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PhD program
Transcultural studies in humanities
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The first year includes three common methodological modules (first semester) and three specialized modules (second semester) for each scientific area of the doctoral program:
The teaching program aims to enable doctoral students to complete and deepen their training in at least two areas, introducing them to the independent research that characterizes the following two years. At the end of the first year, doctoral students submit a report for each course taken, which is evaluated by the tutor and discussed with the entire teaching staff. A positive evaluation is a necessary condition for admission to the second year.
The scientific areas covered by the PhD program are described as follows:
Coordinator: prof. Elena Agazzi
Title: Methodology and criticism: the future seen from the past
The first semester lectures aim to provide the general foundations of criticism that we consider essential for the training of doctoral students, focusing on the reinterpretation and re-signification of past theories and paradigms that have been reinterpreted in light of current developments and, above all, future prospects. In the second semester, doctoral lectures will focus on thematic insights related to the field of “Critical and cultural translations and transcodings.”
The first module consists of meetings with references to Anglo-Saxon, French, Spanish, German, and Russian criticism, explaining, for example, what it means to reinterpret historical materialism and postmodernity in light of current thinking and what is meant by “future perfect.” The paths of this module, which involve the most recent theories and methodologies of literary criticism and cultural studies, but also critical discourse analysis and stylistics, offer the opportunity to observe how different types of knowledge feed into a complex and relevant discourse in the humanities. They therefore prompt wide-ranging interpretations and readings that have made it possible to reconsider texts, processes, and products in light of innovative categories.
From the 2018/2019 academic year to the 2022/2023 academic year, the doctoral module has intersected with the objectives set out in the Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures' project of excellence, which focuses on translation—understood as literary, transmedia, and cultural—and digital humanities. The teaching program incorporates the themes of the excellence project, with a focus on the dynamics of translation and digitization. Each year, the Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures offers a dedicated scholarship, in addition to those provided for in the call for applications.
Coordinator: prof. Franca Franchi
Title: Verbal/Visual. How to read documents
The proposal brings together the entire cycle of doctoral meetings in Area 2 during the 2023/2024 academic year. “Verbal/Visual. How to read documents” is therefore structured around the dialogue and intertwining of the first and second semester modules, which are functional to each other.
The first semester meetings are dedicated to the study of the relationship between the verbal and visual spheres with the aim of providing a theoretical and methodological introduction to the disciplines characterizing the artistic-literary field. The second semester meetings focus on the analysis of verbal-visual documents (including case studies) and related sources, always from an interdisciplinary perspective.
All meetings require the active participation of doctoral students, both through the critical reading of the proposed bibliographic material and during the courses. At the end of both modules, doctoral students are invited to work as a team to write a report on the results of the meetings, which will serve as the basis for an open dialogue at the end of the second semester.
Coordinator: prof. Giovanni Scirocco
Title: Digital methodologies and participatory approaches to research/Introduction to historical, philosophical, and scientific disciplines
The teaching proposal is part of the doctoral program's training project to ensure strong links between disciplines and cultures, with a view to forging new alliances between fields of knowledge, including those related to international contexts. It is divided into two modules of 20 hours each: 1. Methodological module (November 2023-March 2024); Characterizing module (April-October 2024).
1. Methodological module - This is a theoretical-methodological teaching activity that cuts across the areas of the doctoral program in Transcultural Humanities, with the aim of providing all first-year doctoral students with methodological knowledge relating to research methodologies in the humanities, with a particular focus on digital technology and the collaborative and participatory dimension. Doctoral students are expected to actively participate in the critical reading of the basic bibliography related to the topics covered, in the in-depth study of theoretical concepts and methodologies proposed through the analysis of case studies.