View Profile Page

Profile:

Professor Ferrari earned his doctoral degree in 2006 with a dissertation titled, Italian  Myths  and  Counter-Myths  of  America:  Allegorical  Representations  of  America in 20th-Century Italian Literature and Film. He has taught undergraduate courses in language and culture at The University of Chicago, DePaul University, Columbia College, L’Università del Sacro Cuore, and L’Università degli Studi di Milano. Research interests include the study of narrative constructs of nation and nationalisms, film, gender, entre-deux-guerres European international relations, and 20th-century Italian and French poetry and prose.

2020-2021 Courses:

CLCS 199	The Pursuit of Happiness	FALL 2020
The course provides a platform for scholarly exploration of the concept of happiness as articulated across a variety of cultures and from multiple disciplinary perspectives: psychology, sociology, linguistics, philosophy, religion/spirituality, literature, and film. Students enrolled in this class will work collectively to analyze and reflect on the ideological implications and possible cultural bias implicit to diverse texts that purport, through various means, to render happiness more accessible to and sustainable for the general public. What can be learned about happiness discourse through guided efforts in close reading, focused critical thinking, theoretical reflection, and comparative textual analysis? Widely popularized theories of happiness frequently merge with compelling stories of a hero's inward and outward journey; the individual pursuit of an inalienable and self-evident right. This seminar invites students to consider this heroic journey in terms of a symbolic construct, assessing its possible strengths and weaknesses; the certain promises it holds, and the likely consequences it may also engender. Like all First Year Seminars, this course will cultivate the fundamental skills considered necessary for succeeding at university.

Publications:

Books

"Americana: The American(ized) Woman as Represented by Five Italian Directors since 1945.” Pagina Pellicola Pratica. Ed. Rebecca West. Ravenna: Angelo Longo Editore, 2000.

Works in Progress:

Books

Myths and Counter-Myths of America in Italian Literature and Film (working title, single-authored book).

Virginio Ferrari: A Critical Anthology, 1957-2007 (working title, co-edited book). 

Awards and Honors:

I.R.E. Research Grant, Ministero degli Affari Esteri (Italy), for research on Italian-American cultural relations.

Areas of Research:

International cultural relations, identity politics, performance, contemporary visual arts, poetry, film, gender studies.