Italy

This course examines the role of sport (with an emphasis on soccer and cycling) in Italian society from historical and contemporary perspectives. It considers the relationship between sports and such issues as gender, race, class, ethnicity, sexuality, nationalism, nation-building, the Italian economy, and the role of the media in order to determine how developments in sports have influenced, and have been influenced by, Italian politics and society. The course explores sport in Italy from 1860 to the present.

The banking industry is changing widely and consistently. Technology is playing an increasing role in the financial services industry, offering new opportunities to make new competitors - namely FinTechs and BigTechs - enter the financial services market, empowering existing players and threatening the way incumbents’ business models are changing. The course exposes students to this fast-growing intersection between technology and finance, under a double perspective: disruption versus evolution. Also covering the juncture of modern technology and banking. The curriculum is organized by vertical-product areas that are the spectrum of concepts driving innovations of the principal financial intermediation functions. They are also those that are most active and most prone to innovation through start-ups: money and payments, lending, saving, and investment. For each area, the course analyzes the marketplace, the incumbents, the new business cases, and strategies of the incoming technology-driven players with an emphasis on the underlying economics, technology applied, and the way competition is changing its features. Students develop a theoretical and practical understanding of the forces transforming the banking and financial services industry at an international level.

This course consists of an introduction to the major areas of interest in developmental psychology. The course explores topics such as biological, cognitive, emotional, and social development, by conceptualizing the individual as a whole at different stages of the lifespan. With an emphasis on the scientific nature of psychology, the course presents common research methodologies employed by developmental psychologists. Primary attention is devoted to the period of infancy through adolescence with some coverage of adulthood, and late life. The course focuses on questions such as: What psychological changes occur during infancy, childhood, and adolescence? What psychological processes drive the development of children? What are the psychological, neurobiological, and genetic/environmental causes of developmental disorders, such as language impairment, autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and dyslexia? What can psychologists do to promote healthy development in neurotypical individuals and support development among individuals with developmental disorders? The course requires students have basic knowledge on general cognitive functions such as perception, attention, language, and memory as a prerequisite.

To what extent do stereotypes and prejudices affect the way we read and interpret news? How is wrong or inaccurate information conveyed, and how can we detect and contrast it? Is fake news a novelty of our time? This course examines the characteristics of the contemporary Italian media landscape in the light of some specific cultural traits of the country: attachment to family, distrust of institutional power, the influence (now in decline) of the Catholic Church, and the low propensity to read books and newspapers. The course analyzes historical moments where information, disinformation, and counter-information are closely intertwined, including the rumors after the fire of Rome under Nero; the anonymous epigrams of Pasquino and other "talking statues" in the 16th century as a reaction to papal censorship; the cause célèbre around a child, Edgardo Mortara, stolen in the mid-19th century from his Jewish family by the papal state; and will include moments from the last decades. The topics covered include the era of "Hollywood on the Tiber"; the media coverage of two cases between Italy and the US; the Islamophobia phenomenon; the long silence on the Italian colonial past finally broken thanks to Black Lives Matter protests; the controversies on vaccines; and the memes and the conspiracy theories related to the pandemic. Students research, discuss, and edit and produce texts, images, and audio and video materials on each topic within a simulated newsroom.

The course is designed for upper division students who have completed at least 2 years of studio work in painting or the equivalent. Enrolment is by consent of the instructor. The course offers technical and artistic support aimed at helping students develop their talents and competencies, while at the same time, allowing them to recognize their own limits. The final objective of the course is to help students reach artistic autonomy and gain cognition of their own artistic production from a theoretical point of view, supported by technical competency. At least four main works of art are generally required per semester. The course runs in both the fall and spring semesters; this is the fall semester version of the course. The course includes lectures, seminars, and open critiques of student projects. The course is held in the Accademia di Belle Arti’s painting laboratory and includes presentations and discussions organized on the seminar model. Regular attendance and active participation in the discussions are required. Readings are assigned from the following authors: Gregory Bateson, Ernst Gombrich, James Elkins, Victor Stoichita, Clement Greenberg, and Rosalind Krauss.

In the last twenty years, historians have turned with ever more urgency to food as a key for understanding culture. Italy is particularly interesting in this respect. Food is one of the pillars of modern Italian identities: the result, in part, of a conservative and resilient society and, in part, of the vagaries of Italian community life since the 1850s. Many Italian ‘staples’ from pasta to olive oil, from ice-cream to wine, from pizza to risotto also have instructive back-stories that offer insights into Italian culture and Italian history. The course has two aims: first, to achieve a proper understanding of the last two centuries of Italian (food) history – the period of ‘unity in diversity’ with a particular focus on the pre-Second-World-war period; and second, to get a handle on contemporary food culture. The course will employ both a historical and an ethnographic approach. Most weeks will have one lecture and one seminar and most readings will come from two books: one sociological and one historical. There will be between 500 and 600 pages of reading over the semester. There will be a number of tastings. 

This course considers the unique aspects of Italian media and how it impacts and influences everything from cultural heritage to politics. Students explore Italy's eccentric media characters, from right-wing Matteo Salvini and chauvinistic Silvio Berlusconi to the tweeting, headline-making Pope, and consider how seriously Italians take what they get from the press. This course explores the historical development of Italian media from the "Acta Diurna" bulletins sent from the Roman Forum through phases of Fascism and national terrorism, all the way to the digital age. Students play documentarian by following the media treatment of an Italian news topic of their choice, ranging from culture, fashion, or food to gay rights, climate change, politics, or the economy, in order to fully understand how the media shapes public perception and vice versa. Topics include the media treatment of the Vatican, the Mafia, gender issues and sexism, fashion, food, cultural heritage, and the economy. Students also consider how Italy stacks up against media in the United States and the United Kingdom in terms of press freedom, transparency, and infotainment (the melding of news and entertainment).

The course offers an introduction to Italian culture and history and focuses on both the city of Bologna and Italy as a nation. The course emphasizes basic knowledge of crucial aspects of the Italian cultural heritage across different disciplines and an awareness of the complexities of Italian history and society. The course is interdisciplinary in nature with weekly guest lectures on a variety of topics. The course is graded pass/no pass only.