IN-DEPTH SEMINARS OF DISCIPLINARY AREA (LCSM) - MOD. 12

The seminar proposed is meant to facilitate acquiring the foundational concepts of Hispanic American literatures and cultures and to consolidate general methodologies and transversal analytical tools, such as the concepts of nature, otherness, and identity. This seminar is designed for first- and second-year students. Therefore, to ensure adequate breadth and variety of the categories, methodologies, and tools offered, the seminar will be taught by two professors from the Hispanic American Language and Literatures department.

The objectives of the PhD program are as follows:
- to acquire expertise in research methods across literary, cultural-historical, artistic and anthropological field of study and expand and enhance knowledge about Hispanic American area of research;
- to develop the ability to conceive, design, execute and adjust the research process with the integrity expected of a scholar, using appropriate methods;
- to provide tools and models for conducting original research, which is presented in the thesis and potentially in other publications at national or international levels;
- to hone the skills for critical analysis, literature, history, and culture, while evaluating and synthesizing new and complex ideas.

This module is designed for first- and second-year doctoral students in the Licuso (Modern Languages, Cultures and Societies) PhD programme. As the module's programme is designed for doctoral students of various literary areas, the instructors will use Italian as the module's lingua franca. Proficiency in Italian is a requirement for participating in the doctoral program.

Starting from Todorovian concept of Hispanic America as "the quintessential different," this doctoral seminar aims to reflect on the issues of otherness and diversity that the encounter with the American subcontinent introduces into the orbit of European and Eurocentric thought. The seminar will be divided into two parts. The first 10 hours (Professor Margherita Cannavacciuolo) will introduce the problem of the "name" in Hispanic America as a tool for colonizing the imagination and cultural domination. The seminar will then introduce the main historical figures who, during the eras of the "conquest" and colonialization of Hispanic America, as well as in the 20th century, constituted fundamental reference points for cultural and literary translation as a strategy for constructing and deconstructing identity. Finally, an overview of the "faces" that characterize Hispanic American cultures and literatures and, in turn, contribute to the continent's emancipation will be provided.
The last 20 hours (Doctor Maria Rita Consolaro) will be divided into two sections. The first part (10 hours) will be dedicated to the question of language and communication in Hispanic America. We will expose the communication modalities developed between Spaniards and Indigenous communities during the first years of the Colony; considering gestures, visual communication, the adaptation of the Spanish language and the role of Indigenous languages. In particular, colonial dynamics implied in the communication process will be highlighted. In addition, there will be a reference to the role of alphabetic writing as a tool of power and domination. The last part (10 hours) will be dedicated to an introduction to the themes, aesthetics, and styles of the Hispanic-American poetry of the first half of the XX century. The regional and national identity search, the recovery of pre-Hispanic themes, the tension towards cosmopolitanism, the spirituality, the development of a social and personal expression, are some of the topics that we will find and analyse in the poetry of Gabriela Mistral (Chile, 1889-1957), César Vallejo (Peru, 1892-1938), and Pablo Neruda (Chile, 1904-1973). Through the reading of some of their poems, we will try to outline common points and differences that characterise this foundational names of Hispanic-American poetry.

General bibliography:
Giuseppe Bellini, Pablo Neruda e altri saggi sulla poesia ispano-americana (1966)
Edward Said, Orientalismo (1974)
Louis-Jean Calvet, Linguistica e colonialismo : piccolo trattato di glottofagia (1974)
Dick Hedbige, Sottocultura. Il significato dello stile (1979)
Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo, Decolonizzare la mente. La politica della lingua nella letteratura africana (1986)
Serge Gruzinski, La colonizzazione dell’immaginario (1994)
Néstor García Canclini, Culture Ibride. Strategie per entrare e uscire dalla modernità (1995)
Homi Bhabha, I luoghi della cultura (1994)
Donatella de Cesare, Stanieri residenti (2017)
Mark Fisher, Realismo capitalista (2015)

Specific bibliography:
Gabriela Mistral, Desolación (1922)
Pablo Neruda, Residencia en la tierra (1933)
César Vallejo, Poemas humanos (1939)
Edmundo O’Gorman, La invención de América (1958)
Eduardo Galeano, Le vene aperte dell’America Latina (1971)
Tzvetan Todorov, La conquista dell’America. Il problema dell’altro (1982)
Rosalba Campra, America Latina l’identità e la maschera (1982, 2006)
Martin Lienhard, La voz y su huella: escritura y conflicto étnico-social en América Latina (1492-1988) (1990)
Enrique Dussel, 1492-El encubrimiento del otro. Hacia el origen del mito della modernità (1992)
Antonio Cornejo Polar, Escribir en el aire: ensayo sobre la heterogeneidad socio-cultural en las literaturas andinas (2003)
Miguel Rojas Mix, I cento nomi d'America (2006)

Unscheduled exam. Learning assessment takes place through the submission of the written assignment required for progression to the next year.

not present

The lecturer has a duty to ensure that the rules regarding the authenticity and originality of exam tests and papers are respected. Therefore, if there is suspicion of irregular conduct, an additional assessment may be conducted, which could differ from the original exam description.

The written paper, if successful, will contribute to the advancement to the next grade.

The course is co-taught through front lectures and seminars

Please refer to the Doctorate webpage for the final timetable and check it regularly.

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