Knowledge (Contents)
Cultural and TV/Media Studies in the UK and US (1960-to date). TV series and US popular culture in the Seventies.
Know-How (Skills)
Critical reading of the representation of popular culture in the US (case study: a successful 1970s TV series).
Consolidation of linguistic and communicative skills at the C2 level of CEFRL.
In the context of US multiethnic and multilinguistic society, which calls for the development of intercultural communicative competences, the first part of the program (1) aims at investigating the relationship between language and identity – and the way it is erased by mainstream ideology – as concerning hyphenated Americans.
The second part (2) aims at exploring the specific use of language in the domain of political discourse by offering students the necessary linguistic tools to decode messages and expose their underlying assumptions and ideologies.
Module 1 (3 CFU, 18 ore) “Introducing Cultural Studies”
Introduction to Cultural Studies in the UK and the US. Focus on: sociology, ethnic studies, material history, gender studies.
Module 2 (3 CFU, 18 ore) “America discovers Columbo”
Media and TV studies. The representation of the 70s in Columbo, by R. Levinson and W. Link (seasons 1-7).
1) Language and cultural diversity in the United States
American English: processes of language variation and standardization; ethnic cultures and dialects (African-American, Hispanic-American and Asian-American identities; African American Vernacular English, Chicano English, Spanglish).
2) Political discourse analysis
Definition and approaches to the study of political discourse; the relationship between political discourse, media, and language production; the political interview and its migration to the TV genre of the talk show.
►Module A
1) The Cultural Studies Reader (3rd ed.), ed. S. During, London and New York: Routledge, 2007. Mandatory readings:
S. During, “Introduction” (pp. 1-30); S. Hall, “Cultural Studies and Its Theoretical Legacies” (pp. 33-44); A. Gramsci, “The Organization of Education and of Culture” (pp. 45-58); R. Barthes, “From Work to Text” (pp. 81-87); B. Anderson, “Imagined Communities” (pp. 253-263); J. Butler, “Subversive Bodily Acts” (pp. 371-382); Th. Adorno, M. Horkheimer, “The Culture Industry: Enlightment as Mass Deception” (pp. 405-415); S. Hall, “Encoding, Decoding” (pp. 477-487); J. A. Radway, “The Institutional Matrix of Romance” (pp 507-519).
2) One essay, in its original language or in translation:
R. Hoggart, The Uses of Literacy, London, Chatto & Windus, 1957; B. Rosenberg, D. M. White (eds), Mass Culture: The Popular Arts in America, Glencoe, The Free Press, 1957; E. Morin, L’Esprit du temps, Paris, Éditions Grasset & Frasquelle, 1962; R. Williams. Culture and Society, New York: Columbia University Press, 1963; M. McLuhan, Q. Fiore, The Medium is the Massage, San Francisco, Hardwired, 1967; J. G. Cawelti, Adventure, Mystery and Romance: Formula Stories As Art and Popular Culture, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976; L.A. Fiedler, Freaks: Myths and Images of the Secret Self, London, Simon and Schuster, 1978; E. Said. Orientalism, New York, Pantheon Books, 1978; H. White, Tropics of Discourse: Essays in Cultural Criticism, Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press, 1978; C. Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism, New York, Norton, 1979; M. Foucault, Histoire de la sexualité. 1: La volonté de savoir, Paris Gallimard, 1976; id., Histoire de la sexualité. 2: L’usage des plaisirs, Paris, Gallimard, 1984; id., Histoire de la sexualité. 3: Le souci de soi, Paris, Gallimard, 1984; P. Bordieu. Ce que parler veut dire: l’économie des échanges linguistiques, Paris, Fayard, 1982; A. Khatibi, Amour Bilingue, Montpellier, Fata Morgana, 1983; G.C. Spivak, In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics, New York, Methuen,1987; H.L. Gates jr., The Signifying Monkey. A Theory of African American Literary Criticism, New York, Oxford University Press, 1988; E.S. Herman, N. Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, New York, Pantheon, 1988; J. Fiske, Understanding Popular Culture, London, Unwin Hyman, 1989; A. Easthope, Literary into Cultural Studies, New York and London, Routledge, 1991; J. Guimond, American Photography and the American Dream, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991; N. Postman. Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology, New York, Vintage Books, 1992; M. de Certeau, La culture au pluriel, Paris, Seuils, 1993; H.K. Bhabha. The Location of Culture, New York and London, Routledge, 1994; b. hooks, Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representation, New York and London, Routledge, 1994; J. Dean, Publicity’s Secret: How Technoculture Capitalizes on Democracy, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 2002; J.P. Russo, The Future without a Past: The Humanities in a Technological Society, Columbia, University of Missouri Press, 2005.
Module B
1) T. Miller, “Television Theory: TV Studies 1.0 and 2.0”, in Television Studies. The Basics, London and New York, Routledge, 2010 (pp. 22-49). [*]
2) B. Baley, D. Farber (eds.), America in the Seventies, Lawrence, University Press of Kansas, 2004. È obbligatorio lo studio di:
B. Bailey, E. Farmer, “Introduction” (pp. 1-8); E. Porter, “Affirming and Disaffirming Actions. Remaking Race in the 1970s” (pp. 50-74); B. Bailey, “‘She Can Bring Home the Bacon’. Negotiating Gender in the 1970s” (pp. 107-128); T. Moy, “Culture, Technology, and the Cult of Tech in the 1970s” (pp.208-228). [*]
3) M. M. Brundsdale, “Columbo: The Disheveled Detective”, in Icons of Mystery and Crime and Detection: From Sleuth to Superhero. Vol. 1, Santa Barbara (Cal.), Greenwood Icons, 2010 (pp. 199-228). [*]
4) At least two episodes, for choice, from Columbo (seasons 1-7).
[*] The texts marked by the star will be available in .pdf, according to the dispositions concernig their fair use.
Please remember that in compliance with art 171 L22.04.1941, n. 633 and its amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or journals, only 15% of their content can be copied.
For further information on sanctions and regulations concerning photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee Guida sulla Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione Italiana per i Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian Association on Copyright).
All the books listed in the programs can be consulted in the Library.
For private practice:
To integrate their training, students are highly recommended to use the following textbook on phonetics and phonology:
Spelling, lexical, morphological, syntactical and grammatical elements of American English will be examined in the classes for language practice. For individual study, students can consult the following textbook:
2) Political discourse analysis
Please remember that in compliance with art 171 L22.04.1941, n. 633 and its amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or journals, only 15% of their content can be copied.
For further information on sanctions and regulations concerning photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee Guida sulla Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione Italiana per i Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian Association on Copyright).
All the books listed in the programs can be consulted in the Library.