UC Center, Rome

This course demonstrates that crime and deviancy, rather than being found ready made in society, are produced, strengthened, and challenged by numerous competing forces and actors. Using Italy as a launchpad, the course approaches, analyzes, and discusses contemporary and historical case studies in which these forces and actors are located, in order to develop precisely those skills needed to question and dissect unfolding events in a sociological fashion. Italy has long had associations with organized crime, and the course studies first-hand this complex historical, sociological phenomenon, while simultaneously questioning those more socially immediate and recognizable forms of social "deviance" found in the modern Italian context. To aid this analysis, case studies are navigated in parallel with the pillars of sociological theory relating to crime and deviance, in order for discussions and theses about events to be rooted in, and aided by, models which facilitate thought and hypotheses.

This course investigates race/class and gender implications of the media generated immigration discourse in Europe, and Italy in particular, as a whole. That is, how individuals in Europe perceive immigration and distinguish among different movements of people. The course analyzes how what people perceive is generated and communicated, and in what way meaning is attributed and reacted with counter-narratives to that which is perceived. From the past to the present, through colonial and modern times to post WWII massive intra-European migrations, images and symbols of immigration remain political. How and why do they become so? Does theorizing the visual require a “grammar” of its own? How do images limit and enable securitization? How do figurations and discourses relate to and shape one another? Drawing upon examples from the last century as well as current media related discourses of asylum and migration in Europe at the continental, national and urban level, students participate in a group project that attempts to connect media politics to the concept of “community” in Rome. To this end, students’ analytical focal point is placed upon the city and suburbs of Rome where the presence of diverse immigrant communities offers opportunity for first-hand exploration of how effectively they and their second-generation individuals have been challenging the Italian political, economic, cultural mainstream and ultimately the same idea of citizenship from within the city. Students therefore experience first-hand how the Eternal city has changed in the past thirty years and how it is still changing beyond tourist stereotypes through a continual process of immigration and alteration.

This course provides a core of knowledge of Italy's post-Unification history, grounding students in the political, economic, and social development of the country. Commencing with the nation-state's formation, the analysis of issues surrounding Italy's early identity, society, and political structures reveal many of the problems that subsequent regimes have sought to address. After developing a solid grounding in the formation and establishment of the new nation state, the course explores the impact of World War One upon the interwar period of Fascist Italy. After establishing what Fascism was and what it meant for Italian people, consideration turns to the Second World War, the fall of Italian Fascism and its longterm legacy upon the postwar republic. Examination of post-1945 Italy considers the influence of America and the Cold War upon the internal battle for political control between the Left and the Catholic Right. This period also focuses on Italy's economic recovery and re-entry into "normal" diplomatic relations that was rubber-stamped by the 1960 Rome Olympic Games. With the country's foreign relations stabilized, attention turns to the internal crises of insurrection, terrorism, mafia activity, and corruption that led to Tangentopoli, the collapse of the old political order, and the rise of Silvio Berlusconi. The course concludes by examining the rise of the contemporary political phenomenon of the Five Star Movement and the Lega.

This course provides students with a sound basis for communicating effectively and accurately in oral and written Italian. Students obtain proficiency in basic Italian spelling and pronunciation. Elementary Italian grammar and syntactic structures are covered, especially the use of nouns and adjectives and regular and irregular verbs in the present and past tense. Authentic materials (songs, videos, advertisements, and film clips) are used in a communicative-based approach, and emphasis is placed on the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students participate in several sessions of language exchange with Italian university students, and field trips take them outside the classroom to engage with the city and Romans to reinforce the grammatical skills learned in class. The course is conducted entirely in Italian.

Entrepreneurship is one of the most intriguing and mysterious components of modern economies. The "Made in Italy" brand is recognized internationally and has become synonymous with high quality, authenticity, and excellence. What’s behind the brand "Made in Italy" is one of the questions posed in class, including some of the most important European family-owned companies in Italy. Various topics are tackled through invited speakers and opportunities to interview first-hand several entrepreneurs, such as the Chinese entrepreneurs in the textile industry in Prato. The second part of the course examines the Food & Beverage Industry in Italy, with particular attention to post-pandemic trends. Case studies include Nonino grappa, Calvisius Caviar, and Venchi chocolate. The course uses a large array of texts and academic sources to assess real life case studies. It also critically evaluates major issues which affect entrepreneurship today, such as globalization, sustainability, and ethics, as well as various laws affecting the food industry.

This course introduces students to the key elements in society for determining those who have power, and those who do not. This is due to the perception that race, gender, and class (or at least how these determiners are perceived and maintained by a group), interact with one another, and inform one another, to ensure that power to and from is monopolized or unfairly distributed within the group. Students are introduced to issues surrounding race, gender, and class in the microcosm that is Italy; simultaneously a unique model and representative of shared universal concerns. This course has been divided into four sections. The first part of the semester focuses on gender, the second on race, the third on class, and although the last part of the course individually looks at the theories of intersectionality, these will naturally occur throughout the course. Alongside theories of gender, race, class, and intersectionality, students are encouraged to apply theories to case studies. The course explores not only explanations of why power inequalities exist and are sustained, but also insights into how such knowledge might be used to challenge these very real issues within society. Although the concerns covered in the course are universal, the case studies focused upon, alongside field trips, root the study in the Italian, local context. Students are encouraged to compare this context to their own academic concerns and pursuits, as well as personal experience, in order to provide more robust and unique insights.

This course provides students with a sound basis for communicating effectively and accurately in oral and written Italian. This course covers basic Italian grammar and syntax including present, past, future, imperative, and conditional tenses. Students are able to use direct, indirect, and reflexive pronouns in addition to comparatives and superlatives. Authentic materials (songs, videos, advertisements, and film clips) are used in a communicative-based approach, and emphasis is placed on the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students participate in several sessions of language exchange with Italian university students, and field trips take them outside the classroom to engage with the city and Romans to reinforce the grammatical skills learned in class. The course is conducted entirely in Italian.

With an emphasis on Italy, this course focuses on the looting, destruction, and reselling of antiquities, from classical antiquity to today. Together students consider issues such as what constitutes an art/cultural heritage crime, how ideas of value (both real and symbolic) have emerged historically and how have they changed over time, what constitutes "ownership" in the eyes of different entities, and how this has changed over the past fifty years, resulting in the current difficult and controversial issue of the repatriation of cultural artifacts which have crossed international borders. Themes considered include the history of collecting, illegal excavation and the illicit trade in antiquities, the role of auction houses, the Church, museums and galleries, ownership and patrimony issues, international laws and agreements, recovery and repatriation, and ongoing problems with the protection and conservation of antiquities. The course concludes with a review of cultural heritage laws and the current international situation, as well as a discussion identifying challenges and providing suggestions for regulating the market of antiquities in the future. The course includes visits to relevant sites and museums in and around Rome and includes the close investigation of actual case studies throughout.

The course covers major artistic periods - Antiquity, Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Baroque - from the point of view of women's presence as artists, patrons, and subjects of the art of Rome. It takes advantage of the richness of monuments and works of art in the Eternal City, and uses them for direct analysis and discussions in the light of women's studies. Special importance is given to the reading of primary sources as well as to feminist art historical scholarship, with related discussions in class. The last part of the course is a monographic study of the Roman born Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi. In recent decades, art historical scholarship has re-discovered and re-evaluated this woman artist. For some scholars, her biographical experience and her career as a painter have become emblematic of women's presence in the visual arts. The course considers not only the life and career of this woman artist in its historical context, but also the impulse the study of her experience has given to women's studies in the field of art history.

This course guides students through the history of Italian film, from its beginnings to the present day, using films shot in the Eternal City which has captured the minds of filmmakers for over a century. The course reviews the main currents and genres, from silent film to the “white telephone” films, from Neorealism to the Commedia all’italiana, from the great directors such as Roberto Rossellini, Mario Monicelli, Ettore Scola, Nanni Moretti, Cristina Comencini, and Paolo Sorrentino. Students watch these self-representations of Italians and their capital city to deepen their understanding of Italy and Italians, how they presented themselves to the world, what they were really like, and what they aspired to be. The lens of cinema allows students to understand the shifting cultural identity of Italy over the years, on both the local and global stage. Students experience the “Hollywood on the Tiber” first-hand by visiting the famous places where the films assigned to the course were made. Students participate on a special excursion to Rome’s world-famous Cinecittà studio, where some of the most famous films have been made by both national and international directors like Federico Fellini, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Sergio Leone, William Wyler, and Wes Anderson.