Culture as a Collective Achievement: Explorations in Italy and UAE

Catalog description

Individual celebrities are the public face of contemporary culture industries. But in reality, cultural creation is a collective achievement involving a wide range of people and organizations working under increasingly precarious conditions transformed by rapid technological and economic changes. If we care about and want to support cultural excellence, we need to better understand how culture is actually made. Italy and the UAE serve as our case studies. Both nations are integrated into global markets but construct unique hubs of cultural creativity as part of their 'nation-branding'. A regional seminar in Italy will focus on the making of culture in Rome, Bologna, and Milan, with Abu Dhabi as a reference point. This course will go behind the scenes to meet the people who make, curate, and circulate contemporary art, fashion influencing, photography, movies and TV dramas, and digital news. Who are these people and what motivates and shapes their best work? We will be especially attentive to dynamics of power, popularity, prestige, and purpose, as these are situated historically and in relation to both the local and the global. Students will write short papers analyzing site visits that demonstrate their ability to conduct research, ask probing questions, and draw comparisons to identify and explain salient differences in ways of making culture. This course includes a regional academic seminar to Italy. This course will be offered in June-Term 2025.