Fall 2022
Course listings are subject to change. Please check back regularly for updates and email global.academics@nyu.edu if you have any questions.
- For Abu Dhabi students, please see the Abu Dhabi course equivalencies on this page. Please note this is only applicable to NYU Abu Dhabi degree students.
- For Shanghai students, please see the Shanghai course equivalencies on this page. Please note this is only applicable to NYU Shanghai degree students.
Courses by Department
Navigate to a Specific Department
- Italian Language
- Afriacana Studies
- Anthropology
- Art and Art Professions
- Art History
- Business
- Cinema Studies
- College Core Curriculum
- Comparative Literature
- Economics
- European and Mediterranean Studies
- Experiential Learning for Credit
- Gallatin
- Gender and Sexuality Studies
- Global Liberal Studies
- History
- Italian Studies
- Law and Society
- Liberal Studies
- Media, Culture, and Communication
- Medieval and Renaissance Studies
- Metropolitan Studies
- Music and Performing Arts
- Nutrition and Food Studies
- Photography
- Politics
- Religious Studies
- Social and Cultural Analysis
- Sociology
- Gallatin Fashion Program
- LS First-Year Courses
- Online Courses
Note Concerning Language Requirement
All students are required to take an Italian language course for graded credit. (This course cannot be taken Pass/Fail).
Are you an advanced Italian language student? Interested in taking a content course in Italian? Contact florence.academicsupport@nyu.edu and we can discuss your options.
Extensive Elementary Italian I - ITAL-UA 9001 - 4 points
Students will gain understanding of basic messages in simple oral and written material containing standard phrases (questions, high-frequency commands, and courtesy formulae) and some sentence-length expressions, supported by proper context and presented in a clear and plain language. They will be able to acquire key information in the listening and reading of brief, simple, authentic material (i.e. directions, maps, timetable and advertisements), and have a fair understanding of messages of short standard Italian conversations in a limited number of content areas, presented in a clearly audible (and occasionally slowed) speech. Their understanding will include present events and very simple events in the past, presented clearly and in the context of familiar topics.
Students will be able to engage in basic conversation relying mainly on ready-made expressions and on short phrases and to respond to open-ended questions as well as to initiate communication on familiar topics, even without being able to continue the conversation in an autonomous way. Stronger emphasis will be given on communicative situations involving first and second person; writing activities will include simple autobiographical information, brief messages, simple forms and lists, where pertinent vocabulary and structure are provided.
Extensive Elementary Italian II - ITAL-UA 9002 - 4 points
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Extensive Elem I
Students will gain understanding of oral and written communication on a variety of topics, ranging from personal routine, taste and hobbies to include family, fashion and food. They will be able to acquire key information from listening and reading brief, simple, authentic material, and have a fair understanding of the meaning of standard Italian conversations on a variety of familiar topics, including present and past events, presented in a clearly audible speech.
Students will be able to engage in conversations on a variety of real-life situations regarding familiar subjects, to respond to open-ended questions and to initiate communication on these topics, despite not having the skills to continue the conversation in an autonomous way. They will be able to give and follow directions, instructions and commands. Stronger emphasis will be on communicative situations involving first and second person, while skills in mono-directional oral presentation will begin to emerge. Writing activities will include narration of present and past events, personal experiences, school and work situations, as well as brief messages to family and friends.
Intensive Elementary Italian - ITAL-UA 9010 - 6 points
This daily course immerses students in the Italian language. The basic structures and vocabulary of the Italian language are presented. Students are also provided with systematic practice of oral Italian through dialogues, pattern drills, and exercises. Special emphasis is given to correct pronunciation, sound placement, and intonation. Conducted in Italian.
Extensive Intermediate Italian I - ITAL-UA 9011 - 4 points
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Extensive Elem I & II or Intensive Elementary Italian
Students will gain understanding of oral and written communication on various topics, ranging from basic routine tasks to travel, shopping, cultural customs and events in the past, present and future. They will appreciate the increasingly elaborate expression of personal wishes, feelings and hopes. Students will recognize key information in the reading and listening of authentic material, provided it is clearly presented and structured, and will begin to understand advanced texts featuring narration and description of events.
Students will be able to handle a large range of conversation tasks and standard
social situations. They will be able to interact beyond their mere immediate needs, discussing in some depth topics such as leisure activities, professional goals and personal taste; skills in oral presentation will begin to solidify, as students will sustain a general conversation and be understood. Narrative skills are limited but begin to emerge. Students will be able to write short letter
Extensive Intermediate Italian II - ITAL-UA 9012 - 4 points
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Extensive Interm I
Students will gain understanding of oral and written material on various topics, ranging from general routine and leisure time activities, to more complex topics such as politics, environmental issues, and work environment. Students will be able to read and appreciate pertinent authentic texts with a clear structure, and will also be able to some extent to infer and extract from the material information which at first is only implicit. The understanding of material focusing on the expression of personal thoughts and feelings will progress to include increasingly sophisticated nuances.
Students will be able to handle most uncomplicated conversation tasks and standard social situations. Students will be able to: debate and argue for opposite viewpoints on a range of topics and make comparisons and hypotheses. Presentation skills will solidify; skills in narrating in paragraphs will emerge and develop in a creative direction. Students will be able to write letters and short stories and demonstrate limited command of sentence syntax.
Intensive Intermediate Italian - ITAL-UA 9020 - 6 points
Prerequisites: ITAL-UA 1 & ITAL-UA 2, Elementary Italian I & II; or ITAL-UA 10, Intensive Elementary Italian
This course offers students who are at the intermediate level a daily immersion class. The acquisition and practice of more sophisticated structures of Italian are undertaken. Fundamental oral and written skills are developed, and vocabulary enrichment and conversational ability are emphasized. Conducted in Italian.
Advanced Review of Modern Italian - ITAL-UA 9030 - 4 points
Prerequisites: ITAL-UA 11, ITAL-UA 12, Intermediate Italian I & II; or ITAL-UA 20, Intensive Intermediate Italian
The course is an intensive review of Italian grammar. Classes are three times a week. The aim of the course is to develop the knowledge of morphosyntactic structures of the Italian language, and to also reinforce intercultural competence. Class work consists of both written and spoken activities, conversations, and papers and readings related to a wide range of different genres (newspaper articles, magazines, extracts from contemporary Italian literature). All of the activities are primarily aimed to promote the usage of Italian language in real situations. Conducted in Italian.
Advanced Review of Modern Italian - ITAL-UA 9030 - Sample Syllabus
Conversations in Italian - ITAL-UA 9101 - 4 points
Prerequisites: ITAL-UA 30, Advanced Review of Modern Italian.
Conversations in Italian may be taken in conjunction with Italian Language through Cinema or Creative Writing.
Students entering the course should have mastered the fundamental structure of Italian. The course is designed to help students gain confidence and increase their effectiveness in speaking present-day Italian. Through discussions, oral reports, and readings, students develop vocabulary in a variety of topics, improve pronunciation, and learn an extensive range of idiomatic expressions. Conducted in Italian.
Italian Language Through Cinema - ITAL-UA 9107 - 4 points
Prerequisites: ITAL-UA 30, Advanced Review of Modern Italian.
Italian Language through Cinema may be taken in conjunction with Conversations in Italian.
Students will view and discuss Italian films to enrich their knowledge of language and culture, including: classic films; contemporary films, which we will compare with the classics; films in current release and available in the theaters of Florence. Through creative activities, students will work to improve their writing, reading and vocabulary, as well as their skills of observation, comprehension and interpretation. Students will discuss the themes presented by the various films and their place within both Italian history and the history of Italian cinema. Students will address the different elements that make up the text of each film: direction, screenplay, sound score, cinematography and editing.
Academic Discourse in Italian - ITAL-UA 9500 - 2 points
Prerequisite: ITAL-UA 9030 Advanced Review in Modern Italian.
This course is an advanced Italian language course and students should have successfully completed ITAL-UA 9030: Advanced Review in Modern Italian in order to enroll in this course. Requires permission for registration.
Aims to improve students’ ability to listen, speak, read, and write in Italian. Supports student academic literacy by developing skills in exposition, analysis, clarification, and conclusion. Intended to be taken in conjunction with a “Learning Contract” related to a content course offered at NYU Florence, whereby classes are taught in English, but the student engages in supplementary reading in Italian and writes the final paper in Italian.
Topics in Africana Studies: Di colore: Race, Difference & Resistance in Italy - SCA-UA 9180 or IDSEM-UG 9207 - 4 points
The course aims at introducing students into contemporary academic debates on race and racism in Italy. Issues of race, ethnicity and belonging will be explored through a sociological approach and intersectional lens. Gender and class, as well as other particular – systemic and not – oppressions, will be taken into account in order to define how they interlock with each other in modern day Italy. The course will offer a historical introduction of race and racism in Italy. In doing so importance will be given to the inward/outward double colonial drive, challenging the idea of a racially and culturally homogeneous Italy. As we move into contemporaneity, bibliographical references will be integrated with different cultural productions such as documentaries and movies, song lyrics and video, poetry, etc.. The materials will constitute a peculiar archive on race and racialization in the country. The pars destruens, where specific Italian racial regimes will be uncovered, will be balanced by a pars construens, where we will focus on how racialized subjects negotiate, challenge, and defy the racial symbolic and material order.
Di colore: race, difference & resistance in Italy - Sample Syllabus - Coming Soon!
Modern Italy - EURO-UA 9163 or HIST-UA 9168 or ITAL-UA 9868 or ANTH-UA 9063 - 4 points
This course introduces contemporary Italy in all its complexity and fascination. Reviewing politics, economics, society, and culture over the past two centuries, the course has a primary goal -- to consider how developments since the 1800s have influenced the lives and formed the outlook of today's Italians. In other words, we are engaged in the historical search for something quite elusive: Italian “identity”. Topics will include the unification of the country, national identity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the First World War, and Italian fascism, World War Two and the resistance, the post-war Italian Republic, the economic "miracle", the South, the Mafia, terrorism, popular culture, and the most recent political and social developments, including Italy and the European Union. Lectures combine with readings and films (taking advantage of Italy’s magnificent post-war cinema).
Topics in Law and Society: International Human Rights - LWSOC-UA 9251 or ANTH-UA 9071 or or POL-UA 9751 - 4 points
We are constantly reminded by current events that the assumption about Man being endowed with the unalienable rights to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” is far from self-evident for a large number of people. Humans still experience refugee crises, forced migration, war crimes, genocide, indiscriminate prison regimes, forms of contemporary slavery, torture, censorship, violation of privacy and free speech, discrimination based on individual attributes such as education, income, gender, race and disabilities in spite of two hundred and fifty years of Universal Rights discourse. Yet would we be able to identify these plights of Man in the absence of universal human rights principles? And to what extent the universalistic scope of these rights is the result of a common ground among different cultures or is a beacon of domination? This course focuses on Human Rights in principle and the current international Human Rights regime that is being criticised for its apparent ineffectiveness in handling humanitarian crisis.
The course aims to familiarize the students with the mechanisms by which Human Rights emerge, are advocated, implemented, enforced, and criticised highlighting open questions as to the future of the current international Human Rights regime. The underlying ambition of the course is to provide the students with a critical framework to address Human Rights from the perspective of the Social Sciences rather than the dominant legalist frame on this topic.
Topics in Law and Society: International Human Rights - Sample Syllabus
The Politics of Organized Crime: Italian Mafias in a Comparative Perspective - SOC-UA 9506 or ANTH-UA 9077 - 4 points
This course will introduce students to the study of criminal organizations in Italy and abroad. Analysis of real-world data over the last decades, such as court proceedings and crime statistics, dismisses many of the accepted myths about Italian mafias. We will explore the organization of mafia groups, rules and codes, activities both in legitimate business and illegal markets, and their relationship to politics. This comparative approach will help students identify those factors facilitating the emergence, migration and persistence of organized crime across countries. The course will include a review of the legislative efforts and best-practices designed to prevent and control organized crime in Italy and in the United States.
The Politics of Organized Crime: Italian Mafias in a Comparative Perspective - Sample Syllabus
Culture of the City: Italian Urban Life - ANTH-UA 9088 or ITAL-UA 9403 or SCA-UA 9620 - 4 points
NOTE: Students should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.
This course explores urban experience in Italy from two distinct perspectives, the historical and the theoretical.
We will start with a historical overview of the evolution of the urban environment in Italy. This overview will extends from ancient and roman times to the (re-)birth of towns by the year 1000, when various towns identified themselves around their piazzas, churches, streets, and within their walls, to the evolution of Italian towns in modern times, the changes in size and organization, the emergence of new spaces and new functions, and the emergence of new institutions such as Cafes, Museums, Train Station. The focus of these first lectures will be on the city of Florence.
The second dimension of the course, which will be articulated at two levels, will reflect upon the way in which we conceptualize, represent and construct discourses about cities in modern times. Firstly, we will make an exploration of some texts, concepts that have contributed to shaping our way to understand modern cities. We will also explore the various possible positioning of the self towards the city, the “seer”, the “Flaneur” the Stroller”, and we will investigate how the bodies of these subjects is then constituted. Secondly, we’ll go through some discourses and representations of the city: maps, views, panoramas points, travel literature, tourist guides and narrative literature (e.g. detective novel) will provide with quite different ways to tell of (and relate to) the experience of the Italian and specifically Florentine urban environment."
Drawing I for Non-Majors - ART-UE 9101 - 2 points
NOTE: Students should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.
Intro to Drawing I is a process-oriented studio art class that takes place in and around Villa La Pietra. Perception and gaze are the fundamentals for the production and reception of drawings. Students will learn to differentiate between ‘customary perception’ (what one thinks he sees) and ‘aesthetic perception’ (what one actually sees).
Students will develop basic drawing skills including the use of line, proportion, contrast and perspective while exploring mark-making with different drawing mediums such as pencil, charcoal and ink. Along with the production of drawings, students will discuss their own work as well as the artworks of fellow students. Readings, slide shows and museum visits support the studio practice and enhance critical reception. Groundwork for the development of an individual drawing style will be set. Regular drawing exercises and attendance are crucial to succeeding in the class.
Note: Extra Commute Time Required
Art History courses meet in the center of Florence; students should allow for 30 minutes commute time between Art History classes and their prior/subsequent classes.
Renaissance Art - ARTH-UA 9005 - 4 points
NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.
NYU Students who have already taken ARTH-UA 2 will not receive major credit for ARTH-UA 5 [Renaissance Art survey] or ARTH-UA 6 [Modern Art survey].
This course is an introduction to Renaissance Art by exploring in depth the historical, political and cultural evolution of Italy and Europe between the 14th and the 15th centuries. This overview will be not confined to works of art but will include social and patronage issues - i.e. the role of the guilds, the differences in private, civic and church patronage - that affected the style, form and content of the Italian rich artistic output, which reached a peak often nostalgically referred to by later generations as the “golden age”. Themes such as patronage, humanism, interpretations of antiquity, and Italian civic ideals form a framework for understanding the works of art beyond style, iconography, technique and preservation. The course analyzes the historical and social background of the beginning of the Renaissance during the 14th century and the impact of patronage on art. It then focuses on the early 15th century art in Italy and Europe and deals with the Medici Family’s age. Lastly it analyzes the ‘golden Age’ of the Renaissance, specifically focusing on Verrocchio, Botticelli, Perugino and Ghirlandaio. By the end of this course, students gain a thorough knowledge of the Italian and European Renaissance Age, developing practical perception and a confident grasp of the material, understanding the relationship between both historical and artistic events and valuing the importance of patronage. As the Renaissance works are often still in their original physical settings, during field-studies to museums and churches in Florence students will have a unique opportunity to experience the works as their original viewers did and as their creators intended.
Early Masters of Italian Renaissance Painting - ARTH-UA 9306 - 4 points
Prerequisite: ARTH-UA 2, History of Western Art II, ARTH-UA 5, Renaissance and Baroque Art, or equivalent introductory art history course or a score of 5 on the AP Art History exam.
This course is conceived as a series of selected studies on early Renaissance painting, offering in depth analysis of the historical, political and cultural evolution of Italy and Europe between the 14th and the 15th centuries. This overview will be not confined to works of painting but will include social and patronage issues - i.e. the role of the guilds, the differences in private, civic and church patronage - that affected the style, form and content of the Italian rich artistic output, which reached a peak often nostalgically referred to by later generations as the “dawn of the Golden Age”. Themes such as patronage, humanism, interpretations of antiquity, and Italian civic ideals form a framework for understanding the works of art beyond style, iconography, technique and preservation. Special attention will be given to the phenomenon of collecting as an active force shaping the development of artistic forms and genres. By the end of this course, students gain a thorough knowledge of the Italian and European early Renaissance age, developing practical perception and a confident grasp of the material, understanding the relationship between both historical and artistic events and valuing the importance of patronage. As the early Renaissance works are often still in their original physical settings, during field-studies to museums and churches in Florence, Venice and Milan students will have a unique opportunity to experience the works as their original viewers did and as their creators intended.
Florentine Villas: An Interpretation Based on Historical and Social Factors - ARTH-UA 9308 or ITAL-UA 9404 - 4 points
This course examines the Florentine villa, attempting to define this specific architectural typology and identify the unique contributions to its history made in and around Florence, primarily in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Emerging from the Middle Ages, the villas of the Florentine area are among the most powerful embodiments of the “rebirth” of classical antiquity that defines the spirit of the Renaissance. The villa is here defined in accordance with its meaning both in antiquity and throughout the early modern period as a domestic structure integrated with its surrounding agricultural estate. Phenomena to be explored include: the evolution of the forms of the patronal residence, from the early Renaissance castle-villas to the classicizing villas of the later fifteenth- and early sixteenth-centuries; the emergence of the formal garden and the identification of some of its most characteristic elements; the rapport between the villa and its urban cousin, the palace. Special emphasis is given to the villas and gardens of the Medici and to the study of Villa La Pietra itself.
Florentine Villas: An Interpretation Based on Historical and Social Factors - Sample Syllabus
Stern Registration Priority and Stern Course Limit
Registration priority for Stern (Business) courses will be given to NYU Stern students. Other students will be able to register as space remains available. Please pay close attention to course notes displayed in Albert.
NYU Stern Students: It is strongly suggested that Stern students take no more than two business courses while abroad.
Principles of Financial Accounting - ACCT-UB 9001 - 4 points
Prerequisite: Must be a second semester First-Year student or have sophomore or above standing to enroll. If you are a second semester First-Year student, email global.academics@nyu.edu for a permission number.
An introduction to the area of financial accounting. Encompasses accounting concepts from the point of view of the corporate investor and business management. Accounting procedures are discussed to facilitate the comprehension of the recording, summarizing, and reporting of business transactions. The basic principles of asset valuation and revenue and cost recognition are presented. Various asset, liability, and capital accounts are studied in detail with emphasis on an analytical and interpretive approach. The area of financial accounting is further analyzed through a discussion of the concepts and underlying financial statement analysis and the exposition of funds flow. Conducted in English.
Principles of Financial Accounting - ACCT-UB 9001 - Sample Syllabus
Introduction to Marketing - MKTG-UB 9001 - 4 points
Prerequisite: Requires sophomore and above standing
This course evaluates marketing as a system for the satisfaction of human wants and a catalyst of business activity. It presents a comprehensive framework that includes a) researching and analyzing customers, company, competition, and the marketing environment, b) identifying and targeting attractive segments with strategic positioning, and c) making product, pricing, communication, and distribution decisions. Cases and examples are utilized to develop problem-solving abilities.
Operations Management - OPMG-UB 9001 - 4 points
Prerequisites: STAT-UB 103 Statistics for Business Control and Regression/Forecasting Analysis (or BOTH STAT-UB 1 and STAT-UB 3) OR equivalent AND 4) sophomore and above standing
Designed to give students a better understanding of how firms can gain competitive advantage from their operations function. Typically this requires the firm to achieve, at a minimum, cost, quality and ecological parity; responsiveness and adaptability to customer needs and desires; rapid time to market; process technology leadership; and sufficient and responsive capacity. A problem-solving framework is developed that enables students to undertake managerial and technical analysis that should result in the desired competitive advantage. Both service and manufacturing case examples are utilized.
Management and Organizations - MGMT -UB 9001 - 4 points
Prerequisite: Requires sophomore and above standing
Investigates the nature, functions, and responsibilities of the management of organizations. Develops an analytical approach to the identification, structuring, analysis, and solution of organizational problems. Introduces the student to organizational policies and structures, functional areas, and production processes (including resource allocation, measurement and evaluation, and control), leadership style, and organizational adaptation and evolution. Teaching methodologies include lectures, case analysis, and class discussion.
Social Media Strategy - MKTG-UB 9045 - 2 points
Prerequisite: Requires sophomore and above standing
This course will introduce students to social media marketing. Through case studies, interactive sessions, and class exercises, students will learn best practices and develop the skills to connect business objectives with social media strategy, platforms and tactics. We will study how to develop a strategy for a product or service in social media, how to execute that strategy and how to assess the results. Topics will include choosing appropriate platforms, creating effective and engaging social media content, content management, social listening and creating a social media plan. The course also has a practical component, for which students work in small groups and individually.
Organizational Communication and its Social Context - SOIM-UB 9065 - 4 points
This course is only open to Stern students.
Prerequisite: Requires sophomore and above standing
In this course, students learn how to increase their communication effectiveness for business and professional goals. During the semester, students focus on the strategic implications of communication for modern organizations. A variety of assignments are given to stress the following communication competencies: written, spoken and nonverbal communication basics for business; effective team communication strategies; informative, persuasive and collaborative presentations; communication techniques for required junior and senior year projects. Students regularly receive personal feedback about their writing and their oral presentations from instructors and staff.
Organizational Communication and its Social Context - Sample Syllabus
History of Italian Cinema (Lecture and Screening) - ICINE-UT 1103 - 4 points
Co-requisite: Enrollment in a screening time.
The Italian Cinema is a good way to study the whole Italian history, society, ideology and behaviours. The students will have the opportunity to know such authors as Rossellini, De Sica, Fellini, Antonioni, Visconti, Pasolini, Bertolucci, who are well known in the US.
The course will also focus on the difference between auteur films and genre films (comedy, roman-mythological, western, melodrama); it will stress the gender point of view, the problem of a national identity, the role of the film industry. Strong attention will be paid to the relationship between Italian film and literature, art history, television and other disciplines. Conducted in English.
History of Italian Cinema (Lecture and Screening) - Sample Syllabus
Registration Priority for CORE and CORE Equivalencies
Registration priority for CORE courses will be given to NYU CAS students. Other students will be able to register as space remains available. Please pay close attention to course notes displayed in Albert.
Students outside of CAS can find a list of pre-approved CORE equivalents below. Please note this list only includes Cultures & Contexts, Expressive Culture, and Text & Ideas, and may not be exhaustive. Consult your advisor for additional information on staying on track with your CORE requirements while studying away.
Cultures & Contexts Equivalents (approved by Steinhardt and SPS)
- ARTH-UA9150/CLASS-UA9295/ITAL-UA9406 Special Topics Ancient Art:The Etruscans
- HIST-UA9538 Topics: The Italian South
Cultures & Contexts Equivalents (approved by Stern)
- ITAL-UA9868/EURO-UA9163/HIST-UA9168 Modern Italy
Expressive Culture Equivalents (approved by Steinhardt and SPS)
- ARTH-UA9005 Renaissance Art
- ARTH-UA9306 Early Masters of Italian Renaissance Painting
- COLIT-UA9190/SASEM-UG9202 Topics: 20th Century Lit: The Two World Wars in Lit
- IDSEM-UG9200 History of Italian Fashion
- ITAL-UA9107 Italian Through Cinema
- PRACT-UG9200 Global Fashion Industry: Italy
Text and Ideas Equivalents (Approved by Steinhardt and SPS)
- HIST-UA9123/MEDI-UA9123 Italy During The Renaissance: Florence
- ITAL-UA9868/EURO-UA9163/HIST-UA9168 Modern Italy
Texts and Ideas: Children and Childhood - CORE-UA 9400 - 4 points
How are children and childhood viewed in different texts from different cultures and centuries? To whom do children really belong—the parents, the state, the world? Whose responsibility is it to educate, feed, and care for children? Is a child a “blank slate” or a prepackaged set of emotions, intellectual abilities, and behaviors? Emphasizing historical, medical, and cultural perspectives on childhood, we explore common themes and cultural variations, as reflected in literary texts and artistic representations in America, Europe, and China: Confucian analects, Song dynasty poetry, Ming ceramics, Italian European Renaissance painting, Persian and Mughal miniatures, Montaigne’s essays, John Locke’s philosophy, Rousseau’s educational ideals, English Romantic poetry, German Romantic Lieder, Freud on the dynamics of childhood, parenting advice texts from classical Chinese pediatrics to Dr. Spock, and children’s literature texts from Puritan tracts to Dr. Seuss. We consider the history, medicine, and sociology of childhood, including issues of infant and child mortality, education and pedagogy, child labor, children in cities, children and war, and the changing historical nature of the family in China, America, the Middle East, and Europe with a particular focus on Italy, with field trips to local Italian schools, progressive education centers, and the Ospedale degli Innocenti (one of Europe’s first foundling homes).
Cultures and Contexts: Italy - CORE-UA 9554 - 4 points
The course explores various historical periods that are essential for understanding current debates about Italian national identity. Starting with the emergence of Florence as an independent commune in the Middle Ages, the course explores various “revivals” of antiquity, to identify the distinct ways in which ancient culture was made to serve social and political ends. Special attention is given to the exploitation of antiquity during the Risorgimento and the Unification of Italy and subsequently during the Fascist period, especially in relation to the transformation of Rome into the nation’s capital during the Risorgimento and subsequently by the Fascists.
Expressive Culture: Opera in Florence - CORE-UA 9732 - 4 points
For more than four centuries, opera has made us cry and laugh, and it still speaks to us today about ourselves and our lives. It does so by telling us stories of love and death, of power and despair, through a unique way of combining words, music and stage action, and ever new styles of performance. This course is designed to develop an understanding of the details of such combination and the way they cooperate in making an opera work in general and for us today. It does not develop chronologically, but through exposure to a selection of major works by Monteverdi, Mozart, Verdi, and Puccini. The presentations will be organised around individual operas, exploring their historical background, text and music, performing issues, reception history, and adaptation to other media (not necessarily in this sequence). Each opera will also be taken as a vantage point to explore one main thematic issue, while broader issues – such as genre, the development of formal conventions of librettos and music, Italian opera and its terminology, modes of production, cultural expression, social factors that give rise to certain narratives, how opera fits into the larger history of ideas in Western culture – will build up over the course.
Topics in 19th Century Literature: Italy and Italians in English Literature from the Romantics to Modernism - COLIT-UA 9180 or SASEM-UG 9201 - 4 points
Romantic, Victorian, and Modernist writers in both Britain and the United States were fascinated by Italy. The "Italy and Italians" of the title refers not only to images and characters in the works of the British and American authors we will be reading but also to their affinities with Italian literature. Recurring themes in the course will be history and its uses in literature, gender and sexuality, democracy and aristocracy, language and power, and religion as an instrument of sexual repression.
Introduction to Macroeconomics - ECON-UA 9001 - 4 points
This course is not open to NYU Stern students.
Prerequisites: Pre-calculus or equivalent level of mathematical training
This introductory course provides students with a basic understanding of fundamental (macro)economic theories. The course is concerned with the definition and the theory of determination of national income, employment, business fluctuations, and price level. It also introduces students to the functions
of money in a fractional-reserve banking system. The concepts of economic "circular flow”, national income accounting, unemployment, inflation, government taxation and spending and money will be defined, explained and discussed. Finally instruments, functioning and effectiveness of both monetary and fiscal policy aimed to stabilize prices and maintain high levels of output and employment are discussed in the current macroeconomic context of major world economies.
Introduction to Microeconomics - ECON-UA 9002 - 4 points
This course is not open to NYU Stern students.
Prerequisites: Pre-calculus or equivalent level of mathematical training
This course provides a survey of microeconomic issues at introductory level. We will make use of theories and empirical examples to understand key aspects of the significant changes that take place in the world economies. We will explore a wide range of economic phenomena including poverty and income distribution, firms' market power and costs structure, firms' investments and business strategies, the role of antitrust law and regulation. Every piece of theory is related to applications so as to offer a continuing sense of the relevance of theory to reality. Conducted in English.
Economics of European Integration - ECON-UA 9219 or POL-UA 9524 - 4 points
Prerequisites: ECON-UA 1 Economic Principles or ECON-UA 5 Intro to Economic Analysis or equivalents
The financial crisis that hit the global economy since the summer of 2008 is without precedent in post-war economic history. Although its size and extent are exceptional. the crisis has many features in common with similar financial-stress driven recession episodes in the past. However, this time there’s something different, with the crisis being global akin to the events that triggered the Great Depression of the 1930s. This crisis spread quickly and rapidly moved from the US to European countries that show the weakest economic indicators (PIIGS: Portugal, Ireland and Italy, Greece and Spain). This course will focus on the long run causes, consequences and EU responses to the crisis, conditionally on the characteristics of the countries involved. We will focus on the long process of European Integration and discuss whether it may represent a possible solution to the recent crisis. We shall also examine the discussion on the EU- US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and EU development policies since EU is the main donor worldwide.
Money and Banking - ECON-UA 9231 - 4 points
This course is not open to NYU Stern students.
Prerequisites: Introduction to Macroeconomics (ECON-UA 1) and Introduction to Microeconomics (ECON-UA 2), or Introduction to Economic Analysis (ECON-UA 5) or equivalents.
This course offer a perspective on the workings of the monetary and financial system within a country and at an international level. The role of money and the tools to conduct monetary policy will be analyzed in detail. The concept of the value of money now and in the future will help us understand the role of interest rates and of risk; various way to store wealth will take us into the structure of financial markets where financial instruments are created and traded to meet diverse needs. Some basic concepts on the role played by commercial banks will introduce the function of the Central Bank and of monetary policy in the overall goal of ensuring financial stability to the system. Current issues, such as the role of the European Central Bank and the instability created by the subprime mortgage crisis, will be discussed.
International Economics - ECON-UA 9238 - 4 points
This course is not open to NYU Stern students except for students in the BPE Program.
Prerequisites: ECON-UA 1: Intro to Macroeconomics (or equivalent course or AP MACROECONOMICS WITH SCORE OF 4 OR 5) and ECON-UA 2: Intro to Microeconomics (or equivalent course or AP MICROECONOMICS WITH SCORE OF 4 OR 5)
The field of International Economics is traditionally divided into two parts. First,“International Trade,” the microeconomic part, attempts to answer questions arising from trade in goods and services. For example: how does trade arise among nations? Which nations will trade with each other, and which goods and services will they trade? How does trade impact different groups within a country, and how does government policy alter these impacts? Second, “International Finance,” the macroeconomic part, attempts to answer questions arising from global financial markets and their impact on macroeconomic activity. For example, how are currency exchange rates determined? How do changes in exchange rates affect economic aggregates, such as a country’s trade deficit? This course will cover both parts and give a broad picture of economic interdependences among nations.
Econometrics - ECON-SHU 9301 - 4 points
Prerequisite: Statistics (MATH 233 or MATH 150 or BUSF 101 or equivalent.)
The course examines a number of important areas of econometrics. The topics covered include regression analysis with cross-sectional data; classical linear regression model and extensions; model specification, estimation and inference; regression with qualitative variables; heteroskedasticity and GLS; serial correlation and heteroskedasticity in time series regression. In addition to covering the relevant theoretical issues, the course includes the application of these methods to economic data.
Modern Italy - EURO-UA 9163 or HIST-UA 9168 or ITAL-UA 9868 or ANTH-UA 9063 - 4 points
This course introduces contemporary Italy in all its complexity and fascination. Reviewing politics, economics, society, and culture over the past two centuries, the course has a primary goal -- to consider how developments since the 1800s have influenced the lives and formed the outlook of today's Italians. In other words, we are engaged in the historical search for something quite elusive: Italian “identity”. Topics will include the unification of the country, national identity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the First World War, and Italian fascism, World War Two and the resistance, the post-war Italian Republic, the economic "miracle", the South, the Mafia, terrorism, popular culture, and the most recent political and social developments, including Italy and the European Union. Lectures combine with readings and films (taking advantage of Italy’s magnificent post-war cinema).
Experiential Learning Seminar - NODEP-UA 9982 - 4 points
Enrollment by permission only. Application required. Course includes weekly seminar and minimum of 10-20 hours fieldwork per week at approved internship fieldsite. For more information on the application process and deadlines, please visit the NYU Florence Internship website.
This course is designed to prepare and support students undertaking an internship in Florence. This weekly seminar will introduce students to key concepts and debates in the field of experiential learning and professional development in Italy and Europe more broadly
The seminar portion of the course explores many different aspects of your internship site. The goal is to finish the semester with an in-depth understanding of the company or organization, including its approach, its policies, and the context in which it operates. We will also discuss more generally the state of the contemporary workplace and ourselves as workers. Finally, you will use the seminar to reflect critically and analytically on the internship experience and as a way to refine your own personal and professional goals.
Please note, students must have language proficiency of at least Intermediate Italian II to be eligible for this internship program.
Experiential Learning Seminar - Sample Syllabus Coming Soon
Topics in Africana Studies: Di colore: Race, Difference & Resistance in Italy - SCA-UA 9180 or IDSEM-UG 9207 - 4 points
The course aims at introducing students into contemporary academic debates on race and racism in Italy. Issues of race, ethnicity and belonging will be explored through a sociological approach and intersectional lens. Gender and class, as well as other particular – systemic and not – oppressions, will be taken into account in order to define how they interlock with each other in modern day Italy. The course will offer a historical introduction of race and racism in Italy. In doing so importance will be given to the inward/outward double colonial drive, challenging the idea of a racially and culturally homogeneous Italy. As we move into contemporaneity, bibliographical references will be integrated with different cultural productions such as documentaries and movies, song lyrics and video, poetry, etc.. The materials will constitute a peculiar archive on race and racialization in the country. The pars destruens, where specific Italian racial regimes will be uncovered, will be balanced by a pars construens, where we will focus on how racialized subjects negotiate, challenge, and defy the racial symbolic and material order.
Di colore: race, difference & resistance in Italy - Sample Syllabus - Coming Soon!
Topics in 19th Century Literature: Italy and Italians in English Literature from the Romantics to Modernism - COLIT-UA 9180 or SASEM-UG 9201 - 4 points
Romantic, Victorian, and Modernist writers in both Britain and the United States were fascinated by Italy. The "Italy and Italians" of the title refers not only to images and characters in the works of the British and American authors we will be reading but also to their affinities with Italian literature. Recurring themes in the course will be history and its uses in literature, gender and sexuality, democracy and aristocracy, language and power, and religion as an instrument of sexual repression.
Topics in Africana Studies: Di colore: Race, Difference & Resistance in Italy - SCA-UA 9180 or IDSEM-UG 9207 - 4 points
The course aims at introducing students into contemporary academic debates on race and racism in Italy. Issues of race, ethnicity and belonging will be explored through a sociological approach and intersectional lens. Gender and class, as well as other particular – systemic and not – oppressions, will be taken into account in order to define how they interlock with each other in modern day Italy. The course will offer a historical introduction of race and racism in Italy. In doing so importance will be given to the inward/outward double colonial drive, challenging the idea of a racially and culturally homogeneous Italy. As we move into contemporaneity, bibliographical references will be integrated with different cultural productions such as documentaries and movies, song lyrics and video, poetry, etc.. The materials will constitute a peculiar archive on race and racialization in the country. The pars destruens, where specific Italian racial regimes will be uncovered, will be balanced by a pars construens, where we will focus on how racialized subjects negotiate, challenge, and defy the racial symbolic and material order.
Di colore: race, difference & resistance in Italy - Sample Syllabus - Coming Soon!
City as Text - CAT- UF 9301 - 4 points
Open to Global Liberal Studies students only.
"City as Text” is a rigorous, 4-credit seminar designed to introduce students to the study away environment through an intensive academic program of cultural preparation and local immersion. Through scholarly and journalistic readings from interdisciplinary perspectives, students develop a nuanced understanding of the local, regional, national, and global forces that bring shape to the character of the city. Multiple class sessions take place in locations around the city, such as ports, markets, industrial centers, parks, pedestrian zones, and other points of interest, where students apply direct observation to examine critically formed questions of place, space and identity. Students draw on the city as a primary resource for academic research and critical inquiry and they produce innovative research projects (digital or print) that reflect on the city at the crossroads of local and global identity.
History of Immigration in Europe & United States from World War II to Present - HIST-UA 9186 - 4 points
This four-credit course explores the interplay between migration history and the environment. By adopting a theme-based approach, the course will tackle some of the most compelling issues pertaining to the various ways in which migrants transform nature and, conversely, are influenced by the environment. Identity and belonging, gender and race, healthy and disposable bodies, landscapes and cultures: all these themes, examined in their interplay with nation-states’ and supernational entities’ politics and policies regulating human mobility are at the center of migration processes. By adopting a transdisciplinary approach, such as the one offered by the environmental humanities, the course will offer an overview of the latest research on modern and contemporary Environmental History of Migration (EHM).
The positioning of Italy in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, as well as the central import of both emigration and immigration in the history of the Bel Paese — especially from its unification in the 1860s onwards — constitute a privileged standpoint from where to globally scrutinize the role of migration and its interplay with environmental change and socio-cultural transformation up until the present-day. Through the lenses of EHM, the course will touch upon settler and colonial environments, ruderal natures, urban political ecology, scientific and medical discourses pertaining to labor and political migrants, processes of racialization, and gender discrimination. Furthermore, the course will discuss the complex links between climate change, environmental depletion and migration processes and the role of globalization in agricultural and ecological crises, as well as policies and political discourses regulating cultural heritage and memory in the context of the Anthropocene.
Italy During the Renaissance - HIST-UA 9123 or MEDI-UA 9123 or SCA-UA 9867 - 4 points
This course presents an overview of the political, social, and cultural history of Italy from roughly 1300 to 1600. Its aim is to provide students with a basic understanding of the forces and processes that shaped the states and the societies of the Italian peninsula in an era of extraordinary changes: from the developments of urban civilization and the rise of humanism in the fourteenth and early fifteenth century, to the political and religious crisis of the late Quattrocento and early Cinquecento, and finally to the establishment of a new balance of power and a new cultural climate in the course of the sixteenth century. Conducted in English.
Medieval Church: A Religious History of Crisis and Creativity - HIST-UA 9117 or MEDI-UA 9017 or RELST-UA 9672 - 4 points
Wielding nearly unlimited authority over the lives - and the after-life – of millions of Europeans, the Catholic Church was by far the most important political, as well as cultural, power of the Middle Ages. The only global institution of this era, the Church was at the same time able to nourish strong local roots: its cardinals and popes came from all over the continent and dealt with international politics at the highest level, while priests and friars brought home to the people a faith tied to the neighborhood church and confraternity, and personified by a saint’s shrine and relics.Through a combination of lectures, students’ presentations, films and site visits, this course will explore selected aspects of the Medieval Church’s history: its often rocky relations with the other supreme power of the time, the Holy Roman Empire; the rise of monasticism and its different versions; the spread of heretical movements and their repression by the Inquisition; sainthood, and how “heavenly” women and men could serve to articulate very earthly ideologies on state, society, gender roles. Conducted in English.
Medieval Church: A Religious History of Crisis and Creativity - Sample Syllabus
Modern Italy - EURO-UA 9163 or HIST-UA 9168 or ITAL-UA 9868 or ANTH-UA 9063 - 4 points
This course introduces contemporary Italy in all its complexity and fascination. Reviewing politics, economics, society, and culture over the past two centuries, the course has a primary goal -- to consider how developments since the 1800s have influenced the lives and formed the outlook of today's Italians. In other words, we are engaged in the historical search for something quite elusive: Italian “identity”. Topics will include the unification of the country, national identity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the First World War, and Italian fascism, World War Two and the resistance, the post-war Italian Republic, the economic "miracle", the South, the Mafia, terrorism, popular culture, and the most recent political and social developments, including Italy and the European Union. Lectures combine with readings and films (taking advantage of Italy’s magnificent post-war cinema).
The Italian South - HIST-UA 9538 - 4 points
The course is a voyage through the fascinating and complex history and culture of the Italian South, from the first half of the Nineteenth Century to the present day. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach we will explore the rich patrimony of southern history, as well as the violence of a society with neither rules nor justice. In Italy and in Italian Studies, the 'Southern Question' evokes the powerful image of two profoundly different Italies. We will investigate the disparities between the North and the South, devoting special consideration to the origins, causes and the consequences of this divide as well as to the economic and political interests of the elite who ruled the country.
Advanced Italian Opportunities
Are you an advanced Italian language student? Interested in taking a content course in Italian? Contact florence.academicsupport@nyu.edu and we can discuss your options.
Topics in Italian Culture: Exploring the Landscape- ITAL-UA 9171 - 2 points
Dante wrote most of his Divine Comedy on foot. Banned from Florence by his political enemies, Dante sets on a journey that will touch different parts of the Italian peninsula. A similar destiny is shared by the protagonist of his poem, which follows the steps of a pilgrim constantly on the move. Strictly speaking, the protagonist journeys throughout an imaginary landscape made of the three realms of the afterlife. Dante however, feeds his readers’ imagination by making references to a real landscape—the descriptions of the Divine Comedy’s ghostly environment oftentimes summon up a medieval city, as well as the countryside outside the city walls.
By looking at the Divine Comedy from an ecocritical perspective, we will consider the Tuscan environment as one of the material components in Dante’s poem, and investigate how that environment is actively connected to the Divine Comedy poetic language and contents.
The relationship between imaginary places and geographic spaces determines the selection of cantos included in the course. When possible, the study of one of the cantos is combined with a visit to the corresponding site. In Florence, we will follow the Lapidary Dante itinerary, marked by a series of marble plates with quotes from the Divine Comedy identifying Dantesque locations throughout the city. Outside Florence, our visits will include the castle of Poppi, where Dante actually stayed as a guest of the Guidi counts, and the waterfalls of Acquacheta, as clamorous as the infernal river of Phlegethon. Throughout the semester, our primary objective will be to read a classic of literature while experiencing the geographical context that has produced it, and to investigate how that geographical context informed the text and its strategies.
Italian Politics - ITAL-UA 9512 or POL-UA 9512 - 4 points
Italian instruction will be offered for Italian Immersion students.
Presents a study of post-World War II Italian politics and society in comparative and historical perspective. Seeks explanations of Italian political development in specific historical factors such as the 19th century patterns of state formation and the experience of fascism. Comparative analysis seeks to show how the social structure, political culture, and party systems have shaped Italy's distinct development. Current and recurrent political issues include the problem of integrating the south into the national economy and state response to social movements, particularly terrorism. Conducted in English.
Florentine Villas: An Interpretation Based on Historical and Social Factors - ARTH-UA 9308 or ITAL-UA 9404 - 4 points
This course examines the Florentine villa, attempting to define this specific architectural typology and identify the unique contributions to its history made in and around Florence, primarily in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Emerging from the Middle Ages, the villas of the Florentine area are among the most powerful embodiments of the “rebirth” of classical antiquity that defines the spirit of the Renaissance. The villa is here defined in accordance with its meaning both in antiquity and throughout the early modern period as a domestic structure integrated with its surrounding agricultural estate. Phenomena to be explored include: the evolution of the forms of the patronal residence, from the early Renaissance castle-villas to the classicizing villas of the later fifteenth- and early sixteenth-centuries; the emergence of the formal garden and the identification of some of its most characteristic elements; the rapport between the villa and its urban cousin, the palace. Special emphasis is given to the villas and gardens of the Medici and to the study of Villa La Pietra itself.
Florentine Villas: An Interpretation Based on Historical and Social Factors - Sample Syllabus
Modern Italy - EURO-UA 9163 or HIST-UA 9168 or ITAL-UA 9868 or ANTH-UA 9063 - 4 points
This course introduces contemporary Italy in all its complexity and fascination. Reviewing politics, economics, society, and culture over the past two centuries, the course has a primary goal -- to consider how developments since the 1800s have influenced the lives and formed the outlook of today's Italians. In other words, we are engaged in the historical search for something quite elusive: Italian “identity”. Topics will include the unification of the country, national identity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the First World War, and Italian fascism, World War Two and the resistance, the post-war Italian Republic, the economic "miracle", the South, the Mafia, terrorism, popular culture, and the most recent political and social developments, including Italy and the European Union. Lectures combine with readings and films (taking advantage of Italy’s magnificent post-war cinema).
Culture of the City: Italian Urban Life - ANTH-UA 9088 or ITAL-UA 9403 or SCA-UA 9620 - 4 points
NOTE: Students should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.
This course explores urban experience in Italy from two distinct perspectives, the historical and the theoretical.
We will start with a historical overview of the evolution of the urban environment in Italy. This overview will extends from ancient and roman times to the (re-)birth of towns by the year 1000, when various towns identified themselves around their piazzas, churches, streets, and within their walls, to the evolution of Italian towns in modern times, the changes in size and organization, the emergence of new spaces and new functions, and the emergence of new institutions such as Cafes, Museums, Train Station. The focus of these first lectures will be on the city of Florence.
The second dimension of the course, which will be articulated at two levels, will reflect upon the way in which we conceptualize, represent and construct discourses about cities in modern times. Firstly, we will make an exploration of some texts, concepts that have contributed to shaping our way to understand modern cities. We will also explore the various possible positioning of the self towards the city, the “seer”, the “Flaneur” the Stroller”, and we will investigate how the bodies of these subjects is then constituted. Secondly, we’ll go through some discourses and representations of the city: maps, views, panoramas points, travel literature, tourist guides and narrative literature (e.g. detective novel) will provide with quite different ways to tell of (and relate to) the experience of the Italian and specifically Florentine urban environment."
Global Media Seminar: Media Activism and Democracy - MCC-UE 9452 or ITAL-UA 9513 - 4 points
This course presents an investigation on how civil society activism evolved in Italy and in Eastern and Western political regimes over the last 30 years, with a special emphasis on the use that civil society activists made of media outlets (i.e. television, radio, newspapers, and digital media). In the course, students will be introduced to the transformations introduced in current political regimes (both democratic and authoritarian) by media activism, and they will develop a closer understanding and a critical view of the Italian and international media-politics-civil society conundrums.
Global Media Seminar: Media Activism and Democracy - Sample Syllabus
Italian Opera - MUSIC-UA 9121 or ITAL-UA 9170 - 4 points
The course covers the evolution of Italian opera from its beginnings in Florence to the early 20th century with special emphasis on Monteverdi, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini. The approach is multidisciplinary and aims at a comprehensive survey of the music theatre in the context of the Italian cultural heritage. Literary sources, musico-dramatic features, vocal styles are studied in connection with major works that best represent trends and genres in the Italian operatic tradition. Students are expected to master the distinctive characteristics of such genres as favola in musica, intermezzo, opera seria, opera buffa, grand opera, dramma lirico, and the basic elements of Italian versification. Students listen to and watch recorded operas and attend performances in Florence or other Italian cities. Conducted in English
Syllabus forthcoming
Topics in Law and Society: International Human Rights - LWSOC-UA 9251 or ANTH-UA 9071 or or POL-UA 9751 - 4 points
We are constantly reminded by current events that the assumption about Man being endowed with the unalienable rights to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” is far from self-evident for a large number of people. Humans still experience refugee crises, forced migration, war crimes, genocide, indiscriminate prison regimes, forms of contemporary slavery, torture, censorship, violation of privacy and free speech, discrimination based on individual attributes such as education, income, gender, race and disabilities in spite of two hundred and fifty years of Universal Rights discourse. Yet would we be able to identify these plights of Man in the absence of universal human rights principles? And to what extent the universalistic scope of these rights is the result of a common ground among different cultures or is a beacon of domination? This course focuses on Human Rights in principle and the current international Human Rights regime that is being criticised for its apparent ineffectiveness in handling humanitarian crisis.
The course aims to familiarize the students with the mechanisms by which Human Rights emerge, are advocated, implemented, enforced, and criticised highlighting open questions as to the future of the current international Human Rights regime. The underlying ambition of the course is to provide the students with a critical framework to address Human Rights from the perspective of the Social Sciences rather than the dominant legalist frame on this topic.
Topics in Law and Society: International Human Rights - Sample Syllabus
Arts and Cultures of Modernity - ACM-UF 9201 - 4 points
This course focuses on the world’s great traditions in literature, music, and the visual and performing arts from the Enlightenment through Modernity. It familiarizes students with the impact of the colonial and post-colonial eras on global developments in culture. The course covers such literary works as; A Grain of Wheat, the poetry of Adrienne Rich, and;Crime and Punishment; films like;The Battle for Algiers; the art of Picasso and Hokusai; and musical works by Stravinsky and Ali Akbar Khan.
Global Works and Society: Modernity - GWM-UF 9201 - 4 points
This course focuses on the world’s great traditions in philosophy, theology, history, and political science from the Enlightenment through Modernity. It familiarizes students with the impact of the colonial and post-colonial eras on major world discourses about the nature of human identity and society through a comparative study of seminal texts. The course includes such works as: The Communist Manifesto,The Wretched of the Earth, and Orientalism.
Global Media Seminar: Media Activism and Democracy - MCC-UE 9452 or ITAL-UA 9513 - 4 points
This course presents an investigation on how civil society activism evolved in Italy and in Eastern and Western political regimes over the last 30 years, with a special emphasis on the use that civil society activists made of media outlets (i.e. television, radio, newspapers, and digital media). In the course, students will be introduced to the transformations introduced in current political regimes (both democratic and authoritarian) by media activism, and they will develop a closer understanding and a critical view of the Italian and international media-politics-civil society conundrums.
Global Media Seminar: Media Activism and Democracy - Sample Syllabus
Italy During the Renaissance - HIST-UA 9123 or MEDI-UA 9123 or SCA-UA 9867 - 4 points
This course presents an overview of the political, social, and cultural history of Italy from roughly 1300 to 1600. Its aim is to provide students with a basic understanding of the forces and processes that shaped the states and the societies of the Italian peninsula in an era of extraordinary changes: from the developments of urban civilization and the rise of humanism in the fourteenth and early fifteenth century, to the political and religious crisis of the late Quattrocento and early Cinquecento, and finally to the establishment of a new balance of power and a new cultural climate in the course of the sixteenth century. Conducted in English.
Medieval Church: A Religious History of Crisis and Creativity - HIST-UA 9117 or MEDI-UA 9017 or RELST-UA 9672 - 4 points
Wielding nearly unlimited authority over the lives - and the after-life – of millions of Europeans, the Catholic Church was by far the most important political, as well as cultural, power of the Middle Ages. The only global institution of this era, the Church was at the same time able to nourish strong local roots: its cardinals and popes came from all over the continent and dealt with international politics at the highest level, while priests and friars brought home to the people a faith tied to the neighborhood church and confraternity, and personified by a saint’s shrine and relics.Through a combination of lectures, students’ presentations, films and site visits, this course will explore selected aspects of the Medieval Church’s history: its often rocky relations with the other supreme power of the time, the Holy Roman Empire; the rise of monasticism and its different versions; the spread of heretical movements and their repression by the Inquisition; sainthood, and how “heavenly” women and men could serve to articulate very earthly ideologies on state, society, gender roles. Conducted in English.
Medieval Church: A Religious History of Crisis and Creativity - Sample Syllabus
Culture of the City: Italian Urban Life - ANTH-UA 9088 or ITAL-UA 9403 or SCA-UA 9620 - 4 points
NOTE: Students should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.
This course explores urban experience in Italy from two distinct perspectives, the historical and the theoretical.
We will start with a historical overview of the evolution of the urban environment in Italy. This overview will extends from ancient and roman times to the (re-)birth of towns by the year 1000, when various towns identified themselves around their piazzas, churches, streets, and within their walls, to the evolution of Italian towns in modern times, the changes in size and organization, the emergence of new spaces and new functions, and the emergence of new institutions such as Cafes, Museums, Train Station. The focus of these first lectures will be on the city of Florence.
The second dimension of the course, which will be articulated at two levels, will reflect upon the way in which we conceptualize, represent and construct discourses about cities in modern times. Firstly, we will make an exploration of some texts, concepts that have contributed to shaping our way to understand modern cities. We will also explore the various possible positioning of the self towards the city, the “seer”, the “Flaneur” the Stroller”, and we will investigate how the bodies of these subjects is then constituted. Secondly, we’ll go through some discourses and representations of the city: maps, views, panoramas points, travel literature, tourist guides and narrative literature (e.g. detective novel) will provide with quite different ways to tell of (and relate to) the experience of the Italian and specifically Florentine urban environment."
Italy During the Renaissance - HIST-UA 9123 or MEDI-UA 9123 or SCA-UA 9867 - 4 points
This course presents an overview of the political, social, and cultural history of Italy from roughly 1300 to 1600. Its aim is to provide students with a basic understanding of the forces and processes that shaped the states and the societies of the Italian peninsula in an era of extraordinary changes: from the developments of urban civilization and the rise of humanism in the fourteenth and early fifteenth century, to the political and religious crisis of the late Quattrocento and early Cinquecento, and finally to the establishment of a new balance of power and a new cultural climate in the course of the sixteenth century. Conducted in English.
Italian Opera - MUSIC-UA 9121 or ITAL-UA 9170 - 4 points
The course covers the evolution of Italian opera from its beginnings in Florence to the early 20th century with special emphasis on Monteverdi, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini. The approach is multidisciplinary and aims at a comprehensive survey of the music theatre in the context of the Italian cultural heritage. Literary sources, musico-dramatic features, vocal styles are studied in connection with major works that best represent trends and genres in the Italian operatic tradition. Students are expected to master the distinctive characteristics of such genres as favola in musica, intermezzo, opera seria, opera buffa, grand opera, dramma lirico, and the basic elements of Italian versification. Students listen to and watch recorded operas and attend performances in Florence or other Italian cities. Conducted in English
Syllabus forthcoming
Food, Culture and Globalization: Florence - FOOD-UE 9185 - 2 points
This course investigates current transformations in the food systems and cultures of Florence under conditions of globalization. How have produce, people and animals interacted to make life possible in modern cities and how have those interactions changed over time in Florence's history? What kinds of systems have been built to provide energy, bring potable water into cities, take sewage out, and provide clean air?
As a course in new sensory urbanism this curriculum seeks to expand the traditional scope and range of the studied senses from sight (e.g. art, architecture) and sound (music), to smell, taste and touch, so as to rethink what it means to be a modern urban subject engaged in the pleasures and powers of consumption. Through lectures, readings, field trips students will master established facts and concepts about contemporary urban food cultures and produce new knowledge of the same.
Photography & Imaging: Digital - IPHTI-UT 1 - 4 points
Open to all students.
This is an introductory class about photographic image-making, digital methods of output, and basic theory addressing the cultural uses of photography. This course is designed to familiarize students with fundamental concepts and techniques of photographic equipment, processes, materials, and philosophy of digital photography, as well as with the basic use of the camera and workings of Adobe Photoshop as well as scanning and printing digital images. Upon completion of the class, students will know how to digitize, edit, and/or manipulate images in Photoshop. Students will also develop basic camera and computer imaging skills. Screenings/exhibitions may be assigned as the semester progresses.
The course will address contemporary photographic culture and emphasize the development of individual voice and vision through self-directed projects and research, and the establishment of a self-sufficient working process and critical dialogue.
A DSLR or mirrorless camera with manually adjustable aperture and speed is required for this course.
Photojournalism: Exploring Italian Society - IPHTI-UT 1200 - 4 points
The course Photojournalism: Exploring Italian Society focuses on the contemporary life of Florence, a city best known as a UNESCO World Heritage site, but that is also a European city attempting to rise to the challenges that currently confront other urban environments throughout Europe and the world. The course draws its strengths from the unique resources of the program and the city of Florence. From Italian labor protests, to commemoration of historic events, to immigrant populations, mass transit and tourism, Florence has many compelling contemporary visual stories to tell. Students have the unique opportunity to capture these issues in images.
A DSLR or mirrorless camera with manually adjustable aperture and speed is required for this course.
Photojournalism: Exploring Italian Society - Sample Syllabus
Photography of Architecture, City and Territory - IPHTI-UT 1210 - 4 points
Prerequisite: Basic knowledge on digital photography and completion of PHTI-UT 1: Photography & Imaging: Digital or with special permission.
City, territory and architecture have been, from the beginning of photography, privileged objects for its practice. Photography has become a tool to strengthen the understanding of architecture, to highlight aesthetic and design ideas and to critically interpret the space.
This class focuses on architectural photography and the photography of urban space, both in relation to their historical roots and contemporary practice. Florence offers a perfect environment to develop one's artistic talent while learning the art of photography and discovering the secrets of one of the most fascinating cities in the world.
Assignments are designed to help explore options for technical control as well as visual experimentation and individual style. Keeping in mind the inseparability of photographic technique and expression, students are expected to articulate their particular choices in relation to the overall conceptual approach of the projects. Critiques of assignments are important to the progress of each individual in the class, to help verbalize visual concepts, and to learn to see actively. The final exam consists of the presentation of a portfolio of photographs and an artist’s statement.
Students are expected to work on their projects to develop an aesthetic and coherent photographic language and a personal approach to the photographic medium in a different environment. An emphasis is also placed on refining craft in relation to ideas, and to research on an individual basis, since it is crucial in developing an artistic practice.
The course includes lectures, shooting sessions and field trips, discussions and critiques of the photographs.
A DSLR or mirrorless camera with manually adjustable aperture and speed is required for this course.
Photography of Architecture, City and Territory - Sample Syllabus
Comparative Politics of Western Europe - POL-UA 9509 - 4 points
Europe has been the site of fundamental political, social, and economic changes in the postwar period. Episodes of integration and separation, development and crisis, characterize the dynamic nature of European politics. A brief introduction to the history and the development of the advanced industrial societies of Western Europe will be followed by a survey of the politics of the Western European democracies and the European Union (EU). The course's principal objective will be to enable students to analyze the political systems, institutions, parties, public opinion, and elections of states in the region. The final section will address the past, present, and future of the European Union (EU) and then will seek to assess the importance of European political integration for global politics. In addition, the course will offer students an opportunity to interact with and learn from governmental and political practitioners from Italy and the region.
Comparative Politics of Western Europe - Sample Syllabus coming soon
Economics of European Integration - ECON-UA 9219 or POL-UA 9524 - 4 points
Prerequisites: ECON-UA 1 Economic Principles or ECON-UA 5 Intro to Economic Analysis or equivalents
The financial crisis that hit the global economy since the summer of 2008 is without precedent in post-war economic history. Although its size and extent are exceptional. the crisis has many features in common with similar financial-stress driven recession episodes in the past. However, this time there’s something different, with the crisis being global akin to the events that triggered the Great Depression of the 1930s. This crisis spread quickly and rapidly moved from the US to European countries that show the weakest economic indicators (PIIGS: Portugal, Ireland and Italy, Greece and Spain). This course will focus on the long run causes, consequences and EU responses to the crisis, conditionally on the characteristics of the countries involved. We will focus on the long process of European Integration and discuss whether it may represent a possible solution to the recent crisis. We shall also examine the discussion on the EU- US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and EU development policies since EU is the main donor worldwide.
Italian Politics - ITAL-UA 9512 or POL-UA 9512 - 4 points
Italian instruction will be offered for Italian Immersion students.
Presents a study of post-World War II Italian politics and society in comparative and historical perspective. Seeks explanations of Italian political development in specific historical factors such as the 19th century patterns of state formation and the experience of fascism. Comparative analysis seeks to show how the social structure, political culture, and party systems have shaped Italy's distinct development. Current and recurrent political issues include the problem of integrating the south into the national economy and state response to social movements, particularly terrorism. Conducted in English.
Topics in Law and Society: International Human Rights - LWSOC-UA 9251 or ANTH-UA 9071 or or POL-UA 9751 - 4 points
We are constantly reminded by current events that the assumption about Man being endowed with the unalienable rights to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” is far from self-evident for a large number of people. Humans still experience refugee crises, forced migration, war crimes, genocide, indiscriminate prison regimes, forms of contemporary slavery, torture, censorship, violation of privacy and free speech, discrimination based on individual attributes such as education, income, gender, race and disabilities in spite of two hundred and fifty years of Universal Rights discourse. Yet would we be able to identify these plights of Man in the absence of universal human rights principles? And to what extent the universalistic scope of these rights is the result of a common ground among different cultures or is a beacon of domination? This course focuses on Human Rights in principle and the current international Human Rights regime that is being criticised for its apparent ineffectiveness in handling humanitarian crisis.
The course aims to familiarize the students with the mechanisms by which Human Rights emerge, are advocated, implemented, enforced, and criticised highlighting open questions as to the future of the current international Human Rights regime. The underlying ambition of the course is to provide the students with a critical framework to address Human Rights from the perspective of the Social Sciences rather than the dominant legalist frame on this topic.
Topics in Law and Society: International Human Rights - Sample Syllabus
United States & European Union Relations since WWII - POL-UA 9721 - 4 points
This course explores the role of the US in Europe from the end of World War II to the present with a particular emphasis on understanding the sources of cooperation and conflict. The topics covered in the first part will include the US vision of the new international order, the end of the old European balance of power, the Cold War and the division of Europe, the building of the Western alliance, the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. The second part of the course will concentrate on contemporary issues ranging from the evolution of NATO to trade relations and the role of the dollar and the euro in the international monetary system. Particular attention will also be given to the challenges posed by the ‘war on terror’, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Conducted in English.
United States & European Union Relations since WWII - Sample Syllabus
Medieval Church: A Religious History of Crisis and Creativity - HIST-UA 9117 or MEDI-UA 9017 or RELST-UA 9672 - 4 points
Wielding nearly unlimited authority over the lives - and the after-life – of millions of Europeans, the Catholic Church was by far the most important political, as well as cultural, power of the Middle Ages. The only global institution of this era, the Church was at the same time able to nourish strong local roots: its cardinals and popes came from all over the continent and dealt with international politics at the highest level, while priests and friars brought home to the people a faith tied to the neighborhood church and confraternity, and personified by a saint’s shrine and relics.Through a combination of lectures, students’ presentations, films and site visits, this course will explore selected aspects of the Medieval Church’s history: its often rocky relations with the other supreme power of the time, the Holy Roman Empire; the rise of monasticism and its different versions; the spread of heretical movements and their repression by the Inquisition; sainthood, and how “heavenly” women and men could serve to articulate very earthly ideologies on state, society, gender roles. Conducted in English.
Medieval Church: A Religious History of Crisis and Creativity - Sample Syllabus
Culture of the City: Italian Urban Life - ANTH-UA 9088 or ITAL-UA 9403 or SCA-UA 9620 - 4 points
NOTE: Students should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.
This course explores urban experience in Italy from two distinct perspectives, the historical and the theoretical.
We will start with a historical overview of the evolution of the urban environment in Italy. This overview will extends from ancient and roman times to the (re-)birth of towns by the year 1000, when various towns identified themselves around their piazzas, churches, streets, and within their walls, to the evolution of Italian towns in modern times, the changes in size and organization, the emergence of new spaces and new functions, and the emergence of new institutions such as Cafes, Museums, Train Station. The focus of these first lectures will be on the city of Florence.
The second dimension of the course, which will be articulated at two levels, will reflect upon the way in which we conceptualize, represent and construct discourses about cities in modern times. Firstly, we will make an exploration of some texts, concepts that have contributed to shaping our way to understand modern cities. We will also explore the various possible positioning of the self towards the city, the “seer”, the “Flaneur” the Stroller”, and we will investigate how the bodies of these subjects is then constituted. Secondly, we’ll go through some discourses and representations of the city: maps, views, panoramas points, travel literature, tourist guides and narrative literature (e.g. detective novel) will provide with quite different ways to tell of (and relate to) the experience of the Italian and specifically Florentine urban environment."
Italy During the Renaissance - HIST-UA 9123 or MEDI-UA 9123 or SCA-UA 9867 - 4 points
This course presents an overview of the political, social, and cultural history of Italy from roughly 1300 to 1600. Its aim is to provide students with a basic understanding of the forces and processes that shaped the states and the societies of the Italian peninsula in an era of extraordinary changes: from the developments of urban civilization and the rise of humanism in the fourteenth and early fifteenth century, to the political and religious crisis of the late Quattrocento and early Cinquecento, and finally to the establishment of a new balance of power and a new cultural climate in the course of the sixteenth century. Conducted in English.
Topics in Africana Studies: Di colore: Race, Difference & Resistance in Italy - SCA-UA 9180 or IDSEM-UG 9207 - 4 points
The course aims at introducing students into contemporary academic debates on race and racism in Italy. Issues of race, ethnicity and belonging will be explored through a sociological approach and intersectional lens. Gender and class, as well as other particular – systemic and not – oppressions, will be taken into account in order to define how they interlock with each other in modern day Italy. The course will offer a historical introduction of race and racism in Italy. In doing so importance will be given to the inward/outward double colonial drive, challenging the idea of a racially and culturally homogeneous Italy. As we move into contemporaneity, bibliographical references will be integrated with different cultural productions such as documentaries and movies, song lyrics and video, poetry, etc.. The materials will constitute a peculiar archive on race and racialization in the country. The pars destruens, where specific Italian racial regimes will be uncovered, will be balanced by a pars construens, where we will focus on how racialized subjects negotiate, challenge, and defy the racial symbolic and material order.
Di colore: race, difference & resistance in Italy - Sample Syllabus - Coming Soon!
The Politics of Organized Crime: Italian Mafias in a Comparative Perspective - SOC-UA 9506 or ANTH-UA 9077 - 4 points
This course will introduce students to the study of criminal organizations in Italy and abroad. Analysis of real-world data over the last decades, such as court proceedings and crime statistics, dismisses many of the accepted myths about Italian mafias. We will explore the organization of mafia groups, rules and codes, activities both in legitimate business and illegal markets, and their relationship to politics. This comparative approach will help students identify those factors facilitating the emergence, migration and persistence of organized crime across countries. The course will include a review of the legislative efforts and best-practices designed to prevent and control organized crime in Italy and in the United States.
The Politics of Organized Crime: Italian Mafias in a Comparative Perspective - Sample Syllabus
Gallatin Fashion Program courses are only open to students admitted to the program. Students can find the application in their enrollment portal after they've submitted their interest for the location. The application is open to all students. Students in the program must enroll in both courses.
History of Italian Fashion - IDSEM-UG 9200 - 4 points
This course is only open to students admitted to the Gallatin Fashion Program.
Italian fashion is famous internationally for its combination of quality and elegance. This course explores the development of fashion as an integral part of Italian identity. It looks at four historical moments or movements that played a significant role in developing that identity: Renaissance Florence under the de Medici, Mussolini’s mandate for Italian-based fashion, the post-war Italian film industry in the 1950s and 60s, and, today’s global fashion industry where the image of Italian style is one of quality, luxury and sexy elegance. Conducted in English.
Global Fashion Industry: Italy - PRACT-UG 9200 (formerly SASEM-UG 9203) - 4 points
This course is only open to students admitted to the Gallatin Fashion Program.
Global Fashion Industry: Italy will provide students with a deep understanding of the contemporary fashion industry in Italy, as well as of Italy's position in the global fashion arena. The course will drive students through the entire lifecycle of the fashion business, from forecasting trends to retailing, through design, sourcing, product development and production. Particular attention will be dedicated to different marketing aspects of the process, such as: identity building, brand positioning, merchandising, buying, costing, communication. All levels of retail, from luxury to mass market will be covered. The course will end with an analysis of the new challenges, such as sourcing globalization, emerging markets, sustainability and growing significance of technology.
A strong effort will be put into organizing site visits to studios, showrooms and factories, as well as meeting with professional players.
Each session will be structured to give students an overview of a particular stage of the Industry, through a mix of lectures from the course leader and visiting professionals, studio and showroom visits, walking tours, reading assignments and practical projects. Conducted in English.
Writing as Exploration - WREX-UF 9101 - 4 points
Open to LS First-Year Students Only
Writing I has two main objectives: first, to develop the students’ self-confidence and fluency by engaging them in the use of writing to express, explore, and develop ideas through a variety of forms, including informal writing (free writing, journal writing, etc.); second, to engage them in practicing the same kinds of critical and analytical skills they will use throughout their two years in Liberal Studies’s writing intensive program. The class is conducted as a workshop. Students produce a wide range of writing, both in and out of class, which forms the basis for classroom activities. All papers go through multiple drafts, often with input from peers as well as the instructor.
Global Works and Society: Antiquity - GWA-UF 9101 - 4 points
Open to LS First-Year Students Only
This course focuses on the world’s great traditions in philosophy, theology, history, and political science from the most ancient civilizations up to the Middle Ages. It familiarizes students with the earliest foundations of the world’s major discourses about the nature of human identity and society through a comparative study of seminal texts. The course includes such works as The Analects, Bhagavad Gita, and the Republic of Plato.
Arts and Cultures across Antiquity - ACA-UF 9101 - 4 points
Open to LS First-Year Students Only
This course focuses on the world's great traditions in literature, music, and the visual and performing arts from the most ancient civilizations to the Middle Ages. It familiarizes students with the earliest foundations of the world's major cultural traditions and the connections between these cultures. The course includes such literary works as The Odyssey, The Ramayana, andthe Shih Ching; students personally encounter foundational achievements of visual art in museums as well as learning about them in art history texts.
Arts and Cultures across Antiquity - Sample Syllabus
Online/Remote-Taught Courses available to Study Away Students
Students may compliment their local course load by enrolling in an online or remote-taught course. Some of NYU's online courses can be found using the Instruction Mode filter in the Albert Course Search. Please keep in mind that you must be enrolled in at least 12 credits of courses at your study away site (remote-taught/online courses do not count towards the 12 credit minimum requirement). Note, online/remote taught courses are not scheduled on the same session as the courses offered by the study away site, add/drop dates and other academic deadlines will vary. Please refer to Albert course notes for more details. Online/remote taught course commitments should not interfere with student attendance in local classes and required program activities (including orientation).