This interdisciplinary course focuses on communication as an exercise of power in the context of Rome and Italy throughout their history. The course explores the role played by media and communications as tools for political and cultural hegemony throughout two thousand years of Italian History. From the acta diurna and the Aeneid in the age of Imperial Rome to the use of the Internet and social media by populist parties in the last decade, we will explore Italian History the interplay of the development of media technologies with propaganda, control, activism, and information wars. Topics covered include the role of communications during the passage from the Rome of the consuls to the Rome of the emperors; the ascent of the temporal authority of the Catholic Church; the use of newspapers and cinema as instruments of propaganda by Mussolini’s fascist regime; the rise and decline of political leader and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi. Ultimately, the course assesses the influence that the Italian experience had on global dynamics, ranging from modern imperialism to the populisms of the 21st Century.

*Course content subject to change