According to a recent survey data from the College Board, students spent more than $1,200 on books and supplies during the 2019-2020 academic year (Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid 2020). The price of Italian-language textbooks increases the financial burden especially for BIPOC students, first year generation college students, and low-income students.
With the generous support of four digital grants awarded through Haverford College and Bryn Mawr College Libraries, in Spring 2021 the Department of Transnational Italian Studies at Bryn Mawr College promoted an Italian-language open educational resource textbook with Haverford Pressbooks. The first result of this project was Voci: Corso elementare di lingua e culture italiane, a free and open platform that was published on July 25, 2022 (volume I) and on April 24, 2023 (volume II) under a CC-BY-NC license. Voci was supported by four digital grants sponsored by Bryn Mawr College and Haverford College Libraries, and served as the official textbook of the Department of Transnational Italian Studies for two academic years (AY 2022-23 and 2023-24). Cotto e mangiato. Corso di Italiano multiculturale is the derivative work from Voci: Corso elementare di lingua e culture italiane (no longer used at Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges) under the policy of Creative Commons CC-BY-NC license. Cotto e mangiato. Corso di Italiano multiculturale is the official textbook adopted at Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges since the Academic Year 2024-25.
Cotto e mangiato. Corso di Italiano multiculturale is an OER textbook that promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion with immediate access to a zero-cost learning platform. Thanks to its open structure, the authors will constantly update the material to reflect the changing standards of Italian culture(s), such as femininity and masculinity, racial and gender discrimination, geopolitics, migration, incarceration, issues of power, inequity and justice, cultural diversity, and LGBTQIA+ rights. Students will have the opportunity to understand the transformations of 21st-century Italy through cross-cultural comparisons and to familiarize themselves with exclusivity in the Italian language in regards to non-binary genders, the plural agreement, and adjectivation.
Cotto e mangiato. Corso di Italiano multiculturale is under development.
NOTA BENE: Any comments, questions, or suggestions are truly appreciated. Please, feel free to contact authors Roberta Ricci and Luca Zipoli (rricci@brynmawr.edu and lzipoli@brynmawr.edu.) Grazie e buona lettura!
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