Global Humanities

The course aims to provide knowledge and understanding of the methodological tools of literary theory and criticism in relation to specific fields of inquiry such as gender studies, critical race studies, cultural studies, postcolonial studies, decolonial studies, and migration studies. The course will enable students to become acquainted with specific theoretical approaches and different cultural forms and to read literature with a specific attention to how imaginaries are forged and counternarratives are articulated in different cultures and societies. Students will learn how to apply the acquired knowledge as the foundation to better understand contemporaneity and to connect different historical, social, and geopolitical contexts through their transnational literary and cultural productions.

No prerequisites are required for this course.

Books * Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street, NY: Vintage, 1991, https://mrperrysclassroom.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/the-house-on-mango-street.pdf Reader (all texts have been uploaded onto Google Classroom or are available online): * Raewyn Connell, “Preface” and “The Question of Gender,” Short Introductions – Gender (second edition), Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009, p. IX-XI and 1-12. * Alana Lentin & Debbie Bargallie (2024), “Key Concepts and Definitions for Building Racial Literacy”: https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/asset/12880/building-racial-literacy-guide.pdf * Stuart Hall (2000), “Old and New Identities, Old and New Ethnicities,” in Theories of Race and Racism: A Reader, eds. Les Back and John Solomos, NY and London: Routledge, 144-153. * Giulia Riccò, “Introduction” to The Italian Colony of São Paulo: Race, Class, and Cultural Capital in Brazil, New York, Fordham UP, 2025, pp. 1-18. * Kym Ragusa, The Skin Between Us: A Memoir of Race, Beauty, and Belonging, Norton, 2006, p. 17-50. * Edvige Giunta, “Figuring Race,” in Are Italians White? How Race Is Made in America, NY and London: Routledge, 2001, p. 224-233. * Lorenzo Veracini, “Introduction Settler colonialism as a distinct mode of domination,” The Routledge Handbook of the History of Settler Colonialism, ed. Edward Cavanagh and Lorenzo Veracini, New York: Routledge, 2016, pp. 1-9. * Francesco Ricatti, Italians in Australia: History, Memory, Identity, chapter 4, “Race and Racial Ambiguity in a Settler Colonial Context,” Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018, pp. 53-71. * Debbie Bargallie, “Foreword. Researching on Storied Lands: Reflexivity, Sovereignty, and the Ethics of Migration Research,” Researching Migration on Indigenous Lands: Challenges, Reflections, Pathways, eds. Andonis Piperoglou and Francesco Ricatti, 2025, IMISCOE/Springer (open access), https://link.springer.com/book/9783031993275 . * Francesco Ricatti, “Indigenous Sovereignty and Multilingual Multiculturalism: Challenging the Monolingual Hegemony of Settler Colonialism,” Chapter 5 of Researching Migration on Indigenous Lands: Challenges, Reflections, Pathways, eds. Andonis Piperoglou and Francesco Ricatti, 2025, pp. 1-29, IMISCOE/Springer (open access), https://link.springer.com/book/9783031993275 . * Paola Balla, Black female acts of disruption (continued), Altreitalie 59, pp. 16-26. (See also one of Paola Balla's artwork: https://photo.org.au/artists/paola-balla/ and a short interview with Paola Balla: https://youtu.be/Uj2QvksvWk0?si=2bYh76kQuhmwSy40 ) * Tony Birch, The White Girl, NY, HarperVia, 2019, pp. 1-42 (chapter 1-3). * Tony Birch, “Interview with Paul Daley,” The Guardian, June 6, 2019: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/07/tony-birch-on-the-white-girl-no-aboriginal-person-i-know-is-intact * Luca Peretti (ed.), “Built to last? Material legacies of Italian Colonialism,” Interviews with Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Alessandra Ferrini, Viviana Gravano, Hannes Obermair, Resistenze in Cirenaica, Igiaba Scego, and Colletivo Tezeta, Interventions 26.7(2024), pp. 1051-1068. Lectures and Interviews (online) * Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Danger of a Single Story, TED Talk, July 2009, https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en Film (watched in class) ** Little Soldier, regia di Annette K. Olesen, 2008 (in Danish with English subtitles)

Class attendance is non mandatory and there is no difference in the readings and exams for attending and non-attending students. However, considering the complexity of the issues examined and of the methodology adopted, ATTENDANCE IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED.

Students are encouraged to join class discussion, share their reflections, ask questions, answer other students’ questions. Students can take the exam written OR oral. The only opportunity for students to take a written exam will be in early January. In any of the other dates the exam will be oral. WRITTEN EXAM: Students will be assigned two hours’ time to complete the written exam. Students will be expected to answer 6 open questions: 2 of them will require shorter answers (approx. 10 lines – 3 points each) and 4 of them will require longer and more complex answers (approx. 20 lines-one page – 6 points each). ORAL EXAM: The oral exam lasts approximately 40 minutes. Students will be asked 5-6 questions on some of the texts in the syllabus, which they will have to discuss at length. Since an oral exam is a conversation, the number of question asked and the trajectory of the exam will be very much defined by how students answer questions.

CLASS SCHEDULE Class 1 – M October 6 * Introduction to the course * Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Danger of a Single Story, TED Talk, https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en Class 2 – Th October 9 * Raewyn Connell, “Preface” and “The Question of Gender,” IX-XI and 1-12. Class 3 – M October 13 (with Prof. Francesco Ricatti) * Alana Lentin & Debbie Bargallie (2024), “Key Concepts and Definitions for Building Racial Literacy,” https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/asset/12880/building-racial-literacy-guide.pdf Class 4 – Th October 16 * Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street, p. 3-61. Class 5 – M October 20 * Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street, p. 62-110. Class 6 – Th October 23 * Stuart Hall, “Old and New Identities, Old and New Ethnicities,” p. 144-153. Class 7 – M October 27 * Giulia Riccò, “Introduction” to The Italian Colony of São Paulo: Race, Class, and Cultural Capital in Brazil, New York, Fordham UP, 2025, pp. 1-18. Class 8 – Th October 30 * Kym Ragusa, The Skin Between Us, pp. 17-50. Class 9 – M November 3 * Edvige Giunta, “Figuring Race,” p. 224-233. Class 10 – Th November 6 (with Prof. Francesco Ricatti) * Lorenzo Veracini, “Introduction Settler colonialism as a distinct mode of domination,” pp. 1-9. Class 11 – M November 10 (with Prof. Francesco Ricatti) * Francesco Ricatti, Italians in Australia, Chapter 4, pp. 53-71. Class 12 – Th November 13 (with Prof. Francesco Ricatti) * Debbie Bargallie, “Foreword. Researching on Storied Lands: Reflexivity, Sovereignty, and the Ethics of Migration Research.” * Francesco Ricatti, “Indigenous Sovereignty and Multilingual Multiculturalism: Challenging the Monolingual Hegemony of Settler Colonialism,” pp. 1-29. Class 13 – M November 17 (with Prof. Francesco Ricatti) * Francesco Ricatti, “Indigenous Sovereignty and Multilingual Multiculturalism: Challenging the Monolingual Hegemony of Settler Colonialism,” pp. 1-29. Class 14 – Th November 20 * Film screening in class: Little Soldier, dir. Annette K. Olesen, 2008 (in Danish with English subtitles) Class 15 – M November 24 * Film discussion Class 16 – Th November 27 (with Prof. Francesco Ricatti) * Paola Balla, “Black female acts of disruption (continued),” Altreitalie 59, pp. 16-26. Class 17 – M December 1 (with Prof. Francesco Ricatti) * Tony Birch, The White Girl, pp. 1-42. Class 18 – Th December 4 (with Prof. Francesco Ricatti) * Tony Birch, The White Girl, pp. 1-42. * Tony Birch, “Interview with Paul Daley,” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/07/tony-birch-on-the-white-girl-no-aboriginal-person-i-know-is-intact December 8 is a national holiday – NO CLASS Class 19 – Th December 11 Visit to the Museo delle Civiltà, Piazza Guglielmo Marconi, 14 (EUR). Class 20 – M December 15 * Luca Peretti (ed.), “Built to last? Material legacies of Italian Colonialism,” Interviews with Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Alessandra Ferrini, Viviana Gravano, Hannes Obermair, Resistenze in Cirenaica, Igiaba Scego, and Colletivo Tezeta, Interventions 26.7(2024), pp. 1051-1068. Class 21 – Th December 18 * Q&A

The course will take place in person. The course is organized mainly in lectures, during which students are expected to ask questions and make observations. There will be a number of seminars on specific texts and topics (lezione-laboratorio), which will be articulated through the students’ questions and observations. Class discussion is strongly encouraged.