Introducing Transnational Italian Studies to a graduate program

Abstract

The transnational approach to Italian Studies continues to be a particularly fruitful one in the development of new syllabi, and by extension in the rethinking of the entire curricula aimed at expanding and complicating the concept of Italianness. The approach’s ability to encompass a wide array of forms of mobility in and out of the country over a long period of time preceding and following the country’s unification allows for the analysis of topical issues that transcend cultural borders, and as such infuses dynamism to the classroom and engages students with different backgrounds and multiple interests. Yet, as this approach opens new routes, does it compromise venues that are still relevant to define, if not anchor, the field? Or, to reformulate a crucial question posed in the introduction of Transcultural Italies: Mobility, Memory and Translation: how inclusive can a culture be without losing its distinctiveness? (Burdett et al., 2020: 3). This question remains at the core of any inquiry into Transnational Studies, a field that rests on the fruitful paradox of attending to the nation while superseding it, as the very term “trans-national” indicates (it retains the nation, but extends it). In this article, I investigate the application of the transnational paradigm at the graduate level, which is an ideal context to assess its relevance: in combining a description of the content and goals of a specific graduate course titled “Transnational Italy: Imperial Legacies and Migratory Routes,” the article also relies on the direct feedback provided by the students who attended it. The syllabus illustrated in this article contains texts that are by now generally adopted in courses of this nature; yet, it does not claim to be a model, and it instead, for now, acts as a lab for new experimentation, especially based on students’ responses and ideas collected during and