University of Manchester

The key modes of transportation chosen for consideration in this course are waterborne shipping, passenger railways, airplanes and private automobiles (there is limited coverage of buses, bikes or pedestrianism). The course involves examination of the permanent way of the canals, the railways tracks, the tarmac road surface, runways and the invisible air routes. The focus is on personal mobility, the mass of passengers, and the means of moving human bodies. 

Semester 1 classes explore the specific relationship between language and culture. Students analyze linguistic texts, poems, still images, film, and longer literary texts in order to understand how these objects are shaped by their own particular "language." In semester 2, the focus shifts to the analysis of forms of reading under the themes of space and the city, cultural translation, and misrepresentation and misinformation in the Italian context. Seminars focus on Italian language-specific and area-specific material that relate to the themes covered in lectures.

This course considers the role of ethnicity as a social and political cleavage. It examines the impact of immigration and ethnic diversity on party politics and political behaviour, using the experiences of countries in Europe and North America. Immigration and ethnicity are one of the major long-term social issues of today, and studying the effects of these phenomena on politics allows students to gain a deeper understanding of long-term political change - as well as current affairs. The approach taken is to consider both the political engagement and representation of immigrants and ethnic minority citizens, and the broader consequences and development of ethnicity and immigration as political issues in their own right. This includes a consideration of racism, anti-immigrant sentiment, and Brexit. This course has an empirical emphasis, teaching students to evaluate empirical (including quantitative) research.