, 2012;
- Brazzelli N., Salvadè A.M. (a cura di), Città e paesaggi urbani tra geografia e letteratura, Mimesis, Milano-Udine, 2023;
- Fiorentino F., Paolucci G. (a cura di), Letteratura e cartografia, Mimesis, Milano-Udine, 2018;
- Nuvolati G., L'interpretazione dei luoghi. Flânerie come esperienza di vita, Firenze University Press, Firenze, 2013;
- Papotti D., Tomasi F., La geografia del racconto. Sguardi interdisciplinari sul paesaggio urbano nella narrativa italiana contemporanea, Peter Lang, Bruxelles, 2014 (available both in kindle or traditional format);
- Salvadè A.M. (a cura di), Altri Mondi. Tra geografia e letteratura, Mimesis, Milano-Udine, 2021.
Teaching Unit A for attending students:
- lectures by the teacher and documents available on Moodle, the teaching platform of the University;
- Russo Krauss D., Lingue e spazi. Elementi per l'analisi geografica dell'espressione linguistica, Aracne, Roma, 2011.
Teaching Unit B for attending students:
- lectures by the teacher and documents available on Ariel, the teaching platform of the University;
- Marengo M., Geografia e Letteratura. Piccolo manuale d'uso, Pàtron Editore, Bologna, 2022.
NON attending students will have to prepare their exam on three texts:
1) Russo Krauss D., Lingue e spazi. Elementi per l'analisi geografica dell'espressione linguistica, Aracne, Roma, 2011;
2) Marengo M., Geografia e Letteratura. Piccolo manuale d'uso, Pàtron Editore, Bologna, 2022;
3) A text chosen from:
- Aru S., Tanca M. (a cura di), Convocare esperienze, immagini, narrazioni. Dare senso al paesaggio vol. 2, Mimesis, Milano-Udine, 2015 (only until page 168, included);
- Brazzelli N. (a cura di), Isole. Coordinate geografiche e immaginazione letteraria, Mimesis, Milano-Udine, 2012;
- Brazzelli N., Salvadè A.M. (a cura di), Città e paesaggi urbani tra geografia e letteratura, Mimesis, Milano-Udine, 2023;
- Fiorentino F., Paolucci G. (a cura di), Letteratura e cartografia, Mimesis, Milano-Udine, 2018;
- Nuvolati G., L'interpretazione dei luoghi. Flânerie come esperienza di vita, Firenze University Press, Firenze, 2013;
- Papotti D., Tomasi F., La geografia del racconto. Sguardi interdisciplinari sul paesaggio urbano nella narrativa italiana contemporanea, Peter Lang, Bruxelles, 2014 (available both in kindle or traditional format);
- Salvadè A.M. (a cura di), Altri Mondi. Tra geografia e letteratura, Mimesis, Milano-Udine, 2021.
Assessment methods and Criteria
The exam consists of an oral interview aimed at verifying the student's knowledge of the main themes of the Geography of Languages and Literatures presented in class or acquired from the texts indicated in the course programme. Specifically, students will be assessed: on their interpretative skills on the material and immaterial aspects of linguistic and literary phenomena in the space; on their communicative skills of the main thematic nuclei of the discipline; on their critical interpretative skills with regard to the topics addressed in the course.
Professor(s)
Reception:
Office hours are held every Tuesday, on a weekly basis, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. On the 11-6-2024, office hours will take place at 2.30 pm.
Office hours will be held in presence in the office 1044 in Sesto San Giovanni or, for specific reasons, via skype. The skype address during reception hours is: dinogavinelli.