Italy

What was the attitude of European culture towards non-Europeans in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance? How were African, Arab, Turk, Mongol, but also Native American and Jewish people represented in Western art and why? From the fabulous East described by Marco Polo to the myth of Prester John, from the clash with the Islamic world to the conquest of America, the imagery of non-European peoples reveals a broad spectrum of symbolic, social, and religious meanings. The analysis of these portrayals provides insight into the processes of self-identification of Western Europeans and the emergence and development of categories of "otherness". This course enables students not only to understand the classification of human groups in the past, but also to better assess critically the modern and present-day use of such categories. The course takes a thorough multidisciplinary approach, encompassing social, political, religious, and broader cultural history. Florence offers a unique opportunity to analyze on-site, and often in their original context, works representing non-Europeans from the 13th to the 17th century. 

The topics for this course differ each term. In spring 2024, this course has a special focus on The Origin and Development of Political Psychology: From Plato to Martha Nussbaum. Political Philosophy is conceived as the application of philosophical investigation to politics and thus as a study of the contribution that philosophy may give to political practice. This implies both a clarification of the terms used in our everyday political vocabulary and an attempt at designing models of a just society. The course provides the following: a) notions on methodology in historical investigation; b) the ability to analytically read a text while at the same time situating it into the historical and linguistic context of the age; c) knowledge of the perennial tasks of political philosophy; d) an introduction to political realism. The course is devoted to the examination of the origin and development of political psychology. It starts with Plato's notion of the tripartite soul and arrives to the role of emotions in Martha Nussbaum's thought. The first part is devoted to a clarification of the notion of 'political philosophy' and to an account of the methodology in the history of political thought.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The course provides knowledge of the multilateral trade system (the WTO system) and international investment law. The course teaches the ability to recognize the interests underlying those rules and legal instruments to enforce them, especially through the dynamics of argumentation emerging from international litigation. The course contains: an overview of the WTO system; the dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO; the most favored nation clause; the national treatment principle; GATT Article XX trade & non-trade values; the WTO TBT Agreement; the precautionary principle and the SPS Agreement; the New Government Procurement Agreement; the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS); the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPs); China in the WTO; DSM the cases concerning natural resources; WTO and climate change; WTO and energy; the new generation of EU Free Trade agreements; principles of non discrimination and of fair and equitable treatment; direct and indirect expropriation; interpretation and application of investment treaties; investment dispute settlement mechanisms; transparency in investment arbitration proceedings; investment and sustainability issues; and protection of foreign investment, environmental, and human rights protection. For students who have not previously attended a course on International Law, it is advised to read Jan Klabbers, Cambridge University Press, 2020.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. This course develops an appropriate knowledge base of theories of gender in relation to cultural processes and an understanding of the relevance of gender as a lens to analyze operations of power. In addition, it develops a good awareness of methodological issues in the study of gender and space/place and their mutually constitutive nature. The course focuses on the analytical skills needed for digesting complex theories to put theories to use in engaging with contemporary debates inside and outside of academia. Finally, this course develops appropriate and diverse research and communication skills where theory can be applied in projects outside of the classroom. This course explores the construction and lived realities of gender in its intersection with race, space, and place. Exploring “gender” as a fluid, socially, and spatially constructed category, the course guides through the ways that gender, race, and space intertwine in theory and in lived experience, both historically and in present times. Taught through interdisciplinary contributions ranging from social, feminist, queer, and affect theories – across disciplines such as anthropology, political geography, cultural studies, architecture - the course examines the diverse and interconnected understandings, experiences, and effects of “gender” as a system of meaning-making and power across spaces, places, and historical times. The course includes gender and feminist theories, starting from the nature/culture divide through to the contestation and dissolution of gender binaries. The course further examines the interface between gender theory and a variety of other theoretical perspectives applied to the study of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, including postcolonialism, postmodernism, and poststructuralism. The course also investigates central questions of epistemology and methodology in relation to the application of gender theories in the field of cross-cultural studies. The main focus running through the course is the body, and body politics. The class pays particular attention to introducing diverse feminist trajectories and embodied politics, including Black feminism, Islamic feminism, feminist liberation movements in the Global south, and others.

The course uses experiential learning to develop the skills most critical to success in today's business landscape: designing and planning innovative business models. The course offers an industry focus on fashion, luxury, and retail, and integrates key topics such as sustainability and digitalization. This course explores how to design innovative business models with the support of a proprietary simulation software that allows to develop a practical approach integrating creative ideas with competitive and financial dimensions. Students can see the immediate consequences of their decisions and learn what it’s truly like to juggle competing priorities amidst a constant influx of information provided by the professors. The learning process is enhanced by the collaboration of external guest speakers and a start-up accelerator.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The course studies contemporary forms of terrorism, its definitions and origins, as well as its objectives, functions, and forms, with a particular focus on counterterrorism measures implemented both by individual states and the international community. It approaches classic and current scholarship on terrorism and counterterrorism and explores many of the research puzzles that remain unanswered. Underpinned by the existing debates among scholars of terrorism, ranging from mainstream to critical perspectives, the course examines the spectrum of terrorist motivations, strategies, and operations; the socio-political, economic, and other factors and causes that can create enabling environments for terrorist group activities; and finally, the means by which governments (especially liberal democratic states) react to contemporary forms of terrorist violence in different regions of the world. Classes are enriched by guest lectures who present case studies and focus on specific geopolitical spaces that are of critical relevance for current and future trends and scenarios on terrorism and counterterrorism. This comparative analysis develops a complex understanding of historical trends, meanings, contemporary dilemmas, and challenges related to this form of political violence.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. This course provides, through a comparative and international perspective, an understanding of: the criminal justice system and its changes introduced through the processes of internationalization and Europeanization, at the same time highlighting the importance of the comparative approach; the constitutional principles in criminal matters and the foundational concepts of criminal law, the structure of its main principles and categories, the punishment and the classification of different penalties; and the European criminal law developments, both regarding the legislation and the case law, as well as its influence on national criminal justice and law systems. Throughout this course, the theoretical framework is analyzed in the light of judicial decisions of national Constitutional Courts, the Interamerican Court of Human Rights and, finally, the International Criminal Court. This course provides a general understanding of the international framework, the European criminal law, and the complex issues relating to the relationship between criminal law and human rights. The first part of the course examines the most important provisions of international criminal law. The course uses both the comparative method and the analysis of (national and international) leading cases, in order to show empirical examples of the various issues related to the protection of human rights.

This course offers students the possibility to grow the knowledge and skills necessary to recognize, describe, and interpret structural and tectonic features at all scales of observation, and how to use structural geology to constrain tectonic and geodynamic scenarios recorded in the rock record. After completing the course, students are able to: recognize, measure, and plot the geometric features of a significant variety of geological structures, from the outcrop to the regional scale; understand the mechanics of deformation and assess the dynamic and kinematic framework within which deformation and strain localization have taken place; reconstruct modes and timing of deformation; and decipher the geodynamic environments that govern the first-order evolution of our Planet. Teaching includes a combination of theory lessons, practical sessions and one excursion to deformed areas of the Northern Apennines.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by permission of the instructor. At the end of the seminar, the student improves the knowledge of the Italian grammar. The student obtains the necessary linguistic abilities to understand and to analyze complex texts, as literary texts and related to the specialist bibliographies about the disciplinary area of the courses. The student is able to create texts in order to expose complex contents. The class is structured around the following activities: the analysis of Italian language through the study of literary texts and essays; an introduction to the reading of main bibliography of the courses in the first year of IS; producing texts and cultural and professional projects; commentaries and analysis of academic texts such as book, film, and art exhibition reviews and descriptions; and a focus on oral exposure aimed the presentation of cultural projects, events, shows, and exhibits. Students must have completed the equivalent of two or more years of university-level Italian language study as a prerequisite for this course.