Taking as a starting point the relevance of the absolute challenge posed by growing colonial-rooted conflicts in the contemporary global context, this course aims to provide: 1) a basic overview of the research approaches underlying postcolonial studies, from the anti-colonial thought of the 1950s to intersectional feminism, with a particular focus on the Italian context and the field of film and media studies; 2) the development of a method for analyzing cinema and audiovisual texts from an anti-colonial perspective, linking modes of production, expression, representation, and reception; 3) an interpretive framework that elaborates on the aforementioned method, applied to a defined corpus of filmic texts, understood as indicators of a specific discursive horizon
teacher profile teaching materials
In Rome, street names and monuments tell the story of an eternal city that has long nurtured practices or dreams of imperial domination, both in classical times and during the twenty years of Fascist rule. Cinema and television series can help us, through narratives and omissions, to reconstruct a profound history of transcultural coexistence that stretches back a long way, intersecting with the millennia-old trade routes within and beyond the Mediterranean that preceded the process of nation-building, confronting the dark chapter of liberal and fascist colonialism, and analysing the traces it has left on the land and in the collective imagination. Of those who live, work and make films in Rome; of those who leave Rome, taking with them a recognisable cultural identity; of those who arrive in Rome, helping to enrich it with their lived experiences and their future. Our journey begins with silent cinema and ends on the threshold of 1989, when the perception of Italy as a crossroads for incoming migration shifted the political agenda and the narratives.
Marcantonio e Cleopatra (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913)
Scipione l’africano (Carmine Gallone, 1937)
Emigrantes (Aldo Fabrizi, 1949)
Il carabiniere a cavallo (Carlo Lizzani, 1961)
L’oro di Roma (Carlo Lizzani, 1961)
Faustina (Luigi Magni, 1968)
L’altra donna (Peter Del Monte, 1981)
Programme
COUNTER-NARRATIVES OF A PLURAL ITALY. TRANSCULTURAL AND POST-COLONIAL ROME 1 – FROM THE SILENT ERA TO THE 1980sIn Rome, street names and monuments tell the story of an eternal city that has long nurtured practices or dreams of imperial domination, both in classical times and during the twenty years of Fascist rule. Cinema and television series can help us, through narratives and omissions, to reconstruct a profound history of transcultural coexistence that stretches back a long way, intersecting with the millennia-old trade routes within and beyond the Mediterranean that preceded the process of nation-building, confronting the dark chapter of liberal and fascist colonialism, and analysing the traces it has left on the land and in the collective imagination. Of those who live, work and make films in Rome; of those who leave Rome, taking with them a recognisable cultural identity; of those who arrive in Rome, helping to enrich it with their lived experiences and their future. Our journey begins with silent cinema and ends on the threshold of 1989, when the perception of Italy as a crossroads for incoming migration shifted the political agenda and the narratives.
Core Documentation
Filmography (feature films):Marcantonio e Cleopatra (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913)
Scipione l’africano (Carmine Gallone, 1937)
Emigrantes (Aldo Fabrizi, 1949)
Il carabiniere a cavallo (Carlo Lizzani, 1961)
L’oro di Roma (Carlo Lizzani, 1961)
Faustina (Luigi Magni, 1968)
L’altra donna (Peter Del Monte, 1981)
Reference Bibliography
An anthology of theoretical and critical texts, edited by the lecturer.Attendance
Attendance in person is strongly recommended, not least because the experience of watching a film together on the big screen is an integral part of the cinematic experience and cannot be replaced. However, where this is not possible, students are permitted to follow the course remotely via the BlueMeet platform.Type of evaluation
The course consists of a single final oral examination, with questions that include references to the historical and socio-cultural context of Italian colonialism, set against the reality of other former European colonial powers, and questions of a more methodological nature, relating to concepts from the history of film and media theory that have engaged with cultural texts from the cinema of the former Third World, produced by diasporas or minorities of the former First World, and which directly or indirectly raise the issue of cultural otherness. Finally, there will be more specific questions focusing on the monographic course and the film corpus covered in the course in question.