University of Bologna

The course focuses on the fundamental concepts that define the organization and metabolism of prokaryotes as well as the main phylogenetic and physiological correlations of Bacteria and Archaea in natural environments and in biotechnological applications. Emphasis is placed on basic concepts of virus structure and replication as well as bacterial growth and exchanges of genetic material between prokaryotic cells in order to understand the recombination mechanisms. The first part of the course is devoted to microbiology. Topics in the first part include basic principles of microbiology; principles of microscopy; evolutionary history and microbial diversity; structure and functions of prokaryotic cell; metabolism, regulation, and growth of microbial; phototrophy, chemolithtrophy, and major biosynthesis; catabolism of organic compounds; symbiosis and pathogenicity; antimicrobial agents; and groups of pathogenic bacteria. The second part of the course is devoted to virology. Topics in the second part include structure, composition, and classification of animal, plant, and bacterial viruses; genome, capsid, and viral envelope, and structure-function relationship; different entry mechanisms of viruses into host cells (bacteriophages, plant, and animal viruses); different steps in viral replication cycle; virus-cell interactions, outcomes of infection, and cultivation and quantification of viruses; and replication strategies of RNA viruses, DNA viruses, and retroviruses such as HIV and AIDS. Assessment is based on a written exam with essay and multiple-choice questions covering the two parts, the assigned readings, and the biotechnology section.

This is a graduate level course that 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 introduces students to humanitarian and social communication and discusses how social problems are constructed and represented. In particular, the course explores how humanitarian issues and crises have been historically publicized through the media and examine the challenges posed to humanitarian organizations by the advent of digital media. The course discusses how the use of poverty porn, celebrity humanitarianism, and new media narrations of otherness affect the communication of organizations looking for effective ways to bring about change in the developing world. The use of case studies prepares students to lead strategic planning for NGOs’ communication and government agencies while also understanding the role that communication has in affecting social change. At the end of this course the student is able to critically evaluate and comprehend the different concepts and methods used in the field of social and humanitarian communication. In particular, through the use of examples and case studies, the student is acquainted with: the complex system of relations that connects poverty, development, solidarity and the representation of sufferance; the different forms of communication employed in the media by social and humanitarian organizations, the processes of construction of social problems, the principles regulating the design of social communication campaigns, and the different implications that the use of strategic tools (e.g. storytelling, celebrities, branding) have on this specific segment of communication.

This Italian-taught course focuses on Italian literature. At the end of the course the student is expected to have a deep knowledge on diachronical aspects of the Italian literary tradition, knows the critical discussion on the keys issues about texts and authors, and is able to use the main tools of the methodological analysis of texts and contexts. The focus of the course changes each term, review the specific term’s course details page in the University of Bologna online course catalog for information on your specific term’s topic. The spring 2023 course focuses on feminine power, from the demonic to the divine.

This course is part of the LM degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by consent of the instructor. This course explores the interplay between archaeology/archaeological interpretation and society through time, and how the former can be, and has been used by different actors to lay claims on specific aspects of the past whose strategic importance resonates today. The course goes through some of the main theoretical debates in archaeology, highlighting how current views of our past are grounded in recent and not-so-recent socio-political developments at various regional, national, and supra national scales. From this basic development the course goes on to assess the relationship between archaeology and the new emerging field of heritage studies with a specific attention to the critical heritage approach. The topics covered include: archaeology from nationalism to Colonialism; archaeology and politics in the twentieth century; archaeology between science and humanities; archaeology and socio-cultural evolution; critical archaeology and multiple voices; from interaction to New Materialism and back; identity and mobility; archaeology, Capitalism, and Patrimonialization; ownership; the critical heritage approach; archaeological and heritage value – from money to affection; and the role of the mediators today.

This course is part of the LM degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by consent of the instructor. The course presents the main theories and empirical research on migration drawn from sociology, but with an interest in the contributions coming from history, demography, economy, political science, and anthropology, when needed. The course is centered on the European case, with an Italian focus, but within a broader comparative framework including the main active migratory systems in the contemporary world, and a period dating back no less than to the beginning of the twentieth century.

This course is part of the LM degree program and is intended for advanced students. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course examines the various fields of Etruscan civilization and of the pre-Roman Italian world; explores how to use the critical tools for a correct reading of archaeological documentation integrating it with historical and epigraphic documentation; and examines the depth of the territory, also through visits to the main museums and archaeological areas of the region, which enables students to acquire a complete and conscious approach to the discipline.

This is a graduate level course that 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 designed to give students a general overview and understanding of the international and European criminological debate concerning border control and a detailed knowledge of key topics and key scholars in the field. Students are expected to be able to combine their knowledge of different contexts and disciplinary approaches when analyzing border policies. The goal of the course is that students acquire the competencies and knowledge necessary to analyze critically the contemporary policies of border control in different contexts, also in view of possible fields of work and research: border police, the role and functioning of administrative detention and deportation, the international relations of the externalization of borders, the use of criminal law in border control. The field known as "border criminology" is a new field of research which has emerged during the course of the last five years or so, especially driven by scholars as Mary Bosworth, Katja Franko Aas, Vanessa Barker, Leanne Weber among others. The label of "border criminology" identifies the body of criminological literature concerned with borders, and, more specifically, with how border control is bringing about important changes in the field of Criminal justice and punishment. The course first introduces students to the theoretical key concepts in border criminology: Illegality and deportability, border performativity, “crimmigration”, differential inclusion, borders and boundaries. In the second part of the course, the key topics of border criminology are discussed through empirical and theoretical research carried out in different contexts. The approach developed in the course sees the law, policies, and discourses as entrenched factors in driving the mechanisms of border control. Great importance is given to the role of gender, class, and race in the law-making and law-enforcement activities, and to the transnational dimension of border control. Specific topics include: the internalization and externalization of border control; human and sexual trafficking; border policing; administrative detention; deportation policies, readmission agreements, and international relations; asylum seekers and the reception system; surveillance technologies in border control; migrant struggles and crimes of solidarity; the nexus between migration and terrorism; borders as punishment and the changing role of the State in globalization.