ITAL404

ITAL404

Cross-listed with RMST 454

Eros Unbound: The Ecology of Love at the Edge of Modernity

Orpheus and Eurydice, © Emily Balivet 2012

Is there such a thing as an “ecology of love”? The short answer is: “yes”; the long answer is: “we may have forgotten almost all about it.” Can we retrieve the memory of that ecology, and thus free love from its fetters, so as to reclaim truer bonds: bonds that make us free, rather than imprison us?

The stories of Eros and Psyche; Echo and Narcissus; Orpheus and Eurydice; Persephone, Demeter and Hades are myths that have guided the Western mind through the millennia in its renewed attempts to grapple with the mysteries of love, life, death. These stories informed the poetics of countless verbal and visual expressions of union and separation, particularly at the time when European societies were transitioning into “modernity” – ‘modernity’ being perhaps the most separative experiment ever undertaken by humanity in its yearning for freedom from ‘the environment,’ and from all bonds. How do these myths address the bonding of relationship and its severing? How did these myths get inflected over time, in order to warn, or disguise, or negate that tragic severing of the erotic, nurturing bond between feminine and masculine, the living earth and its human inhabitants, between psyche (soul)-body, and mind?

This course will retrace both the endorsed and the rejected reading of these myths, which have been central to the formation (and loss) of an “ecology of love” in the ancient, pre-modern and modern worlds. We will explore how these primordial images of eros have contributed to shaping our understanding of the relationship between the human psyche and its environment. We will take an especially close look at the poetics of desire and the dynamics of power in the cultures of the pre-modern Mediterranean and Romance cultures, and of Renaissance Italy.

These narratives that teach us of the cosmic power of eros are as alive, and worthy of attention, today, as they were in past ages, hence we will complement our rediscovery of their ancient, medieval and early modern re-creations with contemporary literature that probes their meaning for our times, at the intersection of psychology, ecology, and the arts.

Required readings:

  • Bedier, The Romance of Tristan and Iseut. Hackett 2013. 978-1603849005
  • The Romance of the Rose (excerpts in pdf)
  • Dante Alighieri, The New Life, tr. S. Applebaum. Dover 2006. 978-0486453491
  • Other texts will be provided in pdf via Canvas.

Language of instruction: English

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Note: Credit will be granted for only one of RMST 454, ITST 414 or ITAL 404.

ITST414

[Cross-listed with Italian 404 and Romance Studies 420]

Think Like a Forest: A Dialogue Between Pre-Modern Worldviews, Environmental Humanities, Indigenous Knowledge

How do we think? Are we aware of the kind of thinking we entertain? What kind of world do our individual and collective, conscious or unconscious thought-processes generate? Do we even have a choice in the orientation of our thinking patterns, and if we do, does it matter to know we can choose how to think?

Recent scientific research on plants and forests has shown that plants are dynamic, ever-evolving creatures that know how simultaneously to respond to their own inner pattern while remaining adaptive to the environment; that know how to grow in resilience and flexibility by developing a vast web of relations, both visible and invisible. In becoming who they are, plants also generate and foster complex ecosystems around them: they support communities of deeply interconnected yet also wildly diverse living species, including our own. In other words: plants know how to give to life infinitely more than they take from it. Without plants and their way of living/thinking, we humans would simply not exist.

Somewhat like an old-growth forest, pre-modern Europe produced a vast corpus of texts and images that mirror and teach an organic way of thinking and of becoming. In this course we will deepen our understanding of these expressions of ecologically-oriented, transformative worldviews. Our approach will be complemented and supported by select readings in contemporary environmental humanities, and in North-American Indigenous perspectives on education as the human path to wholeness.

We will discuss:

  • The Romance of the Rose (excerpts); Tristan and Isolde; The Grail Legend (excerpts);
  • Lady Philosophy and/as Mother Nature embodying feminine wisdom from Antiquity to the Middle Ages;
  • St Francis, Hildegard of Bingen, Dante Alighieri;
  • Botticelli’s mythological paintings; Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and other paintings;
  • Montaigne’s education of the mind through rootedness in the body and the heart.

Required Texts:

All texts for this course will be made available through Canvas and/or UBC library.

Language of instruction: English

Note:
Students who plan to minor in Italian must take this course as ITAL and will be expected to do part of their reading and assignments in the Italian language.

Course Registration

 

 

ITAL402

Advanced Studies in Italian Language and Style II

Designed as the natural continuation of ITAL401, this course is for those students who wish to enhance their communicative competence in Italian. From the starting point of nonfictional texts, students will examine and discuss contemporary issues in their social and cultural context. The focus will be on the language we use to communicate in daily life and in the media. We will pay particular attention to Italian TV, radio broadcasts and commercials, together with lyrics of hit songs and news.

Objectives:

  • To recognize the close link between economic development and social and cultural growth, both in its general rules and local variations;
  • to consider cultural differences both diachronically and synchronically;
  • to recognize the interference between different codex and languages in popular culture;
  • to analyze commonplaces/clichés and national stereotypes in the age of globalization;
  • to enhance general critical skills.

Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the course, students will be able to:

  • use extensive and intensive reading as effective elements of their autonomous learning;
  • go from text to context and find references to events and descriptions;
  • motivate their choices;
  • discuss and express opinions on different social and cultural topics (from family, to education, to social issues and administration, to customs);
  • collocate in time and space the most important events of Italian contemporary history and culture;
  • understand native speakers; distinguish varieties/registers of language; choose the right way to interact.

Language of instruction: Italian

Recommended prerequisites: Second-year standing or higher and ITAL 401.

Grading Breakdown

Coming soon

Readings

Coming soon

Determine your entry level
Find out which course level to start at given your previous experience with Italian.

ITAL401

Upper-Intermediate Italian I

L’obiettivo principale di questo corso è di consolidare la competenza linguistica ed interculturale degli studenti. Le strutture e le funzioni comunicative di questo corso sono basate sul livello B2[1] o “independent language learner and user”, come definito nel Common European Framework (CEFR) e prevede i seguenti obbiettivi generali:

  • comprendere i punti principali di argomenti astratti o concreti con letture, articoli e notiziari in giornali, siti, radio
  • interagire spontaneamente in diverse situazioni
  • esprimere la propria opinione su cinema, letteratura e società
  • scrivere email, brevi articoli e recensioni
  • pronunciare la lingua correttamente
  • usare il registro formale e informale per comunicare in italiano.

Il corso ITAL 401 è MOLTO interattivo e richiede la partecipazione attiva e regolare ed attività individuali e di gruppo, utili a promuovere lo sviluppo autonomo e la fiducia nelle proprie abilità degli studenti, lo sviluppo della fluidità nel recepire e produrre la lingua o in altri casi, ad scrivere e parlare accuratamente. La maggior parte delle lezioni sono sincrone con qualche occasionale, lezione asincrona per vedere dei video, ascoltare dei podcast, fare dei quiz di comprensione e leggere brani di letteratura

Obiettivi Comunicativi e Interculturali

  1. Leggere, Scrivere, Ascoltare e Parlare di temi culturali italiani quali economia e lavoro, scelte di vita, ambiente, feste e tradizioni, problemi sociali
  2. Leggere brani di Letteratura italiana e parlare dei tempi culturali che ne emergono
  3. Fare paragoni con la vostra esperienza personale
  4. Esprimere opinioni, preferenze e stati d’animo
  5. Raccontare esperienze passate
  6. Fare ipotesi
  7. Riflettere su come impariamo una lingua straniera e Usare le strategie più utili

[1] Per informazioni su CEFR: https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=090000168045bb5d

Language of instruction: Italian

Recommended prerequisites: Second-year standing or higher and ITAL 302 or successful completion of CEFR level B1

Grading Breakdown

20% Preparation
25% Participation
15% Quizzes (3)
15% Oral Assignments
25% Final Written Exam

2% Extra credits*

Readings

Required texts: The course instructor will provide the students with a code to access the digital copy of the textbook Al Dente 4, Casa delle Lingue [Autore/i: M. Birello, S. Bonafaccia, F. Bosc, D. Donati, G. Licastro, A. Vilagrasa] - ISBN: 9788416943739

Determine your entry level
Find out which course level to start at given your previous experience with Italian.

ITST385

From Rossellini to Fellini: Neorealism and its Legacy in Italian Cinema

In the rubble-strewn world of the immediate post-Second World War period, the films by Rossellini, Visconti, De Santis and De Sica (and the scripts by Zavattini) amounted to a landmark event and established Italian Neorealism as a worldwide cause célèbre.

This artistic movement, exemplary both in aesthetic achievements and ethical commitment, proved to reverberate durably in time. It influenced successive waves of younger Italian filmmakers who later became great auteurs in their own right; and it travelled widely in space, with an enormous impact on filmmakers the world over.

The topics covered are the following. Before the midterm: General intro to the class; Italian cinema under Fascism; Rossellini: Rome Open City (1945); Rossellini: Paisan (1946); Visconti: The Earth Trembles (1948); Rossellini: Stromboli (1949). After the midterm: De Sica: Bicycle Thieves (1948); De Santis: Bitter Rice (1949); De Sica: Umberto D. (1952); Lattuada: The Overcoat (1952); Fellini: The Nights of Cabiria (1957); Visconti: Rocco and His Brothers (1960). Last meeting: Fellini’s La dolce vita (1960) and final wrap-up.

All films are subtitled in English. The viewings will be introduced and/or followed by presentations and discussion.

Textbooks (REQUIRED)
Marcus, Millicent. Italian Film in the Light of Neorealism. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1986.
Bondanella, Peter. A History of Italian Cinema. New York: Continuum, 2011 (copyright 2009).

Prerequisite: None

Language of instruction: English

Course Registration

SPAN590A

Listening to Extractivism: Sound and the Capitalocene in 20th- and 21st-century Latin American Literature and Culture

Latin America has a rich and complex tradition of orality, both aural and textual. This course considers 20th- and 21st-century literature and culture in relation to that tradition, considering how recent works build on and, perhaps more importantly, diverge from, oral practices that have been the ground of storytelling, memory making, and political interventions in the region. Throughout the semester, we will attend closely to how Latin American literary and cultural expression wields sound and aurality to portray, comprehend, and challenge the impacts and effects of advanced capitalism. Grounded by Rob Nixon’s concept of “slow violence,” which proposes a capacious understanding of the effects of resource extraction and capitalist reason, the seminar brings a sound studies lens to Nixon’s theory to meditate on topics like gendered violence, genocide and epistemicide, increased forced migration to North America, environmental degradation and ecological disasters, and the impacts of ableism and anthropocentrism on human and more-than-human worlds. In particular, our conversations will inquire into how literature and culture invoke or represent sound, listening, and silence—both thematically and through literary devices and formal structure—as a means of indexing, critiquing, and deconstructing structures of power. Together, we will consider how aurality is deployed in aesthetics as a means of perceiving alternative epistemologies and responding to precarity, inequality, and violence of the Capitalocene.

Discussion of primary works will occur in Spanish and will be informed by critical readings from philosophy, literary theory, media studies, and other related disciplines. As the semester progresses, we will acquire a critical vocabulary (e.g., orality, aurality, orality-literacy binary, intermediality, audile technique, audiovisual litany, acousmatic sound, etc.) for analyzing and discussing sound and sonorities in literary and cultural texts.

CONTENT NOTE: This course will cover sensitive, mature, and charged material, including scenes of sexual and physical violence. You may find some readings and other content difficult.

Language of instruction: Spanish

Instructor: Dr. Tamara Mitchell

Grading Breakdown

In addition to careful preparation of materials and informed participation in class discussion; students will lead one class session; prepare semi-regular reflections on materials; and compose midterm essay (midterm may be substituted with aural alternative, such as podcast episode or sonic essay); and compose scaffolded final essay (abstract, annotated bib, essay) reflecting on course topic/materials. Assessment load/expectations will vary slightly for MA and PhD students.

Readings

Literary readings (provisional) & Topics

Oralidad/Testimonio

  • “Prólogo”, Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú y así me nació la conciencia (1983), Rigoberta Menchú Tum
  • Insensatez (2004), Horacio Castellanos Moya

Intermedialidad/La narrativa musicalizada

  • “Sonatina para los tambores” (1973), Carlos Arturo Truque
  • Managua, Salsa City (2000), Franz Galich

Auralidad y migración

  • Noche de fuego (2021), dir. Tatiana Huezo
  • Las tierras arrasadas (2015), Emiliano Monge

Silencio y/en el Cono Sur

  • El Sueño del Sonido (2023), Soraya Maicoño en colaboración con Dani Zelko
  • Inclúyanme afuera (2013), María Sonia Cristoff

La risa como poder decolonial

  • Desnudo riendo, Xandra Ibarra (2014-2019)
  • Resiliencia Tlacuache (2016), de Naomi Rincón Gallardo (16 minutes)

Auscultando la violencia de género en la narrativa

  • “Con los ojos abiertos” (2009), Amparo Dávila
  • La hija única (2020), Guadalupe Nettel

El agua presa de la energía verde

  • Resurrección (2018, dir. Eugenio Polgovsky)
  • Nosotras (2019), Suzette Celaya Aguilar

Critical readings (selections, provisional), Sound & Environmental Studies

PDFs available at provided link, as eBook at UBC Library, or as PDF on Canvas

ITST345

[Cross-listed with RMST 222]

Types and Archetypes of Fascism in the Age of the Crisis of Liberal Democracy

This course aims at offering students with diverse backgrounds some foundational knowledge about the phenomenon of “xxx-ism” as, in successive incarnations, it arose and ran its course in the context of neo-Latin societies and cultures. Since the phenomenon originated in Italy, our primary focus will be the Italian peninsula.

We will read Neville and make references to Bosworth, Mack Smith, Martin Clark, Procacci and other contemporary historians and sociologists. We will analyze works of theory, politics, fiction and memoirs from that age (by Marinetti, Moravia, Pirandello, Ungaretti, Carlo Levi); examine the architecture and fine arts of Mussolini’s regime; and watch clips from films belonging to the genres of telefoni bianchi comedy (Camerini’s Il Signor Max), war propaganda (Balbo’s transatlantic flights, Rossellini’s The White Ship) and historical “peplum” kolossals (Gallone’s Scipio the African).

Ultimately, the goal of this Italy-based extended case study is to provide students with the analytical tools indispensable not only to condemn, in facile, dogmatic (and thus ultimately misplaced) self-assurance, the fascism(s) of yesteryear, but, more importantly, to condemn and — so it is hoped — oppose effectively the many forms of xxx-ism facing us today.

Textbooks
LIT (REQUIRED)
A reader containing excerpts from works of theory, politics, essays and literary texts will be available from Copiesmart in the UBC Village.

HIST AND CIV (REQUIRED)
Peter Neville, Mussolini, 2nd ed., London: Routledge, 2014.

Prerequisite: None

Language of instruction: English

Course Registration

SPAN549

Master’s Thesis

All candidates for the M.A. degree with thesis are required to deposit in the Department a thesis of approximately 80 pages, including bibliography and notes. It must be presented in accordance with the university guidelines for the format and presentation of graduate theses.

Candidates will defend their thesis during a one-hour and a half oral examination.

Candidates must register in Spanish 549 in the year in which they intend to submit the thesis.

For information about your thesis preparation and submission, click here.

SPAN501A

Introduction to Literary Theory

[cross-listed with FREN512A]

The aim of this seminar is to introduce students to the key texts, themes and some of the more influential theories in literary criticism and cultural studies from the twentieth century to the present. The course is primarily designed for those with little or no background in theory who need an initial survey to focus their interests. Students are encouraged to go beyond the material covered in class in individual assignments.

Required readings:

Rivkin, Julie and Michael Ryan, eds. Literary Theory: An Anthology (Third Edition, Blackwell, 2017).

Recommended readings:

Malpas, Simon, and Paul Wake, eds. The Routledge Companion to Critical Theory (Routlege, 2006).

Selden, Raman, Peter Widdowson, and Peter Brooker. A Reader’s Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory (Pearson, 2005).

Culler, Jonathan. Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford UP, 2011).

Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory: An Introduction (U Minnesota P, 2008).

Language of instruction: English

Instructor: Antje Ziethen

Course Registration

 

ITAL342

Introduction to Italian for Senior Students I

(cross-listed with ITAL 102-930)

This course is offered in Italy (June 20 – July 10, 2016)

This immersion and intensive course in spoken and written Italian, Ital 102/342 uses an integrated method that facilitates the development of communicative abilities without neglecting the study of grammatical structure. This is a highly participatory class and students therefore are asked to do many activities and exercices in pairs and in groups, such as role-plays, interviews, short presentations, review and practice grammar concepts, learn about cultural aspects of Italian life using Italian only.

By the end of these courses, students are expected to develop a good understanding of the Italian language and be able to express themselves, in a variety of survival situations, such as asking for directions, buying food, talking about themselves, their family, their interests and their daily routine, express likes and dislikes and talk about the present and the past, express opinions and make polite requests (see level A1 in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, for more details).

Evaluation techniques include a number of different methods such as a final exam and practice tests and quizzes, structured interactions with Italian people, short presentations to the entire class and drama assignments.

As to pre-requisites for this course, students are expected to have completed ITAL 101 and also to study the first chapters of the required textbook (as a review to what was learned in Italian 101 and hand in a few assignments.

Textbook
Bultrini P., Graziani F., 2014, New Italian Espresso, Italian course for English Speakers, Firenze: Al

Prerequisite: ITAL 101 or equivalent

Language of instruction: Italian

Course registration