Italian Studies
Chair: Hector Medina
Department home page: http://www.wheatoncollege.edu/Acad/ItalianStudies/
The program of Italian Studies offers courses in the language, literature, civilization, art and politics of Italy.
Major
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The major in Italian studies consists of at least nine courses (starting with Itas 200 or above.) Starting with the Class of 2008 at least four of the nine must be in Italian.
Courses
Nine courses from the following:
Itas 200 Advanced Intermediate Italian
Itas 220 Advanced Oral and Written Communication: Composition and Conversation
Itas 235 Italian Women Writers in Translation
Itas 260 Italian Civilization
Itas 305 Studies in Italian Literature I
Itas 306 Studies in Italian Literature II
Itas 320 Italian Cinema
Itas 330 Modern Italian Theatre
Arth 231 Italian Medieval Art and Culture
Arth 232 Art and Architecture of the 14th and 15th Centuries in Italy
Arth 274 Visualizing Power in Ancient Rome
Arth 332 Art and Architecture of the 16th Century in Italy
Arth 336 Sex and Death in Early Modern Venice
Arth 401 (When it concerns Italian topics)
Pols 225 Italian Politics
Other combinations are also possible, if students take advantage of special courses that deal directly with Italy and/or Italians in America offered by other departments. Such courses will vary from year to year.
We also encourage majors to spend their junior year abroad with an approved program, such as Middlebury in Florence or Ferrara and IES in Milan or Rome.
Minor
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The minor in Italian studies consists of at least five courses from the course list for the Italian studies major (starting with Itas 200 or above.) Starting with the Class of 2008 at least two of these courses must be in Italian.
Courses
Language courses
Language courses at the elementary and intermediate levels in Italian are offered on an intensive basis and are taught with an eclectic, functional five-skills approach. This integrated approach develops simultaneously all the fundamental skills: speaking, comprehension, reading, writing and cultural awareness.
Our language courses offer students an opportunity to acquire communication skills while developing an awareness and appreciation of Italian culture and civilization. These courses are designed for students in any field or major that benefits from the ability to communicate in Italian and knowledge of Italian literature, culture and civilization.
Before enrolling in a first Italian course at Wheaton, all students who have studied Italian must take the placement exam given by the department.
Elementary language courses
101. Basic Italian
A yearlong course conducted by intensive oral method for students with no preparation in the language. Its goal is to provide more than a basic knowledge of Italian by developing the fundamental skills: understanding, speaking, reading, writing and cultural awareness. Four class meetings per week plus work in the language laboratory and media center.
102. Basic Italian
Continuation of Itas 101.
150. Intermediate Italian
This intensive one-semester course provides further development and practice of all language skills. Comprehensive grammar review, with activities designed to enhance listening, speaking, reading, writing and cultural awareness. Four class meetings per week plus work in the language laboratory and media center.
Advanced intermediate language courses
200. Advanced Intermediate Italian
Reading and discussion in Italian of Italian texts (drama, novel, short stories, poetry). Nonliterary texts such as films and music included. Designed to improve the students' ability to communicate orally and to express themselves in written Italian; to broaden their understanding of the Italian world; to introduce them to contemporary Italian writers. Four class meetings per week plus work in the language laboratory and media center.
Connections:
Conx 23008 Italian Culture, Language and Society
220. Advanced Oral and Written Communication: Composition and Conversation
This course is designed to improve the student's speaking and writing skills in Italian at an advanced level and will develop fluid conversational and writing skills through intensive practice. Three class meetings per week plus work in the language laboratory and media center.
Civilization course
260. Italian Civilization
A study of the major trends and development in the evolution of Italian society and culture, from its origins to the present, from a historical, political, social, artistic and intellectual perspective.
Literature survey courses
305. Studies in Italian Literature I
A study of literary movements and genres from the medieval period to the end of the 16th century through the reading and discussion of representative works by Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Machiavelli, women writers of the Renaissance and others. Discussion of the Inquisition and Venice's central role in print culture.
306. Studies in Italian Literature II
A study of literary movements and genres from the 17th century to the present through reading and discussion of representative works by such authors as Galileo, Carlo Goldoni, Giovanni Verga, Grazia Deledda, Anna Banti and Italo Calvino.
Studies in literature or culture
320. Italian Cinema
This course introduces students to Italian cinema, film analysis and 20th century Italian history (including fascism, war, the "economic miracle" of the 1960s and migration). We will study cinematic techniques and styles through close visual readings of films by Rossellini, De Sica, Fellini, Antonioni, Pasolini, Wertmüller, Bertolucci and others. We will see how these films reflect the aesthetic and cultural debates in the Italian socio-historical context. Required weekly film viewing and readings.
(Alberto Bianchi)
Connections:
Conx 23014 Film and Society
330. Modern Italian Theatre
This course explores the shifting zones between stage and audience, between written text and social intervention. Beginning with Pirandello's seminal masterpiece, Six Characters in Search of an Author, students will explore the radical artistic and political potential of theatre in modern Italian society. Readings and viewings may include: avant-garde Futurist theatre; De Filippo's Neapolitan theatre; Martinelli's Afro-Italian collaborations; and works by Betti, Pasolini, Maraini, Ginzburg and the renowned Fo-Rame team.
(Tommasina Gabriele)
399. Selected Readings
Course in translation
235. Italian Women Writers in Translation
A study of the dramatic shifts in social, political and economic roles of Italian women in the 20th century, beginning with Aleramo's famous autobiographical novel, A Woman (1906). Includes the complex treatment of women under fascism; representations of women as wives and mothers; women in the workforce; women's political victories (suffrage and divorce); personal and social struggles for sexual self-determination; the place of Italian women writers in the canon. Amongst the readings: Sibilla Aleramo, Maria Messina, Dacia Maraini, Alba De Céspedes. Lectures, discussions, readings, films and papers in English. Italian majors and minors may select to do readings and papers in Italian.
(Tommasina Gabriele)
Connections:
Conx 20014 Modern Italy
Conx 23006 Sexuality
298. Experimental Course
Constructing Women Writers and Saints: 1200-1500
This course focuses on Italian women saints and writers of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. This course will analyze the role of women's literature in the 1200s and trace its development through the mid-1500s. We will study the literature of these women, by first examining their social, spiritual and philosophical preparation. We will then consider how these factors influenced both the subject of the texts and the manner in which these works were received. The genres studied will include poetry, autobiographies, sermons, and treatises. Select readings from Chiara d'Assisi, St. Catherine of Siena, Vittoria Colonna, Gaspara Stampa, Tullia d'Aragona. Conducted in Italian.
Connections:
Conx 20014 Modern Italy
Conx 23006 Sexuality