Italian, MA

for the degree of Master of Arts in Italian

MA students complete a course of study equivalent to the Italian laurea magistrale. The goal of the MA in Italian is to provide a linguistic, cultural, and critical foundation for specialized work in Italian Studies.  Those who are interested in teaching Italian as a second language or in having the cultural competence to work in everything Italian should consider the MA either as a coronation of their learning experience or as a stepping stone for their future careers.

For Italy, globalization as a modern process is neither the beginning nor the end of the story. Italy has always been situated in a complex space, often best understood transnationally, post-nationally, and in a variety of cosmopolitan contexts, from Europe to the Mediterranean.

The graduate program in Italian Studies is committed to the interdisciplinary study of Italian literature and culture. Our faculty work on areas ranging from literature and cinema to medieval and early modern culture to history and critical theory. Recent and current graduate students working in Italian have written on topics ranging from the literature of extracomunitari in Italy, Dante's body in the context of pilgrimage texts, the acquisition of verb morphology, to postmodernism and detective fiction. Prospective graduate students should know that they will receive a training appropriate for an ever-more interdisciplinary profession, and that they will have the resources of a major university, ranging from the European Union Center to the largest public university library in the world, containing world-famous Dante, Tasso, and Italian Renaissance Plays collections.

In order to encourage innovative work that crosses disciplinary boundaries, the graduate program in Italian Studies requires students to pass exams on not only their dissertation topic and period, as well as a contiguous period, but also an outside field or chronological period. As a result, we strongly encourage students — while acquiring a solid foundation in Italian culture — to work outside the program during their stay here, particularly in those programs that offer graduate minors and certificates, such as the Unit for Criticism & Interpretive Theory, the Unit for Cinema Studies, the Medieval Studies Program and the program in Gender & Women's Studies. Italian at UIUC also has a strong connection with the Program in Comparative Literature, and the department of French and Italian encourages all graduate students to explore the many opportunities of collaboration within the Francophone and Italophone areas.

for the degree of Master of Arts in Italian

Areas of specialization offered in Italian are Italian literature and cultural studies and Italian linguistics. The M.A. in Italian requires a minimum of 32 graduate hours. Students must also successfully complete exams in four areas of Italian literature/cultural studies or three areas of Italian linguistics, chosen in consultation with their advisor.

For additional details and requirements refer to the department's guidelines for graduate students and the Graduate College Handbook.

Coursework selected in consultation with advisor32
Total Hours32

Other Requirements

Other Requirements may overlap
ITAL 505 is required of all teaching assistants
Minimum 500-level Hours Required Overall: 12
Minimum GPA: 3.0

for the degree of Master of Arts in Italian

  1. Language: strong command of spoken and written Italian in all its registers; strong command of academic English, particularly in writing, but also spoken; ability to summarize and explain major issues in language teaching and learning.
  2. Critical Theory: can outline major fields of theoretical inquiry current in the discipline, such as marxism, psychoanalysis, post-structuralism, feminism / queer studies, post-colonialism, biopolitics, environmental humanities and ecocriticism, and others. Ability to identify current trends and issues in critical theory of interest to the field, as well as the beginning capacity to critically evaluate different theoretical approaches.
  3. Italian Studies: demonstrates an ability to outline the field of Italian Studies, summarize the major issues of concern within the field, and evaluate some approaches to those issues. 
  4. Teaching: ability to teach Italian language at the beginning and intermediate levels; to create and critically evaluate syllabi, exams, written assignments, and lectures. Ability to identify and assess successful classroom strategies; familiarity with current trends in pedagogy for literature and culture. 
  5. The Profession: awareness and development of professional skills, including the ability to create seminar papers that can serve as raw material for future articles, give in-class presentations as a prelude to academic talks, and create book reviews and fellowship applications.

for the degree of Master of Arts in Italian

Department of French and Italian

Head of Department: Eleonora Stoppino
Director of Graduate Studies: Aurore Mroz
French and Italian Department website
2090 Foreign Languages Building, 707 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801
(217) 333-2020
french-italian@illinois.edu

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences website

Admissions

Overview of Italian Admissions & Requirements
Graduate College Admissions & Requirements