CULTURAL NARRATIVES AND DYNAMICS (HEBREW)

The seminar is among the core seminars of the MA degree LICAAM and aims at giving students intermediate advanced methodological tools (CEFR levels B2-C1) in the fields of Hebrew Language and Literary Studies, as well as Cultural Studies.
The seminar aims to give students the possibility of improving the knowledge of modern Judaism, as well as Jewish andIsraeli identity, while at the same time giving useful tools for future culture and third-sector professionals. Basing upon an interdisciplinary perspective, the seminar wants to situate the study of Judaism within Cultural Studies and Memory Studies.
Its objective is also to strengthen the language and literary skills acquired in the previous years by the students, so as to get to a very good knowledge of the subject, in the more general context of modern Middle Eastern languages and literatures.

1. Knowledge and comprehension: ● Knowing modern Hebrew at advanced intermediate level and understanding texts in this language; ● Knowing the various characteristics of modern Hebrew and understanding their interaction; ● Knowing modern Hebrew at advanced intermediate level and its application at literary and non-literary level.
2. Ability to apply knowledge and comprehension: ● Being able to correctly utilize Hebrew in most of the processes of application and communication basing on the knowledge acquired; ● Being able to operate a linguistic and grammar analysis of different aspects of modern Hebrew; ● Being able to apply linguistic skills in order to analyze various textual and metatextual typologies.
3. Judgement ability: ● Being able to formulate hypothesis, developing also a critical approach to the evaluation of alternatives.
4. Communication skills: ● Being able to communicate in different fields of daily life, and not only, in modern Hebrew; ● Interacting with the lecturer and the other students respectfully.
5. Learning abilities: ● Being able to take notes and share them; ● Consulting critically the reference texts and the bibliography.

At the end of the seminar, students will also be able to critically analyze Israeli society and culture in its various forms, and in its relations with the history of the Jewish Diaspora. Additionally, students will improve their knowledge of modern Hebrew - both in the written and oral dimension (CEFR level B2-C1) - and of modern Hebrew (and Jewish) literature.

Adequate knowledge of English.
Intermediate knowledge of modern Hebrew.

Non-Hebrew speaking students can agree an alternative syllabus (as well as a different kind of exam).

ISRAEL: CULTURE, SOCIETY AND IDENTITIES, 1948-2020
The course will introduce students to the culture and society of the State of Israel, also with reference to the literary and historical dynamics of contemporary Jewry. We will analyze the formation of Israeli society from 1948 to today in its different ethnic components, and its political changes and identity shiftings, also through the translation and critical reading of Israeli writers. Then, we will also study important aspects of Israeli culture (e.g. cinema, tv, visual arts), trying to give an overview of the Israeli memory landscape and its relations with the diasporic past, the Middle East and the Jewish heritage.

Students are asked to attend throughout the entire academic year the weekly classes of modern Hebrew with the CEL dr. Tsipora Baran.

- Hebrew texts given by the lecturer via Moodle.

LITERATURE
- Meir Shalev, La montagna blu (Milano: Frassinelli, 2002).
- Amos Oz, Una pace perfetta (Milano: Feltrinelli, 2009).
- David Grossman, Il vento giallo (Milano: Mondadori, 1988).
- Shemi Zarhin, Finché un giorno (Firenze: Spider&Fish, 2018).
- Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, Svegliare i leoni (Firenze: Giuntina, 2017).
- Ronit Matalon, E la sposa chiuse la porta (Firenze: Giuntina, 2019).
- Yishai Sarid, Il mostro della memoria (Roma: e/o, 2019).
- Abraham Yehoshua, Il tunnel (Torino: Einaudi, 2019).

ARTICLES AND BOOKS
- Yael Zerubavel, Recovered Roots: Collective Memory and the Making of Israeli National Tradition (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1995), passim.
- Lital Levy, Poetic Trespass: Writing Between Hebrew and Arabic in Israel/Palestine (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014), passim.
- Amos Oz e Fania Oz-Salzberger, Gli ebrei e le parole (Milano: Feltrinelli, 2013).
- Dario Miccoli, a cura di, Contemporary Sephardic and Mizrahi Literature: A Diaspora (Londra: Routledge, 2017), 1-9 e 98-114.
- Fania Oz-Salzberger e Yedidia Stern, Studi sul pensiero politico israeliano (Milano: Zikkaron, 2018), passim.
- Gershon Shafir e Yoav Peled, Being Israeli: the Dynamics of Multiple Citizenship (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), Introduzione e capp. 4 e 12.

MOVIES
- Nurit Aviv, Langue sacrée, langue parlée (2008).
- Ari Folman, Valzer con Bashir (2009).
- visione di filmati in ebraico su tematiche inerenti al corso.

Students are asked to read eight books of Israeli literature. The final mark will result from the average of:
- a written exam made of: translation exercises of excerpts from the literary texts studied in class and questions on the issues discussed during the course.
- a final oral exam of Hebrew with the CEL.

The course will alternate lectures and group activities of translation from Hebrew into italian, oral presentations and participation to workshops and lectures on relevant subjects.

Italian

Student unable to attend the seminar are invited to contact the lecturer at the beginning of the semester.
Due to the health emergency situation, the course and exam could be subject to changes. Students will be notified in due course.

written and oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development