COURSE DESCRIPTION
This on-site course, which will be conducted in English, aims to introduce students to a sociological and spatial analysis of contemporary Rome. It focuses on the changes which are occurring in the city’s populations, its neighborhoods and daily patterns of life and commerce. On-site classes will be held in a variety of neighborhoods in the city in order to analyze the area’s role as a social entity and its relationship with the wider urban context.
TEXTBOOK
There is no textbook for the class. Readings are posted on the course website and handouts, when necessary, will be distributed at the beginning of each on-site visit.
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COURSE OBJECTIVES
At the end of the course, students will be able to:
Describe the social and cultural changes occurring in the contemporary city.
Use social theory and methodology to examine change in an urban context.
Navigate in different social environments in sensitively and culturally appropriate ways.
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ASSESSMENT TOOLS
Two Quiz Exams 30 %
One Urban Analysis. 30 %
Four Discussion/Threads 40 %
Quiz Exams. Between 10 and 20 questions including multiple choice, true\false and open-ended questions. The quizzes are not cumulative and are due the day and time specified on MOODLE.
Visual Analysis of Two Streets in Rome’s Historical Center
This exercise, to be conducted individually, is designed to provide non-specialized students with an intuitive method to understand, describe and record the evolving character of the historical center in the last 70 years. The exercise includes a visual part with maps and pictures and a written part (See guidelines on Moodle).
Discussion/Threads
Threads are collective discussions. Following a prompt by the instructor each student will post 1) a personal statement of no less than 300 words and 2) two 50 words replies to two different classmates' post. Note that the replies have to be meaningful and helpful. Because the objective of the threads is to discuss and confront ideas, impressions and opinions, threads that are posted after the deadline will not be accepted. The thread has to include all its parts (main post of minimum 300 words, 2 replies of minimum 50 words each). Incomplete threads will count zero on the Gradebook. An example of an incomplete thread is a main post of fewer than 300 words, one of the replies shorter than 50 words, a missing reply or post etc.
NOTE:
IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE STUDENT TO KNOW THE SCHEDULE OF THE EXAMS. THE SCHEDULE INCLUDING THE SYLLABUS IS POSTED ON MOODLE. JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY HAS A DEDICATED MOODLE TEAM THAT CAN HELP YOU LEARNING HOW TO USE THE PLATFORM. UNLESS EXCEPTIONAL AND UNFORESEEABLE CIRCUMSTANCES, EXAMS CANNOT BE TAKEN AT ANOTHER DATE OR TIME.
FOR GRADE AND ASSESSMENT CRITERIA CONSULT THE UNIVERSITY CATALOGUE.
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SCHEDULE OF CLASSES
9\4. IN-CLASS. 9:00AM. COURSE PRESENTATION. ROME BEYOND THE STEREOTYPES
The presentation includes a general explanation and objectives of the course, the different onsite visits, technicalities such as meeting times and places, nature of the assessments and other information relative to the nature of an onsite course.
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9\11. IN-CLASS. 9:00AM. EXPLANATION OF THE URBAN ANALYSIS EXERCISE WITH EXAMPLES
This meeting is dedicated to the street exercise. The examples are from former students and will serve as a templates. The exercise will test the ability of the student to organize a research in all its parts including theory and methodology.
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9\18. ON SITE. THE COMMODIFICATION OF LOCAL CULTURE: A WALK IN TRASTEVERE.
Appointment at 9:00AM in class.
In this class we discuss how traditional Rome really is and what processes affect the history, character and lifestyle of a neighborhood. At the end of the class students will be able to look and think at Rome from the perspective that challenges the conventional images of the city: eternal, traditional, intimate, local.
Readings:
Montanari and B. Staniscia. Rome: A Difficult Path Between Tourist Pressure and Sustainable Development.
Trabalzi: The commodification of culture and the changing identity of a Roman neighborhood (working paper)
Clough Marinaro, I. and B. Thomassen, 2014:” Into the City: The Changing Faces of Rome,” in Clough Marinaro, I. and B. Thomassen, eds. Global Rome (Indianapolis: Indiana University Press)
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9\25. ON-SITE. THE HISTORICAL CENTER BETWEEN LOCAL AND GLOBAL FROM CAMPO DI FIORI TO TREVI FOUNTAIN.
Appointment: 9:00AM at Campo di Fiori by the statue of Giordano Bruno.
In this class we discuss the question of the effects of mass tourism on the identity and lifestyle of a historical neighborhood. At the end of the class students will be able think at Rome as a city that lives its contemporaneity like any other city in the world: by changing and adapting.
No new readings. We are are still developing the argument made in the previous week but in a different section of the historical center.
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SUNDAY OCT 1. THREAD 1 DUE AT 10PM
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10\2. IN-CLASS. 9:00AM. HOW OLD IS ROME?
In this class we discuss the role of ideology in shaping our perception and understanding of Rome’s past. At the end of the class students will be able to discuss the archaeological landscape of central Rome as the product of modern political objectives and ideologies rather than the result of ages of history untouched.
Readings:
F.Trabalzi. The Roman Forum Reinvented (Working paper)
D. Watkin, “Archaeologists under the kings of United Italy,” pp. 196-200 and “From Mussolini To Hitler to Holes on the Ground,” pp. 201-222, In The Roman Forum (London: Profile Books, 2011).
F. Trabalzi, “Primavalle: Urban Reservation in Rome". in Journal of Architectural Education, 42\3 September 1989: 38-46.
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10\9. ON-SITE: THE ROMAN FORUM AS A CASE OF OLD ROME REINVENTED
Appointment: 9:00AM Piazza del Campidoglio.
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10\16. ON-SITE. OLD IDENTITIES NOT CONSIDERED. THE OLD JEWISH GHETTO AND THE PARADOX OF PROTECTING CULTURAL HERITAGE.
Appointment: 9:00AM by the statue on the Tiber Island.
In this class we discuss how the city decides which parts of its cultural heritage are worth preserving and which are not and how such decisions shape the narrative of the city's history. At the end of the class students will be able to discuss the paradoxes of cultural heritage in modern Rome.
Readings: F. Trabalzi. The paradox of protecting cultural heritage in Rome (working paper).
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SUNDAY OCT 22. THREAD 2 DUE at 10pm.
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10\23. MIDTERM QUIZ. IN-CLASS 10AM. STREET EXERCISE DUE AT 10PM.
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10\30. IN-CLASS. 9:00AM. SOCIAL MARGINALITY IN CONTEMPORARY ROME: CONVENTIONAL AND RADICAL.
In this class we discuss the meaning of social, cultural, and spatial marginality. At the end of this module students will be able to discuss the definition and difference between alternative theories of social, cultural, and spatial marginality and to describe how such differences are manifested in two main areas of the city: Testaccio and Park of the Aqueducts.
Readings: bell hooks: “Choosing the Margin as a site of Radical Openness,” in Yearning: Race, Gender and Cultural Politics”, Boston: South End Press,1990.
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11\6. ON-SITE. THE AQUEDUCTS: A CONVENTIONAL HISTORY OF SOCIAL MARGINALITY.
Appointment: 9:45.AM at Metro A station Giulio Agricola. Expected return time to campus around 12:15.
In this class we explore the social history of the Aqueducts in the last 80 years, why such a history can be told as a case of social marginality and what type of marginality such a history is evidence of. At the end of the class students will be able to discuss social marginality as a condition of life both constructed and perceived.
Readings: F. Trabalzi. The Park of the Aqueducts: A history of social marginality (Working paper)
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11\13. ON-SITE. TESTACCIO: A NEIGHBORHOOD RADICALLY OPEN
Appointment: 9:00AM bus stop Marmorata-Galvani near PIRAMIDE.
In this class we explore the meaning of marginality as a space of radical openness, and why the ex-slaughterhouse of Testaccio be considered a case of margin of radical openness. At the end of the class students will be able to discuss the sociological concept of marginality as place of radically openness, the meaning of counter-hegemony as manifested in space as well as alternative approaches to the preservation of the multi-layered history of Rome.
Readings: F. Trabalzi. Testaccio: A neighborhood radically open (Working paper).
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SUNDAY 11\19. THREAD 3 DUE AT 10PM
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11\20. ONSITE. ROME AND MULTICULTURALISM: A DIFFICULT PARTNERSHIP IN THE ESQUILINO NEIGHBORHOOD
Appointment 9:00AM at Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore in front of the Basilica.
In this class we explore the history of multiculturalism today in Rome and the form it takes in the Esquilino neighborhood, arguable the most diverse in Rome.
Readings: F. Trabalzi. Difficult Multiculturalism in Esquilino, Rome.
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11\27. ONSITE. GREEN ROME. THE HISTORY OF ROME'S PUBLIC PARKS. THE CASE OF VILLA PAMPHILI
Appointment at 9:00AM on Campus Garden.
In the next two classes we explore the history of public parks in Rome. In particular we will study their origins and their differences with public parks in the US and in other capitals of Europe. At the end of the classes students will be able to compare the history of public parks in Italy and in the US, the concept of "public" behind the origins of public parks, the economic and cultural underpinning that stimulated their creation, and the differences between public parks in the US, France and England in terms of landscape theories.
Readings: F. Trabalzi. The History of Rome Public Parks (working paper)
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12\4. ONSITE. GREEN ROME. THE HISTORY OF ROME'S PUBLIC PARKS. THE CASE OF VILLA BORGHESE
Appointment at 9:15 by the obelisk in Piazza del Popolo
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SUNDAY DEC 10 FINAL THREAD 4 DUE AT 10PM.
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12\11. FINAL QUIZ. INCLASS 10AM.