Who can lay claim to being Italian? Drawing upon affect theory, this course offers a survey of Italian history from fascism to the present by addressing issues of race and sexuality that public discourse often presents as "questioni" -- questions or problems. Students will consolidate and refine their knowledge of modern Italian culture by exploring the role of literature, cinema, propaganda, and social media in representing three key "questions:" the Jewish question, the sexual question, and the migrant question. By focusing on the memory and postmemory of the Holocaust (module 1), on feminist and queer activism in the long 1970s (module 2), and on the contemporary experiences of migrants and Black Italians (module 3), we will investigate how the intersection of race and sexuality has constructed patterns of belonging and exclusion in modern Italy and beyond. As we read, analyze and discuss canonic and lesser-known texts, we will reflect on how artistic representations can inform our understanding of historical events, mobilize our emotions, and help us subvert patterns of social inequality and reinforce marginalized voices. For their final projects, students will produce creative or comparative works focusing on a specific affect or emotion and linking some of the course materials to a topic of their choice. |