AMERICAN CULTURAL STUDIES MOD. 1

The course is part of the Master’s Degree programs in European, American and Postcolonial Language and Literature and in Language Sciences and aims to provide students with advanced knowledge and skills in the field of contemporary American cultural studies. Students will improve their skills in analyzing heterogeneous materials within their historical and cultural contexts. The analytical skills students have learnt during the BA course will be further verified and developed, to include more specialized knowledge of critical theory. In addition, they will broaden their experience in working autonomously and in presenting the results of their own research.

The learning outcomes of the course are
1. the development of knowledge and understanding of the key works in American cultural studies;
2. the skill to apply this knowledge and understanding to other materials;
3. the development of advanced communication skills in English;
4. autonomous formulation of judgements in analyzing primary and secondary texts;
5. the ability to work synergically with other students.

Advanced knowledge of oral and written English (≥ C1).

Diasporic blackness
This course reflects on how the idea of blackness has circulated worldwide in the 20th century, with important global redefinitions at the beginning of the 21st century. Born out of a capitalistic exploitation of the world during Modern Age, blackness had indeed returned to be questioned globally in the second half of the last century, when ‘mother’ Africa was struggling for its own postcolonial independence and, thanks to Paul Gilroy’s seminal The Black Atlantic (1993), being black started to be understood transnationally, as the outcome of multiple crosspollinations despite the hegemonic role of US blackness. This went hand in hand with the “transnational turn” in American studies – an approach to the study of the nation and its culture that is the theoretical framework of this course. This course will pay attention to the relationship between US blackness and Africa, understood as a source to go back, as an idealized mother, but also a new agent of very recent immigration, which is intervening in critical ways to stress how hegemonic US blackness is in the world.
The approach to the primary sources is diachronic and addresses different types of cultural products: theoretical essays, poems, films, memoirs, novels. The course will analyze C. Cullen’s poem "Heritage", Alex Haley's Roots, Ta-Nehisi Coates’s narration of the legacy of the 1970s and Black Panthers in The Beautiful Struggle;: well-known “African children” in the US such as Barack Obama; the “new African diaspora” in the US and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; it will conclude with a discussion of Afrofuturism and the Marvel blockbuster Black Panther.

Primary Texts
C. Cullen, “Heritage”. 1925. Freeonline: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42619/heritage-56d2213a97c6c
Alex Haley, Roots. TV series, Part I and II
Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Beautiful Struggle. (whole book)
Barack Obama, “Nelson Mandela Memorial”, https://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/10/politics/mandela-obama-remarks/
Solomon, The Deep. Chapters 1 and 4. (moodle)
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah. (whole book)
Black Panther (film)

Secondary Texts
Rubin Cohen, “Global Diasporas”. (Moodle)
Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic. 1993, chap. 1 (Moodle)
Elisa Bordin. “Looking for Kunta Kinte: Alex Haley’s Roots and African American Genealogies”. Iperstoria 4, 2014.
Elisa Bordin, “La nuova diaspora Africana negli Stati Uniti: blackness, letteratura e transnazionalità”. Acoma 19, 2020. (moodle)
Chiara Patrizi, “Reclaiming The Abyss, Reckoning With Time. Water In The Afrofuturist Imagination”. Oltreoceano.

1. Oral exam (30 minutes max.) in which students will be evaluated in their ability to analyze and contextualize the assigned material in a critical and autonomous way. The level of English and communication skills will also be evaluated.
2. Because of the teaching modalities of the course, students are required to read/watch the material before coming to class, in order to be able to participate in the class discussion. Those who participate in the class debate will be evaluated positively during the exam. In the second part of the course, some groups presentations will be organized, in which students are allowed to show their skills in team work and in critical and autonomous analysis. These opportunities will be discussed and defined at the beginning of the course in February, and are required workload for those who aspire to a final "30L" grade.

Lectures, seminars, screenings and class discussion; flipped classroom.

English

Students are invited to attend the lectures and conferences organized by the American studies section.

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development