Learning objectives
The course aims to provide students with solid general knowledge relating to the development of culture in the British Isles, especially in the modern and contemporary age, both in a diachronic and a synchronic sense. During the course, student will learn how to: develop knowledge about some of the main lines of development of the cultures of the British Isles in the modern and contemporary age; understand and analyze cultural documents in the original language that present complexities both in terms of formal characteristics and thematic-ideological contents; autonomously find further information on the topics covered using both paper and digital resources; formulate, on the basis of a careful decoding of the cultural document, competent and motivated judgments relating to complex cultural phenomena; communicate and discuss contents, analyses and evaluations in English, using a linguistic register appropriate to the subject, and appropriate to the lexicon of cultural studies, and corresponding to the level of linguistic competence of the student’s course year.
Prerequisites
No pre-prequisite required.
Course unit content
The course, held in English, focuses on the study of cultural phenomena typical of the history of the British Isles, especially in the modern and contemporary age. It aims to introduce students to an in-depth study of phenomena that have characterized and still characterize English-speaking cultures in the British Isles, also in relation to those of other English-speaking countries around the world. The course also aims, in harmony with the courses of English literature, to investigate further the issues related to the problematic category of British identity (Britishness). During classes, historical contextualization is regularly accompanied by the analysis of cultural documents (of various types) from the point of view of content, form and ideological values. Students are also required to read and study cultural documents indicated in the exam syllabus, drawn up by the teacher at the end of the course and made available on the Moodle page of the course.
Full programme
The exam syllabus is made available online via the Moodle page of the course, at the conclusion of the course.
Bibliography
Nicoletta Vallorani (a cura di), “Introduzione ai Cultural Studies” (Roma, Carocci, 2016). Further bibliographical references are provided during the course and are indicated in the exam syllabus.
Teaching methods
During the lectures, taught in English, the tutor will introduce the main historical-cultural contextual aspects, the profiles of the authors and the texts, using the course bibliography and additional textual or visual materials made available on the University’s Elly Platform. Students will also be offered suggestions for individual study and analysis, thus inviting students to pursue an increasingly original and independent approach to the analysis of the themes and issues raised during the course.
Assessment methods and criteria
Assessment of knowledge and skills is by oral exam in English.
Knowledge and skills to be assessed include:
. oral proficiency in English corresponding to C1 level and, more particularly, the acquisition of the appropriate register and specific language of cultural studies;
. knowledge of the materials examined and studied in class and during individual study;
. an adequate ability to study independently, personally to re-elaborate contents learned during the course, to propose individual insights that go beyond the topics covered in the course, to solve problems related to the retrieval of information and the decoding of materials, and to formulate autonomous judgements.
In order to verify the achievement of such knowledge and skills, questions in the oral test aim to assess knowledge, the ability autonomously and originally to re-elaborate such knowledge, as well as the ability to apply such knowledge through the analysis of cultural documents and to expand it through links, comparisons and contrasts.
An insufficient assessment is determined by the lack, demonstrated by the student during the oral exam, of knowledge of the minimum contents of the course; the inability to express themselves in English as appropriate to the subject and corresponding to the level of competence of their course year; by the lack of autonomous preparation and by the inability to solve problems related to the retrieval of information and the decoding of cultural documents, as well as the formulation of autonomous judgements. A sufficient evaluation (18-23/30) is determined by the student's demonstration of having learned the minimum and fundamental contents of the course; the ability to express oneself in an English appropriate to the subject and which, despite its communicative simplicity, has some characteristics of the level of competence of one's course year; by a sufficient level of autonomous preparation, ability to solve problems related to the retrieval of information and the decoding of cultural documents, as well as the formulation of independent judgements. The average scores (24-27/30) are assigned to the student who demonstrates a more than sufficient (24-25/30) or good (26-27/30) level of the assessment indicators listed above. The highest scores (from 28/30 to 30/30 cum laude) are assigned based on the demonstration of a very good to an excellent level of the assessment indicators listed above.
Other information
--
2030 agenda goals for sustainable development
High quality education
