OVERVIEW

The course aims to explore how reading - and more generally storytelling - can be not only an effective educational tool, but above all an inexhaustible source of pleasure: the pleasure of opening imaginary windows for endless journeys, to make unexpected encounters, to enrich oneself with extraordinary knowledge, to set sail, as Salman Rushdie would say, "in the great Sea of ​​Stories". We will try to understand which readings influenced the childhood imagination over the 20th century, consulting the education fund of the ALSP - Ligurian Archive of Popular Writing - and realizing projects of education to reading starting from this historical analysis. We will compare "pleasure" readings and "duty" readings, such as school readings, in order to reconstruct the childhood models in vogue in the different periods considered.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

PProviding methodological tools and educational and cultural landmarks to transform the obligation of reading in "pleasure of reading."

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

- Reflection on the ways of educating children and young people to the written page, to illustration and to the multiple forms of contemporary storytelling;
- solicitation of a critical approach through "free reading" as an educational moment other than "scholastic reading";
- reflection on the "Grammars of Fantasy";
- reflection on the complexity and cross-media character of contemporary storytelling;
- understanding of the historicity and didactic use of the narrative sources of yesterday and today.

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures are conductes in presence.

Attending students will be divided into small groups to undertake research aimed at achieving the training objectives of the cours. Approximately the 10% of sources used in lectures will be in English.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course aims to understand and analyze how reading has been an important means of socialization and education in all historical periods. By comparing texts for children published during the 1900s, it is possible to extrapolate the educational models and their evolution, linking them to the broader context. The analysis and understanding of these educational models will take place starting from the archival documents of the school fund of the ALSP, the Ligurian Archive of Popular Writing.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

• A. Antoniazzi, F. Caffarena, a cura di, Il volo educante. Narrazioni alate per l'infanzia, Edizioni Rivista Aeronautica, 2021
• M. Lucenti, Storie altre. Il mondo arabo-musulmano e l'occidente nei manuali di Italia e Tunisia, Aracne, 2018
• M. Colin, I bambini di Mussolini. Letteratura, libri, letture per l'infanzia sotto il fascismo, La Scuola, 2012

Non-attending students, in addition to the programme, will have to prepare for the exam the volume "Ripensare gli anni ottanta e novanta. Infanzie e adolescenze in divenire", edited by M. Lucenti, Genova University Press, 2021

On request it is possible to take the exam in English (with English books)

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

MARIA LUCENTI (President)

ANNA ANTONIAZZI

LESSONS

LESSONS START

March 20th, 2023

Class schedule

PEDAGOGY OF READING AND TERRITORIAL WORKSHOP ACTIVITIES

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The exam is oral and includes a critical and participatory discussion on topics and themes indicated in the program. For students who will attend the course a final test is opportunely identified.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Assessment of the knowledge acquired through the study of scheduled present texts and materials available on aulaweb

• understanding of the topics;
• analytical skills;
• language skills;
• use of specific terminology;
• critical and interpretive skills.   

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

There are two online meetings (on the Microsoft Teams platform) for non-attending students. These meetings have the purpose of clarifying doubts and answering questions about teaching and/or specific aspects such as assessment, exam and syllabus. Non-attending students can participate in these meetings during the following dates:

- 30 March 2023 at 7.00 pm

- 14 April 2023 at 9.00 am

To participate, please send an email to Prof. Lucenti (maria.lucenti@edu.unige.it)