B5108 - History of Europe in the Modern Age (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, students will have an in-depth and direct knowledge of the sources and current historiographical trends in different thematic and chronological areas of early modern history. They will be able to recognise the contribution that this study can make to an understanding of the present.

Course contents

The course will focus on the history of the racial categories adopted by Europeans prior to the 19th century and on the historiographical debate concerning the origins of racism.
In particular, the topics covered in the lectures will be as follows:

1. Race, racism: a history of the terms;

2. Did racism exist before the 19th century? The recent historiographical debate;

3. The legacy of the ancient world: the climate, but not only that;

4. Latin Christianity and anti-Islamic hostility;

5. Anti-Judaism in the late Middle Ages;

6. On the Iberian Peninsula: the ‘limpieza de sangre’;

7. The non-European world: men, servants and savages;

8. The African slave trade and the curse of Ham;

9. Hypotheses concerning the peoples of the New World;

10. Classifications of civilisations: theology and geography;

11. Non-European forms of xenophobia;

12. How social difference was racialised: being noble;

13. The war of the races: England and France;

14. Monogenesis and polygenesis;

15. Anthropology, biology, aesthetics: the eighteenth century.

Readings/Bibliography

All students, whether attending or not attending, must prepare for the exam on the following two texts:

Francisco Bethencourt, Razzismi. Dalle crociate al XX secolo, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2013 (chapp. 1-15)

Michel Foucault, Bisogna difendere la società, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2020.

They will also be required to study one of the following books:

David Abulafia, La scoperta dell’umanità. Incontri atlantici nell’età di Colombo, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2010

Aurélia Michel, Il bianco e il negro. Indagine storica sull’ordine razzista, Torino, Einaudi, 2021

Francisco Bethencourt, Adrian J. Pearce, Racism and Ethnic Relations in the Portuguese-Speaking World, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012

Miriam Eliav-Feldon, Benjamin H. Isaac, Joseph Ziegler (eds.), The Origins of Racism in the West, Cambridge, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2009

Antonio Feros, Speaking of Spain: The Evolution of Race and Nation in the Hispanic World, Cambridge Mass., Harvard University Press, 2017

Mercedes García-Arenal, Felipe Pereda (eds.), De sangre y leche. Raza y religión en la España moderna, Madrid, Marcial Pons, 2021

Giuliano Gliozzi, Adamo e il Nuovo Mondo, Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1977

David M. Goldenberg, Black and Slave: The Origins and History of the Curse of Ham, Berlin, De Gruyter, 2017

Max Hering Torres, María Helena Martínez, David Nirenberg (eds.), Race and Blood in the Iberian World, Zürich-Berlin, Lit, 2012

Gavin Langmuir, Toward a Definition of Antisemitism, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1996

George L. Mosse, Il razzismo in Europa. Dalle origini all'Olocausto, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1980

William Max Nelson, Enlightenment Biopolitics: A History of Race, Eugenics, and the Making of Citizens, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2024

Jean-Frédéric Schaub, Silvia Sebastiani, Race et histoire dans les sociétés occidentales (XV-XVIII siècle), Paris, Albin Michel, 2021

Stuart Schwartz, Blood and Boundaries: The Limits of Religious and Racial Exclusion in Early Modern Latin America, Waltham, Brandeis University Press, 2020

Giacomo Todeschini, Visibilmente crudeli. Malviventi, persone sospette e gente qualunque dal medioevo all’età moderna, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2007

Non-attending students must also read the following text:

George M. Fredrickson, Breve storia del razzismo, Roma, Donzelli, 2002

Teaching methods

The teacher will use texts and images to get the students able to reading the sources and to understanding the representations in history. Any teaching materials will be made available online in the appropriate section of the University's website.

Assessment methods

Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending. The oral examination will take place in the exam sessions provided at the end of the course. To evaluate the exam, the teacher will take into account the student's ability to master the contents of the course, to understand the historical concepts, to orientate himself in the bibliography, to know how to read a source, to connect the informations acquired, to expose what he has learned in a synthetic way and with an appropriate language. The student who will meet these demands will have an excellent mark. The student who will simply repeat the informations acquired in a mnemonic way and with a language not entirely adequate will have a discreet evaluation. The student who will show that he knows the contents superficially and with some gaps, using an inappropriate language, will have a sufficient evaluation. The student unprepared and incapable of orientation in the subject will have a negative evaluation.

Instead of studying the texts adopted for the exam, attending students can choose to write a paper (max 5,000 words) on a specific topic, agreeing the choice with the teacher. The evaluation of the essay will depend on its originality and its critical depth.

With regard to assessment, the use of AI is prohibited. Any use constitutes a breach of academic integrity.

The present course is a part of the Integrated Course 'History of the Early Modern Age C.I. (LM)'. If the student has the Integrated Course (12CFU) in his / her study plan, the final grade will result from the arithmetic average of the marks obtained in the two components (History of Europe in the Early Modern Age; Politics and Historiography of the Early Modern Age).

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is necessary to contact the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) with ample time in advance: the office will propose some adjustments, which must in any case be submitted 15 days in advance to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of these in relation to the teaching objectives.

Oral Exam sessions are scheduled for the following months of the academic year:

January (all students), March (all), May (all), July (all), September (students in debt), November (students in debt)

Teaching tools

Attendance of the course may also include participation in seminars promoted by the teacher and visits to archives and libraries to contact the sources on the subject kept in the city of Bologna and its surroundings. The Internet will be used to access sites that contain manuscript sources, images, texts and materials of interest.

Students who require specific services and adaptations to teaching activities due to a disability or specific learning disorders (SLD), must first contact the appropriate office: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students

Office hours

See the website of Vincenzo Lavenia