Summer 2014 Philosophy of Italian Culture Discussion Questions

Class Dates

Wednesday May 21, 2014

• How would you characterize Italy in the first half of the 19th Century and what circumstances and events were particularly determining for its future?
• What were the major objectives of Italian patriots in this period? Why?
• What role did Garibaldi, Mazzini, Cavour and Vittorio Emanuele II play in the unification? Who would have been most and least satisfied with the outcome?
• What seem to have been some limits of the unification?

Thursday May 22, 2014

1. Why does Mazzini argue for "duties before rights"? What is the historical context for this argument?
2. How does Mazzini connect eschatology (God's plan) to politics?
3. What is Liberty for Mazzini and what is the legitimate role of government in social life?

Monday May 26, 2014

1. What was the societal structure in a fascist state?
2. In the fascist state, what determines the value of a man and a woman? What historical context/events explain this?
3. In what way did the fascist state act a parental figure?
4. What was the main problem(s) for the Turin Communists?

Tuesday May 27, 2014

1. What reasons for and against cultural variation did Wilson give, and how does that help define the major conflicts seen.

2. How did popular novels seem to have an effect of the overall popular culture and the attitudes of Italian citizens.

3. Why do Italians prefer to read foreign writers rather than their own - what does this disconnect arise from? And why does the play "A Doll's House" resound so prominently with the Italian psyche?

4. How is the human race like an ant colony? What role do individualism and altruism play in each?

5. What is the blurring of identity and how does one make decisions in relation to others (especially moral decision making)?

Wednesday May 28, 2014

1. Have you experienced difficulties in the culture barrier while living here so far? How would ethnography help? (not specifically language)

2. If you were an ethnographer, what would you say so far about Italian culture? What drives Italian culture? How would a sense of honor help to form culture?

3. How does honor differ for males and females in society in general?

4. How does Pia Di Bella characterize honor through the relationship between blood and name?

5. What is the role of grace in an honor society? Particularly in Italian and other Mediterranean cultures which have strong religious backgrounds and faith histories.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

• What does this play tell us about the role of writers in Italian culture?
• What was strange about the bombing in Milan?
• What sparked the Feminist movements in the 1960's and 1970's? How did this change the family structure in Italy? Why did the state and Church oppose this? What was Mazzini's view of the role of women?
• What was the common ideology of the terrorists? How did they combine the views of Karl Marx with Catholicism?

Monday June 2, 2014

Holiday

Tuesday June 3, 2014

• Why do you think the police chose to target a political group in the case of the Milan bombing (especially anarchists)?
• The play will highlight the aspects of the story from the point of view of the left-wingers (Lotta Continua), do you believe most citizens at the time shared this viewpoint?

• Why do you think the intellectuals feel as though they are willing to name names better than the journalists and politicians who have the clues?
• Why do you think the intellectuals don't become journalists or politicians? Would they do a better job of it?
• Why is it so important to name names?

Wednesday June 4, 2014

1. Why do you think Dario Fo added the maniac, even though it has no relation to real characters or persons apart of the events that occurred historically?

2. Why is Bertozzo or the commissioner of the police force the butt of many of the jokes in the play?

3. What do you think the importance is of having the introduction of the play as interactions between the inspector Bertozzo and the manic?

4. Why do you think the maniac created such tension between Bertozzo and the inspector with the phone call?

Thursday June 5, 2014

Play

• What are the main holes in the officers' story that are exposed by the Maniac?
• How would you describe the Maniac's attitude toward the Superintendent? How does it change as he points out more and more of the inconsistencies in the police report?

Commentary

• What is the significance of Fo having many versions of his playwright? What does this say about himself and the play?
• What does the thrid act of a "debate" say about Fo's objective?

Monday June 9, 2014

• Why do you think they made Calabresi the protagonist of Piazza Fontana? Were you more sympathetic to his situation?

• The theme of truth was very prevalent in the movie as well as the play. Which characters seemed to be true to their word and which did not? Did these interpretations shift between the movie and the play?

• What was the purpose of the play and the movie? Did one serve that purpose better than the other?

• Who do you think was responsible for the Pinelli's death? Why? Did the movie or play sway you one way or the other?

• Did Maniac's antics help add humor to the play to get the message across or distract from the real purpose?

Tuesday June 10, 2014

• How did Burlesconi's control over television contribute to his political reign?
• How would you compare Berlusconi's improper political tactics to those that we have already studied? Would you say they were equally bad or worse?

Tuesday June 24, 2014

Holiday