Reading and composition course based on works by Italians and foreigners about Italy and its culture and by Italians about their distinctive experiences of other cultures as tourists and emigrants. Works studied will be primarily chosen from among fiction and non fiction narratives, both originally in English and translated into it. R5A satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition Requirement and R5B satisfies the second half.

This course is about “conversation pieces,” that is, cultural objects that spark conversation, as well as cultural objects and texts that document, stage, or otherwise fabricate conversations, collaborations, or meetings, which traverse multiple and diverse subjects, objects, and/or environments. We will study visual art objects as invitations/ incitations to conversation, as well as film, creative nonfiction, and poetry from the modern and contemporary Italian canon and beyond, which render group or one-on-one dialogues as sites of interpersonal differences on the one hand, and synergistic exchange and transformation on the other. The course is interested in the gaps that cannot be closed within any given group, and whether and how conversation serves to hold those differences while at the same time shaking up settled sensibilities and assumptions to generate new visions and insights. The tradition of Italian difference feminism will be a touch-point and model for the stakes of conversation as consciousness-raising, as we examine discrete literary and cinematic studies of what happens when we encounter one another at close range, and attempt to understand others while also speaking for ourselves. How can conversation foster the reconstruction of a sense of individual or collective identity, history, and memory that has been dominated and put down? How can conversation, on the other hand, destabilize a secure sense of identity? How can conversation generate visions of a different world or worlds? We workshop three essential skills for producing successful college essays over the course of a series of short assignments: close reading, critical thinking, and analytical writing. Students will also complete an interview or oral history project in a format of their choosing. Films (may include): Conversation Piece, Luchino Visconti Personal Problems, Bill Gunn The Gleaners and I, Agnes Varda Certified Copy, Abbas Kiarostami Women Talking, Sarah Polley Creative nonfiction, poetry, and feminist theory (selections from): Autoritratto/ Self-portrait, Carla Lonzi et al. Serie ospedaliera/ Hospital Series, Amelia Rosselli Deviazione/ Deviation, Luce d’Eramo “La conciencia de la mestiza: Towards a New Consciousness,” Gloria Anzaldúa “Report from the Bahamas, 1982,” June Jordan Autoritratto di gruppo/ Autobiography of a Generation, Luisa Passerini Tu che mi guardi, tu che mi racconti/ Relating Narratives, Adriana Cavarero La mia casa è dove sono/ My Home is Where I Am, Igiaba Scego Visual art: TBD (art objects at Berkeley Art Museum)

Requisites

• Satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing Requirement.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills