University of Bologna

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. This course examines the development and distribution of the diversity of life on Earth, with a special emphasis on plants. The course explores the spatial scaling of biodiversity, the role of biogeography, and the different levels of assembly organization, from the local to the global scales. Students shall become acquainted with methods for the measurement of biodiversity and its partitioning across scales, as well as the role of biodiversity for ecosystem functioning and stability and relations between biodiversity and climate. The course studies the use of biogeographical and macroecological theories and methods to understand the present strategies for biodiversity conservation. Students gain the capacity to investigate natural systems by means of data collection and analyses and preparation of a written report. The course discusses topics including: an introduction and historical overview; patterns of species distribution and range size; historical biogeography; ecological biogeography; spatial patterns of biodiversity in relation to latitude, climate, and area; relation between energy, productivity, and biodiversity; taxonomic and functional measures of biodiversity; data sources in biogeography and macroecology; partitioning of biodiversity in space and time; island biogeography; and human impacts on biomes and ecosystems; conservation biogeography.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. This course provides a general understanding of the use of archaeological methods and data in the context of the study of the Roman economy and critically assesses relevant archaeological evidence. The underlying questions in this module are: what was the nature of the Roman economy? What has archaeology contributed to our picture of the Roman economy? The module is organized thematically and largely focuses on the Roman imperial era, with comparisons to earlier and/or later periods as appropriate. Topics covered include transmarine trade, different types of production activities, and technological innovation. The course discusses topics including agricultural processing facilities; evidence for the production and trade in wine and olive oil; the exploration of marine resources; the use of water power in production processes; and technological innovation.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. This course offers a study of the history and development of mass communication. The main topics are the development and growth of media from the past to the present; the role of media under various political systems and the influence of communication on national building; and the relationship between media and politics within different historical environments, in order to understand the importance of media to mass communication both past and present. Particular attention is given to several case studies to explain the role of media in the states propaganda.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. Students develop the critical and historical tools to appreciate the link between art and social engagement, particularly but not exclusively, in relation to the politics of representation and around the role of contemporary art practices in activating processes of gathering, assembling, and communing. The course matures the skills to analyze and contextualize the main artistic currents within visual and conceptual art, both within the western context and regarding wider decolonial processes. Students are also able to critically assess artistic practices, carry out independent research, and activate their knowledge in the urban context, in critical dialogue with existing cultural and social institutions.

The course is dedicated to the comparison with current themes of the history of women, such as: participation in political and social life, inclusion and exclusion, the role of women in the family, education, and violence against women. Group work and group readings are planned in class to debate different viewpoints. The course investigates the history of women as a fundamental aspect of Ancient History, with special reference to the roman period, with the awareness of the specificities of the female condition in each period and of the transformations carried out over the period under consideration. Issues connected with ancient source analysis do not require knowledge of Greek and Latin, since a translation in Italian is always be provided. A basic knowledge of classical languages is however recommended. The course discusses topics including: gender history and some of the main aspects relevant for classical studies: work, culture, religion, and marriage; the condition of women from the Roman Republic to the Early Imperial period; the legal status of women; women's wealth; the (public?) space of women in roman imperial courts; stereotypes in womens’ stories: the need to identify interpretative categories, structures, and models through the analysis of historical and historiographical sources; inclusion and exclusion: women and work, case study: work at home, work outside; and case studies: women, body and sex, and abortion and the violence on women (from Lucrezia to Metoo).

This course provides a general and base knowledge of modern industrial organization based on strategic interaction among firms and consumers. The course examines the functioning of the markets by analyzing the behavior of non-competitive firms, also with the tools of modern game theory. Industrial policies and regulation are discussed together with the principles of competition policy. The course discusses topics including introduction and microeconomics background; game theory and oligopoly; market structure; non-price strategies; and competition policy and regulation.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale Program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by consent of the instructor. This course provides a philosophical introduction to the most influential theories of emotion of the past sixty years in philosophy and psychology. Taking a multidisciplinary and empirically informed perspective, the approach integrates philosophical analysis with the discussion of cutting-edge research in psychology and cognitive science, contextualizing current debates in the history of ideas from Darwin to pragmatism.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course provides an understanding of key issues involved in environmental politics, from both a theoretical and practical perspective. Environmental issues are critically discussed, with particular reference to the role and responsibilities of great powers in the international politics of climate change, power inequality, and the global ecological crisis. Students acquire and learn: 1) the essential conceptual, theoretical, and methodological tools necessary to tackle and understand environmental issues; 2) knowledge regarding the major interpretations of environmental security; 3) basic knowledge about major environmental powers (United States, China, European Union, India, Brazil, Russia) and international institutions and issue areas (UN Security Council, multilateral environmental agreements, international climate leadership, coal politics); and 4) how to apply the acquired tools to the analysis of concrete cases.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course focuses on some questions and debates that are central to the contemporary philosophy of social sciences. After a short introduction to the discipline, in which a comparison between the social sciences and the natural sciences is made, the following topics are covered: 1) the naturalism/anti-naturalism debate within the philosophy of social sciences; 2) the role of idealized models in social sciences; 3) the nature of explanation in the social sciences; 4) the value-free/laden character of social studies; 5) the objectivity question within the social sciences; and 6) the possibility of having social laws. During the course these topics are explored at length, using case-studies from different social science fields and tracing connections with those debates that address similar topics within the general philosophy of science.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course is separated into two parts. The first part is on an introduction to Phoenician and Punic Archaeology. Topics in this part include: the identity of Phoenicians and Punics between history, microhistory and archaeology; relations with the substrata in the contexts of expansion; and commercial contacts and cultural exchanges with the great civilizations of the ancient Near East and the pre-Roman Mediterranean. The second part is on the archaeology of production and material culture from the Phoenician East to the Punic Mediterranean. This part of the course examines the archaeological data relating to various expressions of Phoenician and Punic material culture, analyzing the different evidence of production chains that can be traced between the Syrian-Palestinian coast and the central-western Mediterranean, from the end of the Bronze Age to Romanization. In particular, starting from the study of each single handcraft productions, the technological aspects of the various materials examined are explored, as well as the issue of the contexts of supply of raw matters. Students interested in participating in archaeological excavations are required to complete the safety course for archaeological sites.