Description
The Department of Humanities was born from the convergence of several homogeneous research groups, widely representative of the humanities in our University. Today, the teaching staff includes 88 members and the technical and administrative team counts 11 people. The Department offers the following undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses which include the foundations of knowledge in the field of humanities:
UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
MODERN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES – INTERCULTURAL STUDIES
MODERN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES – INTERCULTURAL STUDIES
POSTGRADUATE TAUGHT COURSES
MODERN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES: CULTURALITY AND EDUCATION
MODERN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES: CULTURALITY AND EDUCATION
MODERN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES OF THE WEST AND THE EAST
MODERN LANGUAGES AND TRANSLATION FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
MUSICOLOGY AND PERFORMING ARTS
MUSICOLOGY AND PERFORMING ARTS
These degree courses guarantee a wide internationalization experience with the possibility of study periods abroad and the presence of visiting professors and visiting students; this is made possible thanks to:
1. Erasmus-Socrates exchanges;
2. several partnerships with foreign universities for double degree programs;
3. bilateral agreements, in the context of European Community programs (such as the recently concluded Erasmus Mundus ‘Glitema’).
With regard to Masters and postgraduate research programs, the Department offers:
1. Master in "Theory, planning and teaching of Italian as a second and foreign language";
2. Phd in "Literary, philological, linguistic, historical and cultural studies", a joint doctorate with the University of Catania;
3. PhD in "Philosophy", in partnership with the University of Messina (principal partner);
4. international PhD in "Humanities"
We believe that the humanities have a profound impact on the life of society, so the Department organises a number of cultural promotion activities which are open to the citizenship. At the same time, we promote cultural enterprise in the humanities, which is particularly important nowadays for the preservation of the territory and its cultural heritage, and in a broader sense for the renewal and democratic stability of political, social and economic systems, especially in a territory with a profound cultural vocation such as the Sicilian one, as well as the Italian in general. In this perspective, the Italian Language School for Foreigners, the "Michele Mancini" University Multimedia Laboratory and several research centres based in the Department (such as, for example, the Linguistic Atlas of Sicily and the University Music Laboratory) are engaged in fruitful cultural activities on the territory, transferring the knowledge cultivated inside the University also outside it. Besides, the Department has signed agreements with important local cultural institutions (such as Teatro Massimo, the "Vincenzo Bellini" Conservatoire of music, “Teatro Libero”), which foster experiences of relations with the job market in the context of cultural organization and promotion. Thanks to special conventions, the Department hosts some important cultural institutions such as the Centre for Sicilian Philological and Linguistic Studies, the Association of Ancient Music Antonio Il Verso. Several agreements with high schools and with the Regional School Office have also created an intense relationship of collaboration with secondary schools both as concerns teacher training and school-work alternation as well as prospective students orientation for university studies. Through these and many other activities related to the promotion and dissemination of humanities in the relevant social contexts (festivals, book launches, dissemination activities, commemorative days, etc.), the Department pursues with increasing attention what is today known as "Third mission", a deeply felt task of the University alongside research and teaching.
The library, which consists of approximately 150,000 volumes, is located in different buildings and the main sites are: in building 12, viale delle Scienze; in the former Sant'Antonino convent; and in the via Divisi library. Together, they offer a conspicuous wealth for research activities, offering innovative quality services which support the work of professors and researchers, but also of students, doctoral students as well as extra-institutional users. The Department publishes an academic journal (InVerbis), a series entitled "Lingue e Letterature" with Carocci and a series entitled "Musiche Rinascimentali Siciliane" with Olschki; while single professors and lecturers direct prestigious scientific journals and series or are members of the editorial board of Italian and foreign journals.