Discussions of Italian subjects invariably involve place. What is so essential about regions, dialects, or topography? How does location give meaning to how we read a text or understand a film? And for the purposes of our seminar, how do theories of place – explicit or implicit – form scholars’ reading approaches? Using Italy as our not-entirely-stable central focus (Where does it begin and end? How does one define it spatially, geographically, culturally?), we will read in several disciplines (Cultural Geography; Anthropology; Environmental Humanities) and along several established areas of discussion (Colonies, Migration, and the Postcolonial; the Mediterranean; the Southern Question). Specific topics are likely to include indigeneity and autochthony; ambiguous borders; cities and civiltà; and italianità as well as irredentismo. While the seminar as a group will tailor our list of sources, we are likely to read – in no particular order – Edward Said, Mark Choate, Johannes Fabian, Stephanie Hom, Marco Armiero, Alessandro Spina, Claudio Magris, Carlo Levi, Serenella Iovino, Roberta Pergher, Ilaria Giglioli, Yael Navaro-Yashin, Giorgio Bertellini.

Prerequisite: graduate standing or consent of instructor.