Scuola di Studi Superiori "Ferdinando Rossi" dell'Università degli Studi di Torino - SSST

The course aims to develop critical reading skills across diverse media, focusing on representations of animals and the human as a narrative animal; to explore comparative and transdisciplinary approaches in the Environmental Humanities; to integrate insights from multiple fields; and to experiment with public-facing creative writing as an alternative to the traditional seminar paper.

Module 1 - Narrated Animals, Narrative Animals  Images, Stories, Dreams, Evolution

Teaching staff: Prof.ssa Serenella Iovino

This seminar explores the role of animals in the human narrative, visual, and symbolic imagination, investigating how the “narrative animal” we are has evolved by telling stories and depicting its relationship with the animal world. Adopting a comparative and transdisciplinary approach, the course lies at the intersection of the Environmental Humanities and Biocultural Studies, drawing on insights from cognitive archaeology, evolutionary theory, ecomedia studies, archetypal psychology, and literary theory.
After an introduction on the evolutionary and material origins of storytelling and image-making, the course focuses on the presence of animals in modern and contemporary literary and visual imaginaries. Each week centers on an emblematic animal figure—e.g., dog, cat, monkey, cockroach, bear—examined as a narrative device and symbolic mirror, up to the transformations of animal imagery in the Anthropocene.
The course is conceived as a dialogic and workshop-like space, where theoretical and creative readings are interwoven with the active participation of students.

A journalistic article on an animal, to be chosen in agreement with the instructor.

Course materials will be indicated at the beginning of the course and provided by the instructor.