Italian Studies
Term:  

Fall Quarter

Dept Course No and Title Instructor
ITALIAN (F20)150  THE DECAMERONSHEMEK, D.
The medieval collection of 100 tales by Giovanni Boccaccio known as the Decameron (1353) is set against the backdrop of the 1348 Black Death, a plague that claimed the lives of  30-60% of Europe’s population. Boccaccio’s fictional storytellers are ten young Florentines who escape their disintegrating city and head to the Tuscan hills. There they claim a beautiful villa and create an alternative space where they pass the time by playing games and telling ten stories a day for ten days. Jilted lovers, lusty nuns, unscrupulous friars, silly fools, greedy tricksters, and fast talking con-artists abound in the world their stories conjure, affording a look at a Europe that has been upended by the epidemic they are escaping. Their often-satirical subject matter and Boccaccio’s gleeful foregrounding of love and human sexuality as irrepressible life forces earned his book a place on the lists of banned books for centuries, but it passed clandestinely from reader to reader, through every imaginable social milieu, and became one of the best-known and most celebrated works of literature in the world. Boccaccio’s book—his explicit response to the plague experience—is nothing if not a radical affirmation of life, an exuberant celebration of love, play, and the creative imagination. The course will explore the Decameron’s valorization of youth, its depiction of the merchant world of medieval Italy, its foregrounding of cross-cultural encounters in the Mediterranean, its portrayal of sexuality, its forms of humor, and more.
ITALIAN (F20)99  SPEC STDS: ITALIANVITTORI, G.
No detailed description available.
ITALIAN (F20)50  ITALIAN WOMEN AND MODERNITYSHEMEK, D.
This course will present a historical and literary consideration of the world of women in Italy from the 19th-century moment of Italian national unification up to the present day. Recurrent themes will include work, friendship, sexual politics, national identity, and the relations of individuals with authority.
ITALIAN (F20)2A  INTERMEDIATESTAFF
In Italian 2A students review, practice and expand the grammar acquired in Italian Fundamentals. The course has a content-based approach focusing on explorations of themes such as History of Italy, Mafia, Food, Cinema and Society. Through authentic materials, students take an ideal “Viaggio in Italia” during the quarter and analyze these themes through literature, history, traditions, popular culture, songs and films.
ITALIAN (F20)1A  FUNDAMENTALSSTAFF
The main aim of Italian 1A is to introduce students to the basic elements of Italian language and culture. Authentic materials (ads, brochures, videos, songs, newspaper and magazine articles) are used to expose learners to contemporary Italy. Upon successful completion of this course, students will have developed the ability to speak and understand conversational Italian through active use of the language in the classroom. They will also be able to recognize and understand important features of Italian society and, most importantly, to use Italian beyond the university setting. This is a hybrid course: M, W, F in class; Tu, Th online.
ITALIAN (F20)1A  FUNDAMENTALSSTAFF
See above
ITALIAN (F20)1A  FUNDAMENTALSSTAFF
See above