Spring 2015 Philosophy of Italian Culture

Return to Philosophy of Italian Culture

JAN 13

Introductory Topics

• Introduction to the Course

JAN 15

• Gilmour, "Modern Italy"

JAN 20

• Emmett and Piras, "Girlfriend in a Coma"

JAN 22

Anthropological and Cultural Theory

• Storey, Chapter 1, p. 1-5
• Nanda and Warms, Introduction to Anthropology, Ch 4, "Cultural Anthropology"

JAN 27

• Richerson and Boyd, Not By Genes Alone, Chapters 1
• Bowman, Honour, "Introduction"

JAN 29

• Richerson and Boyd, Not By Genes Alone, Chapter 2
• Diamond, Jared, "How Do Cultures Make Such Big Mistakes?"

FEB 3

More Tools for the Critique of Culture: Marx, Gramsci, Symbolic Anthropology, and Ethnography

• Marx and Engels quotes In Storey, Reader, p. 58-60
• Storey, Text, Chapter 4, p. 59-62 (Marx);

FEB 5

• Crehan, "Gramsci's life and work"
• Storey, Chapter 4 82-4
• Gramsci, "Hegemony, Intellectuals, and the State," 75-80

FEB 10

• Watch The Working Class Goes to Heaven

FEB 12

• Rapport and Overling, "Thick Description," 349-352, Social and Cultural Anthropology
• Geertz, "Thick Description"

FEB 17

• short video, "Puglia" 26 mins.

FEB 19

• short video, "Puglia" 26 mins.
• Pia di Bella, Maria, "Name, Blood and Miracles"

FEB 24

Anomalies of Italian Culture: Unification, Italian "Mentality", the Problem of the South

• D'Epirio, "Garibaldi"
• Doyle, One Nation, Three Republics
• The Economist, March 2011 Video-presentation on the Risorgimento: http://www.economist.com/blogs/multimedia/2011/03/italys_divisions
• The Economist, June 9th, 2011: "Oh for a new Risorgimento" http://www.economist.com/node/18780831

FEB 26

• Ginsbourg, Ch. 4, "Civil Society and Mass Culture" 94-107
• Putnam, historical chapter
• Putnam "Explaining institutional performance"

TBA contemporary articles

MAR 3

• Viroli, Chapter 4, "The Pre-requisites of Servitude"

MAR 5

• Midterm Exam

MAR 17

• News on electoral reforms today

MAR 19

• Gilmour, "Introduction"
• Parks, Chapter 5, 147-194

MAR 24

• Benvenuti al Sud?

MAR 26

Shame and Honour

• Gilmore, "Introduction: The Shame of Dishonor"
• movie, Rocco and His Brothers

MAR 31

• Bettiga-Boukerbout, "Crimes of 'Honour' in the Italian Penal Code"

APR 2

• movie, Divorce Italian Style
• Feminicido Today -- links to current news

APR 7

• Zanardo, "Il Corpo delle Donne"
• Muraro, Lisa, "Toward a Symbolic of Sexual Difference"

APR 9

Popular Culture

• Storey, Chapter 1, 5-13, Chapter 4 64-72
• Bennett, Gramsci and Popular Culture, 81-8
• Gramsci, Popular Culture

APR 14

• movie, Reality
• Stille, Chapter 3, "Television and Money"

APR 16

• movie, Gommorah,
• Saviano, Gommorah, excerpts

• The Art of Making do in Naples

APR 21

• movie, The Mafia Only Kills in Summer

APR 23

• Ginsburg, Italy and Discontents, Chapter Six, "Corruption and the Mafia," pp. 179-213

APR 28

• Watch "Slow Food"and read selections from Andrews "The Slow Food story"

APR 30

• Student Presentations

MAY 5

• Student Presentations / Review

MAY 7

• Final Exam