This course introduces students to the complexities of contemporary Italian society, taking a primarily ‘bottom-up’ social science approach by examining a wide variety of social contexts and exploring the ways in which Italians express, negotiate and transform their cultural and social identities. By drawing on a growing body of anthropological and sociological research, it provides students with the tools to question rigid and dated assumptions about Italian social life and enables them to analyze its multifaceted, dynamic and often contradictory forms and practices. Students thereby also develop a framework for interpreting their daily experiences and encounters outside the classroom context.

The course primarily focuses on social dynamics and identities in Italy as they have emerged in the last two decades and continue to transform in the present, although each topic is contextualized within a broader explanation of social change in the post-World War 2 era. Students are first introduced to the main theoretical and methodological approaches adopted in the sociological and anthropological study of contemporary Italy. We then examine the ways in which local and community identities are expressed and transformed in Italy’s primarily urban society, how families and gender roles have developed since the 1970s and the pressures produced by the current economic crisis, as well as the reasons and processes by which increasing numbers of Italians are re-developing rural activities and livelihoods. Next, we discuss life in the Italian work-place and the effects that de-industrialization, technological development and precarious work contracts are having on professional  and class identities. Inevitably, these new identities are also expressed in the political arena and we therefore examine the rising appeal of populist and ‘anti-political’ discourses and figures and the extent to which traditional parties are able to respond to these demands and challenges. Italy’s strong civic movements are also innovating and struggling to improve social life ‘from below’ and we explore various forms and expressions of this civic engagement and protest. Issues that have been traditionally relegated to the private domain – such as disabilities and sexual identities – are increasingly being represented in the public sphere and we explore the way the fight for rights and recognition is evolving. Lastly, we examine Italy as a multiethnic society and the increasingly transnational identities that are developing as people move into and out of the country. We discuss how immigration is changing social and cultural life and how the growing number of ‘hyphenated Italians’ express their identities. Religious (and secular) identities and practices are profoundly connected to these processes and we explore the social role of Catholicism and other religions today. We also investigate why Italy is suffering a dramatic brain-drain and the influence that young Italians abroad are having on their society of origin.

The course will include at least one fieldtrip within Rome. Various classes will also require students to carry out field observations and interviews with Italians for homework in order to encourage experiential learning. In addition to participating in lectures, class discussions and doing the assigned readings, students will be expected to attend guest lectures offered by John Cabot and to watch a number of documentaries and films about contemporary Italy in their own time.

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

·         Explain the main methods and rationale of anthropological and sociological inquiry as it pertains to Italy

·         Refer to theoretical debates concerning identities, performativity and tensions between agency and structure

·         Identify the main periods of social change in post-war Italy and analyze today’s phenomena within those contexts

·         Outline the main demographic and population changes of recent decades and explain their causes and  consequences on social interactions and identities

·         Discuss the main economic developments in Italy since the 1980s especially as they concern the labor market and the workplace

·          Discuss debates concerning the body and the public sphere: gender, sexualities, and disabilities

·         Identify the main forms and expressions of grassroots action and protest and their reasons

·         Outline Italy’s recent history of in- and out-migration and discuss why people decide to migrate and how this relates to processes of identity formation

·         Explain the changing role of Catholicism in Italy and the increasing importance of secularism and alternative religious identities

Letter grades and corresponding percentages for this class

94 – 100 points = A

90 – 93.99 pts = A-

87 – 89.99 = B+

83 – 86.99 = B

80 – 82.99 = B-

77 – 79.99 = C+

70 – 76.99 = C

60 – 69.99 = D

59.99 – 0 = F

Attendance is mandatory and, alongside active participation in class, makes up 15% of the final grade. Two unexcused absences will be tolerated, after which your grade will be lowered in proportion to each class missed.