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Semitistics - Languages and Literature of Ethiopia
UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI "L'ORIENTALE"
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
The aim of the course is to offer a comprehensive overview of the salient features of the history of the Horn of Africa, and Eritrea in particular, highlighting both its diatopic (cultural areas) and diachronic (historical phases) structure. Therefore, at the beginning of the course, the documents on which the study is based will be analysed, and the Nilotic, Cushitic and Semitic languages and cultures that have evolved over three millennia will be presented. Subsequently, the most significant aspects of the history of the Horn of Africa, and Eritrea in particular, will be analysed with reference to the processes of formation of the ruling groups of the various provinces. The study will be constantly accompanied by the critical reading of texts and documents.
ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
During the assessment, students will be required to demonstrate their ability to navigate the historical study of the Horn of Africa, and Eritrea in particular, and to address scientific issues within interdisciplinary research contexts ranging from linguistics to philology, archaeology to art history.
ADDITIONAL EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Independent judgement:
by the end of the course, students should have acquired a significant degree of independent judgement, demonstrating their ability to analyse texts and documents relating to the history of the Horn of Africa, and Eritrea in particular, with precision and creativity.
Communication skills:
at the end of the course, students will have acquired a significant degree of skill in communicating historical issues relating to the Horn of Africa, and Eritrea in particular, knowing how to convey complex information effectively and comprehensively.
Learning skills:
at the end of the course, students will have acquired a significant degree of learning skills, enabling them to undertake further studies with a significant degree of autonomy.
Course Prerequisites
Knowledge of the chronological phases of European and Mediterranean history is essential: prehistory and ancient history, late antiquity and medieval history, modern and contemporary history. An interest in the African cultural context is important, with particular reference to the Ethiopian region. An aptitude for philological and historical-critical methods is useful.
Teaching Methods
METODOLOGIA DI INSEGNAMENTO
Il corso si articola in lezioni frontali e attività seminariali e di laboratorio. Per le esercitazioni, saranno utilizzate registrazioni audio e video.
1) Storia del Corno d’Africa, e dell’Eritrea in particolare, a partire dalla fase protostorica e fino all’età contemporanea (24 ore).
2) Studio del rapporto intercorso fra comunità antiche dell’Africa nord-orientale e civiltà del Mediterraneo, con particolare riferimento al ruolo svolto dall’Italia (8 ore).
3) Introduzione alle fonti scritte come strumento essenziale di ogni studio storico e alla filologia in quanto scienza della corretta ricostruzione dei documenti (8 ore).
4) Lettura critica e commento di testi e documenti utili alla ricostruzione dei rapporti fra le varie comunità dell’altopiano etio-eritreo nel periodo compreso tra l’ascesa di Aksum e l’età moderna (8 ore).
Assessment Methods
The exam consists of: Oral exam only
Discussion of project paper: YES
Language of the exam: Italian
The exam is assessed solely in oral form, with the possibility of also submitting a short written paper on a topic agreed with the lecturer
Assessment criteria: Assessment is based on the completeness and consistency of the knowledge demonstrated by the student during the exam.
Texts
1) Ancient and mediaeval history - P. Marrassini, Storia e leggenda dell’Etiopia tardoantica, Brescia 2014; G. Lusini, Scritture documentarie etiopiche, in Rassegna di Studi Etiopici 42 (1998), pp. 5-55; Idem, Note linguistiche per la storia dell’Etiopia antica, in Studia Aethiopica In Honour of Siegbert Uhlig, Wiesbaden 2004, pp. 67-77; Idem, The Early History of Eritrea: A New Perspective, in Loquentes linguis. Studi linguistici e orientali in onore di Fabrizio A. Pennacchietti, Wiesbaden 2006, pp. 447-454.
2) Ethnic and cultural composition - M.M. Moreno, Le popolazioni dell’Eritrea, in L’Italia in Africa, I., Il territorio e le popolazioni, Roma 1955, pp. 121-167; C. Conti Rossini, Schizzo etnico e storico delle popolazioni eritree, in L’Eritrea economica, Novara & Roma 1913, pp. 61-90.
3) Histories of literatures - E. Cerulli, La letteratura etiopica, Milano 1968; R. Beylot, Langue et litterature ethiopiennes, in Christianismes orientaux, ed. par M. Albert &al., Paris 1993, pp. 221-260.
Contents
TOPICS:
1 the early history of Eritrea and the Horn of Africa;
2 languages and cultures of Eritrea and the Horn of Africa;
3 the Arabian Peninsula and the African shore of the Red Sea;
4 Saba (South-Arabia) and Da’amat (Ethiopia), 7th-6th c. BC;
5 the kingdom of Aksum, 1st-7th c. AD;
6 Islam in the Red Sea;
7 the Zagwe, 1137-1270;
8 the Solomonid dynasty;
9 the modern times;
10 the contemporary age.
Course Language
Italian
More information
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