30096 - Education and Culture in the Modern Age (LM)

Learning outcomes

Students will have a profound knowledge of the educational and cultural institutions in modern Europe, developing an independent ability to plan their own research within an historical contextualisation of problems.

Course contents

The course aims to enable students to understand the main stages and developments in educational processes and scholastic institutions, above all in the period from the late Middle Ages to the Counter-Reformation; they will also be given guidance in carrying out their own personal research.  After a first part consisting in lectures aimed at providing a general framework for the theme, the direct study of a series of sources will be undertaken.

Readings/Bibliography

In order to pass the examination students are required to read 3 (three) texts chosen from list A (BIBLIOGRAPHY) and 1 (one) chosen from list B (SOURCES):

  A: BIBLIOGRAPHY

P. ARIÈS, Padri e figli nell'Europa medievale e moderna , Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1996

M. BERETTA, Storia materiale della scienza. Dal libro ai laboratori , Milano, Bruno Mondatori, 2002

H. BOTS - F. WAQUET, La Repubblica delle lettere , Bologna, Il Mulino, 2005

P. BURKE, Cultura e società nell'Italia del Rinascimento , Bologna, Il Mulino, 2001

P. BURKE, Cultura popolare nell'Europa moderna, Milano, Mondadori, 1980 (testo esaurito rinvenibile solo in biblioteca)

 P. BURKE, Storia sociale della conoscenza. Da Gutenberg a Diderot , Bologna, Il Mulino, 2003.

N. ELIAS, La civiltà delle buone maniere , Bologna, Il Mulino, 1982

G. FRAGNITO, Proibito capire. La Chiesa e il volgare nella prima età moderna , Bologna, Il Mulino, 2005

E. GARIN, L'educazione in Europa 1400/1600, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1976 (testo esaurito rinvenibile solo in biblioteca).

P. F. GRENDLER, La scuola nel Rinascimento italiano , Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1991

L. JARDINE, Affari di genio. Una storia del Rinascimento europeo, Roma, Carocci, 2001.

O. NICCOLI, Il seme della violenza. Putti, fanciulli e mammoli nell'Italia fra ?500 e ?600 , Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1995

M. ROGGERO, L'alfabeto conquistato : apprendere e insegnare nell'Italia tra Sette e Ottocento , Bologna, Il Mulino, 1999

S. ULIVIERI (a cura di), Le bambine nella storia dell'educazione , Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1999

B: SOURCES

Some of these works are part of anthologies in texts that are now no longer published and found only in libraries. In order to obtain them, students may ask the teacher. They are also required to read the introductory essay that is usually a preface to such a work.

- S. ANTONIANO, Dell'educatione christiana de i figliuoli, selected passages in Il pensiero pedagogico della Controriforma, ed. by L. Volpicelli, Firenze 1960, pp. 43-47/ 67-68/ 99-107/ 127-149/ 169-175/ 199-221/ 341-348/ 457-458/ 476-484 (ask the teacher about how to obtain a copy of this work).

-B. CASTIGLIONE, Il Cortegiano, Books I and II (various editions)

-G. DELLA CASA, Galateo (various editions)

-ERASMUS of Rotterdam, De civilitate morum puerilium, Italian translation. The most recent editions are: Sulle buone maniere dei bambini, ed. by F. Cambi, Roma, Armando Editore, 2000; Il Galateo dei ragazzi, ed. by L. Gualdo Rosa, Napoli, Liguori, 2004.

-ERASMUS of Rotterdam, De pueris statim ac liberaliter instituendis, Italian trans. The most recent is Per una libera educazione, ed. by L. D'Ascia, Milano, Rizzoli (BUR), 2004.

-M. VEGIO  – P. P. VERGERIO – M. PALMIERI, selected passages in E. GARIN, Educazione umanistica in Italia, Bari, Laterza, 1971, pp. 52-136 (to obtain this work, see the teacher).

 

NB! Students from the earlier course of studies (3 CFU) are asked to know 2 texts from list A to pass the examination.

Teaching methods

Lectures. Seminars devoted to reading texts and documents.

Assessment methods

This exam is an oral exam through which the critical and methodological abilities acquired by the student during the course will be evaluated; the student will be invited to discuss the issues addressed during the course. The following abilities will be evaluated positively: a student's ability to familiarize him/herself with bibliographical material and sources with the aim of selecting information from the literature that can be used to illustrate  aspects and areas of culture pertaining to the discipline.

 

The ability to reach a critical and systematic vision of the discipline and the ability to demonstrate the possession of a descriptive command and of appropriate  field-specific language will be rewarded with a mark of excellence.

A mechanical and/or mnemonic knowledge of the language, a superficial ability to synthesize and analyse information, and/or a language that is correct but not always appropriate will lead to  a moderate mark; knowledge gaps and/or inappropriate language – albeit in a context of minimal knowledge of the material required for the exam – will not lead to a pass mark.

Knowledge gaps, inappropriate language and a lack of familiarity with the bibliographical material provided or indicated during the course  will not receive a pass mark.

 
Students attending regularly may pass part of the exam by means of a series of tests carried out while the course is being held.

Teaching tools

Photocopies of texts and documents / Iconographic material

Office hours

See the website of Giuseppe Olmi