Rome: Fact or Fiction

This subject is not offered in 2008.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject, to be taught mostly in Italian on site in Rome will use an interdisciplinary approach to explore through the media of literature, cinema and urbanism, the inexhaustible and all-pervasive myth of Rome which continues to inform the Western tradition of culture, politics and identity. The city's history and topography will be taken to be a repository of ideas, images, desires, fears, narratives and fantasies that inform both the past and the present. The city is studied, not as an autonomous organic growth, but as an artifact and a place of spectacle, a combination of myth and reality, fact and fiction. The course will consist of thematic modules which explore the historical phases of the creation of the image of Rome and their representation in literature and cinema with particular emphasis on Rome's difficult transition to the modern era. On-site visits to monuments, museums, and districts of Rome will develop an understanding of how 'civilisation' is constructed through visual and literary representation, space and memory.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• show critical thinking and analysis through required and recommended reading, essay writing and tutorial discussion, and by assessing the strength of an argument;

• show an understanding of social, political, historical and cultural contexts and international awareness through the contextualisation of judgements and knowledge;

• develop a critical self awareness and acceptance of new ideas and new aspects of Italian culture by formulating arguments;

• demonstrate research skills through competent use of the library and other information sources;

• demonstrate an ability to formulate and express complex ideas in Italian.