Italian Studies 189 - Thinking Transnationally: European Culture Across Borders
Europe Culture Across Borders
Fall
2022
01
2.00
Joel P. Westerdale
TU 2:45 PM - 4:00 PM
Smith College
ITL-189-01-202301
Hatfield 105
jpwester@smith.edu
ITL 189-01, GER 189-01
Offered as GER 189 and ITL 189. This series of interdepartmental lectures by a selection of Smith faculty examines the myth of cultural
homogeneity perpetuated by the ideal of “native” linguistic competency. These lectures explore
hybridity and interaction between cultures and languages as the rule, not the exception. The goal is to help students comprehend the transnational, multilingual web into which we are woven, and to
appreciate how they contribute to that web, to appreciate their own position as transnational subjects.
By adopting a transnational perspective, students learn to question the primacy of the “native,” whether
as non-native speakers in the US or as language-learners looking abroad. Graded S/U only. (E)
homogeneity perpetuated by the ideal of “native” linguistic competency. These lectures explore
hybridity and interaction between cultures and languages as the rule, not the exception. The goal is to help students comprehend the transnational, multilingual web into which we are woven, and to
appreciate how they contribute to that web, to appreciate their own position as transnational subjects.
By adopting a transnational perspective, students learn to question the primacy of the “native,” whether
as non-native speakers in the US or as language-learners looking abroad. Graded S/U only. (E)