IT3CCO: Crisis, Change, Opportunity: Italy from 1968 to the Present

Module code: IT3CCO

Module provider: Languages and Cultures; School of Humanities

Credits: 20

Level: Level 3 (Honours)

When you’ll be taught: Semester 1

Module convenor: Professor Daniela La Penna, email: d.lapenna@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 21 May 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

The module focuses on defining episodes of Italian history from 1968 to the present day, and it will shed light on how each of the selected themes and events have contributed to change the physiognomy of contemporary Italian society. Starting from 1968 as a catalyst year for social change, the module will examine how key moments of systemic crisis such as the experience of terrorism, the feminist revolt, and the post-war mafia wars, engendered long-lasting change and while fostering the opportunity to challenge and modify narratives of identity, citizenship and nationhood in contemporary Italy.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Analyse the historical development of key events and examine differing historiographical interpretations of the pattern and causes of the developments under scrutiny
2. Critically evaluate primary and secondary sources of the topics in question
3. Explain how ideas and events are shaped by their historical contexts.
4. Research, organise, and articulate a rigorous scholarly argument in written and oral form

Module content

The module will examine the period 1968-present and it will treat 1968 and 1989 as the catalyst years for a number of changes taking place in Italy in the cultural, political, social and legislative fields. The module will look at the changes in political and social life, the impact of the media on politics (with a special focus on Berlusconi), and address the role played by internal and external migration in defining Italian identity within the Mediterranean and Europe. The course will focus themes taken from the list below, and it will adopt a case-study approach:

(1)    The feminist movement (2) terrorism(s) (3) regionalism vs nationalism (4) media and politics (5) citizenship, identity, and migration (6) the mafia.

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

The course will be delivered through a series of lectures and seminars. Seminars will involve discussion of primary sources (including protest songs, manifestos, video footage, documentaries, printed and mixed media sources etc) and major historiographical theses. Discussion will be focused on these specific and significant national case studies, however students will be encouraged to contribute their own perspectives and to place Italy in a wider transnational context.

Study hours

At least 22 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.