Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Lingue e Letterature straniere e Culture moderne

This course falls within the scope of digital and literay competence in the MA curriculum, with particular attention to the development of reading, writing and critical tools for literary study and interpretation.

Furthermore, the DH module fosters the advancement of critical awareness in relation to personal development processes. The educational framework of the degree course provides professional training in Digital Humanities. This is crucial for effective educational strategies in the field of secondary education and in collaboration with national and international organizations and institutions that have educational, intercultural, and social aims, as well as organizing cultural activities that address educational topics.

This course aims at introducing students to the theories and practices of using digital tools and methodologies for the study of North- American literature, with selected examples from 19th and 20th century novels/authors. This course also aims at developing analytical skills for assessing digital literary projects and for thinking critically when reading and writing in online environments. It will also help students to develop digital writing and project planning skills. Within the framework of the MA program, this course addresses literary and digital knowledge, focusing on the professional profiles of individuals involved in the organization of cultural events, multimedia productions, and teachers/researchers.

This course addresses the following learning objectives (obiettivi formativi):

• Gaining specialized knowledge of the current landscape of the field of digital humanities in connection with North American Literature.
• Improve students' competence of the English language and its application in digital environments.
• Acquire the necessary knowledge of digital humanities theories, methodologies, and approaches to the study of North American Literature.
• Learning how to transmit the notions acquired.
• Acquire problem solving skills.

 

This course forsters the acquisition of  advanced level skills for secondary school teaching and informal education, as well as in the field of cultural organization. After this course, students will:

1. possess an in-depth understanding of some of key topics related to the field of digital humanities for U.S. literary studies;
2. gain broad knowledge of the emerging role of the digital humanities for the study of U.S. authors and historical periods;
3. possess a better ability to read and engage with scholarly texts and digital environments;
4. be able to use some skills used in digital humanities literary projects, understanding their relevance according to different kind of research questions
5. Gain and/or consolidate knowledge that is instrumental in the organization of literary and cultural events, educational activities, online communication.

Students will be expected to know and understand the disciplinary contents set out above at least adequately, for each of the fields indicated;

be able to apply knowledge and understanding by being able to illustrate the contents of said topics;

have acquired autonomy of judgment on the module topics, being able to independently mobilize different scientific sources on the same topic,  arguing convincingly about cross-cutting themes in the digital and literary fields;

have acquired communication skills, namely: expressing oneself correctly in English/Italian, knowing how to use specialized vocabulary appropriately, knowing how to make diachronic and synchronic distinctions between different theories and models; having developed learning skills, in particular how to compare the program topics with each other, s well as to explore the various designated fields.

This course aims at developing abilities of critical thinking, independent study and initiative, and collaborative approaches. Seminar discussions, individual study of the syllabus, blog activities, designing and creating the digital projects, experimenting with the selected digital tools will help students to think critically about the digital resources employed to analyze North-American literary and cultural artifacts. They will learn to use digital applications for themselves building also on the critical reading and writing skills developed through the course, their collaboration on blogging platforms, and their articulations of research questions for specific data.  

Students will develop knowledge and understanding of the topics and essays included in the syllabus; they will be able to apply such knowledge and understanding, by adopting and explicitly referencing what they have learned; they will be able to make independent assessments and decisions based on what they learned, mobilitating different scientific knowledge, making their points in a consistent and independent way, also on cross-cutting issues.

 

Course Title: The Digital Humanities and U.S. Literary Studies

Course Blog:  https://dhandamlit25.wordpress.com/ 

This is the website containing the teaching material related to DIGITAL HUMANITIES: The Digital Humanities and U.S. Literary Studies, taught by Cristina Di Maio (Fall 2025).

The course provides a general introduction to the Digital Humanities with a focus on U.S. Literary Studies. We will explore various approaches and methodologies, and we will experiment with digital tools and techniques. We will engage with debates around this field of study, such as the problem of defining the digital humanities, offering an overview of recent critical approaches and applications (e.g., DH and intersectionality). Students will learn how to analyze digital projects and design their own digital humanities project.

We will cover the following topics: Introduction to DH for U.S. literary studies; Digital Humanities: history, methods, definitions; Critical Approaches to DH; Minimal Computing; Distant Reading; Digital Archives; Visualization and Mapping;  AI and Literary Studies; Annotation; Videogames as a Cultural/Digital Text; DH and U.S. Literature: authors and projects.

This course will introduce students to the following digital tools: WordPress; Hypothes.is; Google N-Grams; Voyant Tools; GoogleMaps; StoryMaps; TimelineJs.

The digital projects we will analyze include: The Yellow Wallpaper Edition; African American Women Writers of the 19th Century; Documenting The American South; Emily Dickinson Electronic Archives; Gloria Naylor Archive; “REALIZING THE DREAM OF A BLACK UNIVERSITY” & OTHER WRITINGS PARTS 1 & 2 by Toni Cade Bambara; New York State of Mind: Mapping New York Literary History; Living Nations, Living Words.

The Lab Sessions will be the following: Building a WordPress blog; Designing your DH project; Workshop on the Students DH Projects; Annotation; Text Mining; Mapping; Experimenting with AI; Exploration of DH tools.

 

This course is fully taught in English, and classes are held in presence. No previous technical skills are required but students will experiment with some selected DH tools and methods. There will be seminar discussions of secondary texts and selected digital projects. Student participation to class discussions is expected as well as blogging activities (posting). There will be group activities and sessions dedicated to the experimentation with digital tools, guest lectures, and some students' individual/small group presentations. Please refer to the schedule available on the course website.

The criteria on which the final assessment will be based are detailed in the “Expected Learning Outcomes.”

Weekly reading and discussion

Students will complete all weekly readings in advance of the class meeting and will take an active part in class discussions.

Blogging

Students will create their own blogging site on the first week of class. Througout the course, they will be responsibile for writing 3 blog posts (due on Tuesday) that will be shared also on our course blog for the other students to read and comment on. The posts (400-600 words) will be in response to our weekly readings and class discussions (3 topics of their choice). Students will post their responses, thoughts, questions, close readings, reflections on their own experimentations with DH tools presented in class.

Final project

Students may work individually or in pairs. The project will be delivered as a website: it can be based on a digital archive, a textual analysis, a timeline, a map, a pedagogical website, an interactive visualization. A proposal (2 pages) will be submitted by week 5 (early November) and must include a clear research question; articulate the methods that will be used; the research plan. Throughout the course we will discuss together a variety of projects (also by students) and have project workshops/tutorials to help students in the development of their digital humanities project. The last week of class will be devoted to the student (short) presentations of their projects.

Oral assessment

The oral exam will focus on the student project to test the students understanding of the course materials, and the theoretical and methodological issues explored in the class. Students will need to show an in-depth understanding of the broad field of digital humanities and its relevance for U.S. literary studies, and of the various approaches and debates connected with the topics and tools examined, including relevant examples of digital projects.

Grading (range between 18 and 30)

Participation and blogging: 20%

Final project: 50%

Oral assessment: 30%

Minimum level requirements:
Students must demonstrate a basic understanding and sufficient knowledge of the exam topics, including appropriate use of the relevant specialist vocabulary.

Intermediate-good level requirements:
Students must show a clear understanding and confident knowledge of the exam topics, using the relevant specialist vocabulary and making meaningful connections between different topics.

Excellent level requirements:
Students must demonstrate an in-depth understanding and thorough knowledge of the course content, establish connections between the topics, and discuss the key aspects in a well-argued, convincing, and independent manner, using appropriate specialist vocabulary.

The last two classes will be devoted to students' individual/small group presentations; it will be possible to take this part of the exam during the final oral interview.

Non-attending students

Students attending less than 70% of this course need to get in touch with the instructor (preferably at the beginning of the semester) to discuss the final project to be presented during the oral assessment, as well as the blog posts.

All assessments will be in English.

PLEASE NOTE: 

The use of generative AI tools is not allowed in this course for the following activities:

• Impersonating you in classroom contexts, such as by using the tool to compose blog posts or comment on other student's blog posts.
• Completing group work that your group has assigned to you, unless it is mutually agreed upon that you may utilize the tool.
• Writing a draft of a writing assignment (i.e. blog posts, final project).
• Writing entire sentences or paragraphs to complete class assignments.

Any assignment that is found to have used generative AI tools in unauthorized ways will not be graded and submission will not be accepted. When in doubt about permitted usage, please ask for clarification.

Students will be supported in the creation of their blogs and research projects with specific sessions dedicated to the use of DH tools.

For students with physical disabilities, dyslexia, and other specific learning difficulties, please visit the University's support page (https://www.unito.it/servizi/lo-studio/studenti-con-disabilitaopen_in_new) and admission information (https://www.unito.it/accoglienza-studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsaopen_in_newopen_in_newopen_in_new).

The procedures for requesting support during exams can be found here: https://www.unito.it/servizi/lo-studio/studenti-e-studentesse-con-disabilita/supporto-studenti-e-studentesse-conopen_in_new

 

Course reader

All texts included in our course schedule for weekly readings will be available in the course reader on our course blog.

Non-attending students will also study:

Eve, Martin Paul, The Digital Humanities and Literary Studies, Oxford UP 2022. Available in open access here.

 

Course reader:

-  Bauer, Matthias, and Angelika Zirker. “Whipping Boys Explained: Literary Annotation and Digital Humanities.” 2015. Literary Studies in the Digital Age: An Evolving Anthology. https://dlsanthology.mla.hcommons.org/whipping-boys-explained-literary-annotation-and-digital-humanities/

-  Boyles, Christina. “Intersectionality and Infrastructure. Toward a Critical Digital Humanities.” In People, Practice, Power: Digital Humanities Outside the Center, edited by Anne McGrail, Angel David Nieves, and Siobhan Senier, University of Minnesota Press, 2021, pp. 118-;126.

-  Buck Dominguez, Patricia, and Joe A. Hewitt. “A Public Good: Documenting the American South and Slave Narratives.” RBM: A Journal of Rare Book, Manuscripts, and Cultural History, vol. 8, no. 2, 2007, pp. 106-;124.

-  Clement, Tanya. “A Digital Regiving: Editing the Sweetest Messages in the Dickinson Electronic Archives.” In A Companion to Emily Dickinson, edited by Martha Nell Smith and Mary Loeffelholz, Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2008, pp. 415-;436.

-  Deegan, Marilyn, and Simon Tanner. “Conversion of Primary Sources.” In A Companion to Digital Humanities, edited by Susan Schreibman, Ray Siemens, and John Unsworth, Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2004. https://companions.digitalhumanities.org/DH/?chapter=content/9781405103213_chapter_32.html

-  Drucker, Johanna. “Humanities Approaches to Graphical Display.” Digital Humanities Quarterly, vol. 5, no. 1 (Winter 2011). https://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/5/1/000091/000091.html

-  Dunst, Alexander. “Forum: Digital American Studies. An Introduction and Rationale.” Amerikastudien, vol. 61, no. 3, 2016, pp. 381-;395.

-  Elam, Michele. “Poetry Will Not Optimize; or, What Is Literature to AI?” American Literature, vol. 95, no. 2, 2023, pp. 281-;303.

-  Gallon, Kim. “Making a Case for the Black Digital Humanities.” In Debates in the Digital Humanities 2016, edited by Matthew K. Gold and Lauren F. Klein, University of Minnesota Press, 2016, pp. 42-;49.

-  Hearst, Marti. “What Is Text Mining?” 2003. https://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~hearst/text-mining.html

-  Hockey, Susan. “The History of Humanities Computing.” In A Companion to Digital Humanities, edited by Susan Schreibman, Ray Siemens, and John Unsworth, Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2004, pp. 3-;19.

-  Hoover, David L. “Textual Analysis.” Literary Studies in the Digital Age: An Evolving Anthology, 2013. https://dlsanthology.mla.hcommons.org/textual-analysis/

-  Jagoda, Patrick, and Jennifer Malkowski. “Introduction: American Game Studies.” American Literature, vol. 94, no. 1, 2022, pp. 1-;16.

-  Kirschenbaum, Matthew G. “What Is Digital Humanities and What’s It Doing in English Departments?” ADE Bulletin, no. 150, 2010, pp. 55-;61.

-  Klein, Lauren, and Catherine D’Ignazio. Data Feminism. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2018, ch. 2.

-  Long, Liza. “Using Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools in Literary Analysis.” In Critical Worlds: A Targeted Introduction to Literary Analysis, ch. 3.

-  Manoff, Marlene. “Theories of the Archive from Across the Disciplines.” Libraries and the Academy, vol. 4, no. 1, 2004, pp. 9-;25.

-  Owens, Trevor. “What Do You Mean by Archive? Genres of Usage for Digital Preservers.” The Signal: Digital Preservation, Library of Congress, 27 Feb. 2014. https://blogs.loc.gov/digitalpreservation/2014/02/what-do-you-mean-by-archive-genres-of-usage-for-digital-preservers/

-  Primorac, Antonija, Rosario Arias, Roxana Patras, Eva Eglāja-Kristsone, Karina van Dalen-Oskam, Berenike Herrmann, Christof Schöch, and Pieter François. “Distant Reading Two Decades On: Reflections on the Digital Turn in the Study of Literature.” Digital Studies/Le champ numérique, vol. 13, no. 1, 2023, pp. 1-;24.

-  Rambsy, Kenton. “Text-Mining Short Fiction by Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright Using Voyant Tools.” CLA Journal, vol. 59, no. 3, 2016, pp. 251-;258.

-  Risam, Roopika, and Alex Gil. “Introduction: The Questions of Minimal Computing.” Digital Humanities Quarterly, vol. 16, no. 2, 2022. https://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/16/2/000646/000646.html

-  Rothman, Joshua. “An Attempt to Discover the Laws of Literature.” The New York Times, 20 March 2014.

-  Spiro, Lisa, and Jane Segal. “Scholars’ Usage of Digital Archives in American Literature.” In The American Literature Scholar in the Digital Age, edited by Amy E. Earhart and Andrew Jewell, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2011, pp. 101-;122.

-  Underwood, Ted. “A Genealogy of Distant Reading.” Digital Humanities Quarterly, vol. 11, no. 2, 2017.

-  Wallace, Niamh, and Mary Feeney. “An Introduction to Text Mining: How Libraries Can Support Digital Scholars.” Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries (QQML), vol. 7, 2018, pp. 23-;30.

-  Wilkens, Matthew. “Digital Humanities and Its Application in the Study of Literature and Culture.” Comparative Literature, vol. 67, no. 1, 2015, pp. 11-;20.

-  Williams, George H. “Disability, Universal Design, and the Digital Humanities.” In Debates in the Digital Humanities, edited by Matthew K. Gold, University of Minnesota Press, 2012, pp. 202-;212.

Course overview and schedule is available at https://dhandamlit25.wordpress.com/

While no previous knowledge of DH is required, students must have basic computer literacy skills and are expected to bring their own laptops.