ANGLOAMERICAN LANGUAGE 2

The course in Angloamerican Language II will focus on the grammatical, phonetic, and lexical aspects of American English, with attention to its regional variations.Part of the course will focus on reading, comprehension and critical discussion of selected texts. The texts will guide the students through a critical analysis of themes regarding social sciences, especially referred to the contemporary American context.

Spoken and written abilities will be deeply encouraged, and students will be enabled to actively respond to the issues analyzed in the classroom with term papers and articles.

During the course the students of Angloamerican Language will deepen their understanding of textual analysis, through a close reading practice of essays, articles and book excerpts. The educational objectives of the course regard the consolidation of the language skills of level C2 according to CEFR parameters.

The students will be able to work, in groups or individually, on the issues arising from the texts, both during pre-reading / prelistening activities and during the critical survey of the material analyzed in the classroom. Students will be actively involved in describing actions, formulate hypotheses, list situations - relate to the content of the texts - by enriching the range of analytical and critical hints with their personal reflections. A comparative analysis will be encouraged, in order to enable the students to interpret, understand, and properly use modes of expression in situations of intercultural and inter-linguistic exchange.

Second year post-grad language major students should already have a C1 level in all four of the language skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening). In my course
priority will be to given to academic reading and writing, with a specific focus on the study of LITERARY AND CULTURAL THEORIES WITHIN THE U.S. ACADEMY. Critical analysis and academic discussion will be deeply encouraged after each reading in the classroom. Academic writing practice will follow, both during the lab hours and through home assignments. At the end of the course the students will be asked to work on their presentation skills, and prepare a specific written report on one of the topics analyzed during the year.

Activities in class will consist in shared and independent reading, group discussion, lab (use of media), language analysis, complex translation (direct and indirect), and academic writing practice (paragraph building, paraphrasing and summarizing skills, full essay composition).

Guided by the material and the methodological tools through the discussion phase, the students will be enabled to independently assess the strengths and weaknesses of an essay, a scientific paper or a piece of fiction in the Angloamerican language, thus activating autonomous capabilities for analysis and "argumentation", which will be favored in frequent writing practice, both during the lessons and in the form of assignments - to be completed independently from home.

The study of LITERARY AND CULTURAL THEORIES WITHIN THE U.S. ACADEMY will be carried out in 3 modules, with the following readings:

Main textbook. Dallmann, A. Boesenberg, E. and Klepper, M. Part two. Approaches to American Cultural Studies.London: Routledge, 2016

1. Postmarxism and American Studies

Lowe, Lisa and David Lloyd. Introduction. The Politics of Culture in the Shadow of Capital. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1997.

2. Postcolonial Theories, Race and Ethnic Theories, Border and Transnational Studies

Singh Amritjit Singh, nd Pter Schmid, eds. Postcolonial Theory and the United States: Race, Ethnicity and Literature. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 2000.

Saldivar, Josè David. Borders Matter. Remapping American Cultural Studies. Oakland: U of California P, 1997.

hooks, bell. Black Looks: Race and Representation. New York: South End P. 1992.

Du Bois, W.E.B. The Soul of Black Folks, 1903. New York bantam, 1989.

Said Edward, Orientalism. New York: Vintage, 1978.

2. Gender Studies and Queer and Transgender Theories

Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge, 1990.

Spivak, Gayatri C. "Can the Subaltern Speak?” Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture. Ed. Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1988. 271-313.

Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. “ Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses.” Feminism Without Borders. Decolonising Theory, Practicing Solidarity. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 2003. 17-42.

Walker, Alice. In Search of our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist prose. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovitch, 1983.

Selected readings from:

1. Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. 1957. New York: Hill and Wang, 1972.

2.Baym, Nina. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: Norton, 2012.

3.Bordieu, Pierre. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1984.

4. Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge, 1990.

5.Dallmann, A. Boesenberg, E. and Klepper, M. Approaches to American Cultural Studies.London: Routledge, 2016.

6.Du Bois, W.E.B. The Soul of Black Folks, 1903. New York bantam, 1989.

7. Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, Black Masks. 1952. New York: Grove UP, 2008.

8.Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. 1963.New York: Norton 2013.

9. Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. The Signifying Monkey: a Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism. New York: Oxford UP, 1988.

10.hooks, bell. Black Looks: Race and Representation. New York: South End P. 1992.

11. _________ Writing beyond Race: Living Theory and Practice. London: Routledge, 2013.

12. Lacan, Jacques. Écrits. A selection. New York: Norton, 1977.

13. Lorde Audrey. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Trumansburg NY: Crossing P, 1983.

14. Lowe, Lisa and David Lloyd. Introduction. The Politics of Culture in the Shadow of Capital. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1997.

15. Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. “ Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses.” Feminism Without Borders. Decolonising Theory, Practicing Solidarity. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 2003. 17-42.

16. Said Edward, Orientalism. New York: Vintage, 1978.

17. Saldivar, Josè David. Borders Matter. Remapping American Cultural Studies. Oakland: U of California P, 1997.

18. Singh Amritjit Singh, nd Pter Schmid, eds. Postcolonial Theory and the United States: Race, Ethnicity and Literature. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 2000.

19. Spivak, Gayatri C. "Can the Subaltern Speak?” Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture. Ed. Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1988. 271-313.

20. Walker, Alice. In Search of our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist prose. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovitch, 1983.