AMERICAN CULTURAL STUDIES MOD. 1

The course is part of the graduate degree in American, European, and Postcolonial Languages and Culture and Language Sciences. Its aim is to provide students advanced skill in and knowledge about the analysis of American culture through a multidisciplinary approach. Students are expected to develop autonomous critical skills and to be able to analyze and contextualize heterogeneous textual and visual cultural material, using a specific critical vocabulary.

This is an Advanced course in American cultural studies with the following learning goals:
a) development of students' critical skills by stimulating the elaboration of original ideas within a specific area of study
c) building students' analytical skills by adopting a multi- and interdisciplinary approach
d) development of independent and autonomous study through the possibility of personal research to be presented to the class.

Advanced knowledge of written and spoken English.
Ability to enrich the syllabus through individual research of material and independent study

This course offers a historical exploration of Black identity in the United States, tracing its evolution from the late 18th century’s institution of slavery through to the 21st-century. Often viewed as America’s ‘original sin’, slavery profoundly shaped the nation’s social fabric, creating enduring divisions along racial lines and deeply intertwining with its economic, cultural, and political landscapes. Despite its 19th-century abolition, the legacy of slavery continued to resonate throughout the 20th century, as evidenced by the Jim Crow laws and the powerful narratives of influential Black intellectuals and artists. Throughout the course, we will critically examine a range of materials that shed light on the pervasive stigmatization of Black individuals in the U.S. The course will explore the arduous 19th-century struggle for emancipation, and analyze the ongoing battles for visibility and equitable access across social, political, and cultural spheres in the 20th and 21st, even in a trasnational and Black Atlantic perspective. Our analysis will draw from a diverse array of sources, including academic treatises, poetry, fiction (novels and novellas), and political addresses.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCES (all readings are mandatory)

PRIMARY SOURCES
Childish Gambino, “This Is America”, 2018
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1785 (extracts; moodle)
Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave Is the 4th of July”. 1852. Moodle
DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk. 1903. Forethought and Chapter 1. Moodle
Langston Hughes, “I, Too”; “The Negro Speaks of River”; “The Weary Blues”; “Theme for English B”. Moodle
Martin Luther King, “I Have a Dream”. Moodle

SECONDARY SOURCES
Elisa Bordin, “Peculiar Citizenship”. Moodle
Duffy, Bernard K. and Richard D. Besel. “Recollection, Regret, and Foreboding in Frederick Douglass’s Fourth of July Orations of 1852 and 1875”. Making Connections: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Cultural Diversity, Volume 12, Issue 1, January 1, 2011, pages 4-15. Moodle
Salamishah Tillet. Sites of Slavery: Citizenship and Racial Democracy in the Post–Civil Rights Imagination Durham: Duke University Press, 2012. Introduction + Chapter 1. Moodle.
Precious Rasheeda Muhammad, “Black Protest Writing, From W.E.B. DuBois to Kendrick Lamar,” Literary Hub, August 10, 2016, https://lithub.com/black-protest-writing-from-w-e-b-dubois-to-kendrick-lamar/
Rankine, Claudia. “The Condition of Black Life Is One of Mourning” The New York Times (June 22, 2015): https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/22/magazine/the-condition-of-black-life-is-one-of-mourning.html
Gould, Philip. “The Rise, Development, and Circulation of the Slave Narrative”. The Cambridge Companion to the African American Slave Narrative, edited by Audrey Fisch. 2007. Moodle

a) Final oral exam of about 30 minutes. Students must be able to discuss a topic thoroughly. Every student is asked 3 questions (specific or broad) on 3 different topics, which the students must use to organize their critical discourse on the themes of the course. The questions may be the comment of a text, a precise date/title/etc., or a broad investigation of a topic. The exam is not thought of as a test but as a critical discussion, whose aim is the assessment of the learning goals (knowledge of the historical and critical frame and of the texts; comparative and analytical skills; independent thought; communicative skills).
Primary and secondary sources are mandatory.

b) Participation during classes is highly encouraged and will be evaluated positively. Attendance is not mandatory; however, your active participation to the discussions and conversations in class is a fundamental contribution to the seminar.

ON THE DAY OF THE EXAM, STUDENTS ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE ALL THE TEXTS ON THEM

oral

The minimum grade is 18, the maximum grade is 30 cum laude. Grades correspond to:
A. range 18-22: sufficient content knowledge; limited ability to discuss independently, limited knowledge of theoretical tools, limited knowledge of cultural-historical context and debates.
B. range 23-26: fair content knowledge; fair independent discussion skills, fair knowledge of theoretical tools, fair knowledge of cultural-historical context and debates.
C. range 27-29: good content knowledge; good independent discussion skills, good knowledge of theoretical tools, good knowledge of historical-cultural context and debates.
D. 30: very good content knowledge, independent discussion skills and very good knowledge of the theoretical tools; very good knowledge of the historical-cultural context and debates.
D. Honors/cum laude: awarded in case the knowledge of contents, the independent discussion skills, the knowledge of theoretical tools, of the cultural-historical context and of the debates are excellent and the student expands what is required by the course syllabus.

Seminar with class debates/discussions and active participation by students.

Please, check the announcements on the professor's page and on Moodle. Remember also to active and daily check your institutional mail (unive.it).

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