The course explores the cultural industry of tourism from a semiotic and ethnosemiotic perspective, considering the ways in which tourist places, territories and events are promoted, experienced and received in the West: the imaginary behind them, their meanings and uses. The euphoria of tourism practice will be the focus of the course, along with some of the social practices that prolong it, from the souvenir object to the sharing of travel on social networks. 

This year we will examine roots tourism, which encourages eco-sustainable and responsible forms of tourism, paying attention to the ways in which digital platforms present and communicate it. Root tourism enhances areas outside mainstream tourism, promotes social inclusion by showing the similarities between tourism and migration, and allows for the creation of new professional skills in tourism planning and promotion.

Unlike what happens in other forms of mobility for leisure, the roots tourist is not a stranger to the places he/she visits; on the contrary, he/she was often born or has lived there and is endowed with knowledge and skills about the practices, customs and history of villages and small hamlets that the others do not have or no longer have. He/she distinguishes him/herself by being not only a consumer/consumer of goods, products and services, but also a producer of memory and knowledge of the territory. He/she brings personal memories and/or testimonies of inherited stories. In some cases they return permanently to the place from which they departed and become an essential cultural mediator/mediator for incoming tourists.

The aim of the course, in collaboration with the Aps of the Italea Marche Radici in Valigia project (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation) will be to create digital suitcases shared between guest and host, programming the offers according to the needs of the tourists, expressed by the objects they wish to bring.

CLASS CONTENTS LESSON BY LESSON:

Knowledge and understanding - Students will have to demonstrate that they have understood the semiotic and ethnosemiotic approach to the study of tourism and  mastered the semiotic method for the analysis of visual texts that document the tourist experience.

Applying knowledge and understanding - Students will be able to analyze, by the semiotic method, texts, objects and practices of the tourist experience and to discover some constant semantic traits that belong to the  cultural memory of travelers.

Making judgements - Students will reflect critically on the communication strategies of tourism, identifying inconsistencies, traps and gaps. On the reception front they will be able to inquire phenomena of collective habituation and desires to be filled.

Communication - Students will learn to describe in an exhaustive way texts, objects and practices of tourism communication. They will use the technical language involved with semiotic analysis to unravel issues that appear confusing to the untrained eye.

Learning skills - At the end of the course, students will be able to correctly use concepts and tools of the semiotic and ethnosemiotic method to describe texts, objects and practices of the tourist experience. They will also grasp the intentionality that guides the touristic communication, evaluating the effectiveness of the results they obtain and formulating self-assessment questions.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Students will be required to follow a seminar (2 hours) organised by the CiSS, International Center of Semiotic Sciences Umberto Eco of the University of Urbino with the patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Teaching

Lectures. Oral and written exercises.

The course includes:

lectures
group work and written work
oral presentations
participatory lectures in which the work presented will be discussed.

Innovative teaching methods

The innovative teaching method will be enriched with individual and group exercises and insights. Some topics of the course will be treated following the practices of the debate, of the flipped lesson and of the visual thinking.

Course books

S. Ferrari, T.Nicotera, First Report on Roots Tourism in Italy From migratory flows to tourism flows, Egea, Milano 2021.

https://www.esteri.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/First-Report-on-Roots-Tourism-in-Italy.pdf

Assessment

Oral exam aimed at ascertaining the mastery of knowledge relating to the authors and the theories of the discipline, the understanding of concepts and tools of the semiotics method and the procedural knowledge acquired by the students. The examination provides an assessment of thirty.

Grading:

Excellent grades will be given in presence of: a good critical perspective and in depth knowledge; the ability to link the main subjects addressed during the course; the expert use of appropriate language and terminology.

Good grades will be given in presence of: good mnemonic knowledge of the course content; a relatively good critical perspective and the ability to connect its themes; the use of an appropriate language.

Sufficient grades will be given in presence of: minimal knowledge of the course's themes and the presence of some gaps in understanding; the use of an inappropriate language.

Low grades will be given in presence of: difficulty in understanding the course's topics; notable gaps in knowledge; the use of a clearly inappropriate language.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

This course does not differentiate between “attending” and “non-attending” students with regard to teaching methods, attendance obligations, course books or assessment. Part-time students are invited to write to the professor and to consult the teaching material (handouts, slides, examples of textual analysis, Dictionary of Semiotics) that will be uploaded on Moodle Platform during the course.