==''This Learning Community brings together the faculty and students of "Narrating the Italian-American Experience" and "Growing Up Different: Ethnic Subculture in the US."''==
In this seminar we will examine the ways in which Italian and Italian-American culture have been represented in fictional works, movies, TV series, and sociological works. We will try to understand the appeal exercised by Italian-American popular icons such as the Godfather and Toni and Carmela Soprano upon American mainstream audiences. We will explore contemporary theories of ethnicity and determine how they can be used to understand the formation of an Italian-American identity. We will also look at the relationship between Italian and other “hyphenated” American cultures (African, Irish, Jewish, etc.), as portrayed by sociologists, novelists, and film directors like Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese.
Readings for this course will include literary masterpieces such as Pietro De Donato’s Christ in Concrete and Mario Puzo’s The Fortunate Pilgrim, as well as lesser known novels like Helen Barolini’s Umbertina, an authentic Italian-American epic narrative, as seen from a woman’s perspective. In addition to writing several analytical essays, you will be offered an opportunity to conduct oral interviews with Italian-American individuals and families. If you wish, you may also create a short play and/or short story in which you will reenact and criticize some of the cultural stereotypes analyzed in class. I am planning to take a field trip to visit to a typical Italian neighborhood on the East Coast. Cultural critic Fred Gardaphé has accepted an invitation to come to Dickinson in the Fall and spend time with our Learning Community.
[[Image:Italian_Pasta.jpg|thumb|The Italian American Experience]] ''[[About the Seminars--Ethnic American Experience]]''
[[Image:Irish_Clover.jpg|thumb|The Irish American Experience]] ''[[Your Learning Community Coordinator--Ethnic American Experience]]''
[[Image:Chinese_Latterns.jpg|thumb|The Asian American Experience]] ''[[Events--Ethnic American Experience]]''
Growing Up Different: Ethnic Subculture in the US
Ted Pulcini, Religion10:30 TTh
Despite all the attempts to homogenize American culture, ethnic subcultures have proved amazingly resilient and continue to shape the lives of countless Americans. In this course we will consider a number of literary and cinematic accounts, both fictional and non-fictional, describing what it is like to grow up in the ethnic subcultures of African-, Asian-, Irish-, Italian-, Jewish-, Latino-, and Slavic-Americans. We will attempt to arrive at a more nuanced understanding of this experience through concepts and models proposed by sociologists, addressing such questions as the following: How is the tension between ethnic subcultures and the cultural mainstream constructive? How is it problematic? How can we account for the surge of interest in ethnic identity in contemporary society? What is the place of ethnic subculture in the emergence of "multicultural America"? Participants will be encouraged not only to analyze the ethnic experiences of others but also to arrive at a clearer articulation of their own attitudes toward ethnic subculture.
[[Image:Star_Of_David.gif|thumb|The Jewish American Experience]] ''[[Calendar of Events]]''
[http://itech.dickinson.edu/wiki/index.php/Learning_Communities Learning Community Homepage]
Pictures courtesy of www.dennisflood.com, www.templebethzionla.org, www.worldfood.com, botw.org
Latest revision as of 03:58, 20 December 2008
laacacaloloa
zelerctr
This Learning Community brings together the faculty and students of "Narrating the Italian-American Experience" and "Growing Up Different: Ethnic Subculture in the US."
