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C9474 - HISTORY OF CULTURAL DIPLOMACY

Academic Year 2026/2027

                
                        Docente:
                        Michele Marchi
                    
                        Credits:
                        6
                    
                        SSD:
                        HIST-03/A
                    
                        Language:
                        English
                    
                        Teaching Mode:
                        In-person learning (entirely or partially)
                        
                            Campus:
                            Ravenna
                        
                            Corso:
                            Second cycle degree programme (LM) in
                            International Cooperation on Human Rights and Intercultural Heritage (cod. 6808)

                                    Course Timetable
                                
from Feb 01, 2027 to Mar 05, 2027

Learning outcomes

The course focuses on the historical evolution of cultural diplomacy from the crisis of the 1930s until the end of the Cold War. Cultural diplomacy, as soft power and as exchange of ideas and cultural heritage, will be studied in its effort to strengthen sociocultural development and multilateral cooperation. By the end of the course, students will be able to reconstruct the contribution of cultural diplomacy to international relations during the period of the two World Wars, throughout the Cold War, and in the post-bipolar era. The student acquires the tools to apply practical models of cultural diplomacy (organization of events, circulation of university students and intellectuals, youth exchange programs, scientific cooperation) and to understand their interaction with traditional forms of diplomacy

Course contents

Class 1
Cultural Diplomacy and Soft Power: Definitions and Methodology

Classes 2–3
Cultural Policies and Cultural Diplomacy in the Dictatorial and Totalitarian Contexts of the 1930s

Class 4
The Early Cold War: A Cultural War

Classes 5–7
The Rise and Decline of U.S. Cultural Diplomacy

Class 8
Cultural Diplomacy at the End of the Cold War

Classes 9–10
The Historical Evolution of Chinese Cultural Diplomacy

Classes 11–12
The Gulf States and Cultural Diplomacy: Between Sport and the Arts

Classes 13–14
The Korean Wave from Food to Music and Cinema

Class 15
Final Discussion

Readings/Bibliography

For attending students:

J. C.E. Gienow-Hect and M. Donfried (edited by), Searching for Cultural diplomacy, Berghahn, 2010 (first two chapters)

E. Carbo-Catalan-D. Roig-Sanz (edited by), Culture as a soft power. Bridging Cultural Relations, Intellectual Cooperation and Cultural Diplomacy, De Gruyter, 2022 (first two chapters)

G. Paschalidis, Exporting national culture: histories of Cultural Institutes abroad, "International Journal of Cultural Policy", 15:3 (2009), pp 275-289.

Additional readings will be provided throughout the course.

For non attending students:

Four books to choose among:

O. Bennett (edited by), Cultural Diplomacy and International Cultural Relations, Routledge, 2019

E. Carbo-Catalan-D. Roig-Sanz (edited by), Culture as a soft power. Bridging Cultural Relations, Intellectual Cooperation and Cultural Diplomacy, De Gruyter, 2022

J. C.E. Gienow-Hect and M. Donfried (edited by), Searching for Cultural diplomacy, Berghahn, 2010

R. J.W. Harker, Museum Diplomacy: Transnational Public History and the U.S. Departement of State, University of Massachusetts Press, 2020

I. Kozymka, The Diplomacy of Culture. The Role of UNESCO in Sustaining Cultural Diversity, Brill, 2014

M. Krenn, The History of United States Cultural Diplomacy 1770 to Present Day, Bloomsbury Academic, 2017

B. Martin, The Nazi-Fascist New Order for European Culture, Harvard UP, 2016

Y. Miyang Cho – L. M. Roberts, Korean Culture in the Global Age, Routledge, 2025

S. Murray, Sports Diplomacy. Origins, Theory and Practice, Routledge, 2025

S. E.K. Smith-S. Priewe (edited by), Museum Diplomacy. How Cultural Institutions Shape Global Engagement, Bloomsbury, 2025

J. Vickery-S. MacDonald-N.J. Cull (edited by), Understanding Cultural Diplomacy and International Cultural Relations, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2025

Y. Zheng, In Search of Admiration and Respect: Chinese Cultural Diplomacy in the US 1875-1974, University of Michigan Press, 2024

Teaching methods

The course will be taught through a mixture of formal lectures and discussion classes. Its aim will be to facilitate interaction between lecturer and students and to stimulate debate among students themselves.

Class attendance is compulsory if you decide to be “an attending student”. Otherwise it’s possible to choose the “non attending student” formula.

Assessment methods

For attending students

Two hours final written test. Professor will give three macro questions focused on all the themes approached during the course and one macro question focused on onw in-depth case study discussed in class.

The final grades will be obtained in this way:

75% the three questions

25% in-depth case

For non attending students

Oral exam on four books to choose among: