MIGRANTS LITERATURE AND CULTURE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN

The course is one of the optional courses of the second year of the MA degree in Transmediterranean Studies: Migration, Cooperation and Development (TRANS-MED). It aims at giving students intermediate methodological tools in the field of migration culture and literature, in order to enrich - from a humanistic perspective - the study of contemporary migration began by the students in the previous year.
The aim of the course is to develop critical and analytical skills with particular reference to the cultural representation of migration phenomenon and various experiences of exile and diaspora in the Mediterranean, in colonial and postcolonial times. Additionally, students will delve into specific aspects of Mediterranean and European history and society, also with reference to the Middle Eastern language(s) that they know or are studying.

1. Knowledge and understanding: ● An intermediate knowledge of literature and cultural productions related to contemporary migrations in the Mediterranean area.
2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding: ● To be able to correctly use the tools of interpretative analysis concerning contemporary migrations from a cultural and literary point of view; ● To be able to carry out a critical analysis of different aspects of the cultures of the Mediterranean and the Near and Middle East, and their interaction with Europe; ● Knowing how to apply one's own historical and linguistic competence for analyzing different textual and metatextual typologies.
3. Judgment skills: ● Knowing how to formulate and argue hypotheses, also developing a critical approach to the evaluation of alternative hypotheses.
4. Communication skills: ● Knowing how to communicate in a critical way the acquired knowledge; ● Knowing how to interact with the teacher and peers in a critical and respectful way.
5. Learning skills: ● Knowing how to take notes and share them collaboratively; ● Knowing how to critically consult the reference texts and the bibliography contained therein.

General knowledge of the history of Mediterranean Europe and of North Africa.
Adequate English language skills.

The course is dedicated to the analysis of migration literatures and cultures in the contemporary Mediterranean (20th-21st centuries), based on a cultural-historical approach and on Memory Studies studies. In particular, we will focus on how the cultures of the southern shore of the Mediterranean - and more generally of the area of ​​the Near and Middle East - have lived and are still living forms of migration, displacement, diaspora and exile and how these experiences are elaborated and remembered through literature, cinema, the arts and different forms of heritagisation of the past.

The course will see the participation of guest speakers, specialized in languages ​​and cultures of the Near and Middle East area (e.g. French-speaking Maghreb; Arab countries; Israel and Jewish diaspora; Iran; Turkey etc.) and in migration studies in the Mediterranean more generally.

ARTICLES AND BOOKS
- William Boelhower e Claus Zittel, "Introduction: Literature and Migration", Annali di Ca' Foscari: serie occidentale, 54 (2020): 9-21.
- Egidio Ivetich, Studiare la storia del Mediterraneo (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2024).
- Olivia Harrison, "Maghreb as Method", b2o, dicembre 2018, accessibile all'indirizzo: https://www.boundary2.org/2018/12/olivia-c-harrison-thinking-the-maghreb-with-said-and-khatibi/ .
- Maria Chiara Rioli, L'archivio Mediterraneo (Roma: Carocci, 2021), passim.
- Daniele Comberiati e Chiara Mengozzi, a cura di, Storie condivise nell'Italia contemporanea: narrazioni e performance transculturali (Roma: Carocci, 2022), passim.
- William Safran, "Diasporas in Modern Societies: Myths of Homeland and Return", Diaspora, 1/1 (1991): 83-99.

LITERATURE
- Didò Sotiriou, Addio, Anatolia (Roma: Crocetti, 2006).
- Tayeb Salih, La stagione della migrazione a nord (Palermo: Sellerio, 2011).
- Ronit Matalon, Il suono dei nostri passi (Roma: Atmosphere, 2011).
- Davide Enia, Appunti per un naufragio (Palermo: Sellerio, 2017).
- Amara Lakhous, Divorzio all'islamica a viale Marconi (Roma: e/o, 2012).
- Yasmina Khadra, Quel che il giorno deve alla notte (Milano: Mondadori, 2009).
- Amets Arzallus Antia e Ibrahima Balde, Fratellino (Milano: Feltrinelli, 2021).

MOVIES
- Kamal Hachkar, Tinghir-Jérusalem (2013).
- Andrea Segre, L'ordine delle cose (2017).

It is advisable to read (in the parts relating to the course) a general text on the history of the Mediterranean, for example:
- David Abulafia, Il grande mare: storia del Mediterraneo (Milano: Mondadori, 2017).

Further references will be provided in class.

All students are required to read all the reference texts, including novels (see reference texts - LITERATURE).
The final exam is written (2 hrs) and will consist of answering 2 questions on the topics discussed in class.

Lectures, participation in seminars and conferences, discussion groups.

Italian

Non-attending students are asked to contact the teacher at the beginning of the semester.

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