B1592 - History and Anthropology of the Imaginary

Learning outcomes

The course examines the main thematic and theoretical-methodological areas of the cultural and religious history of European civilisation. Special emphasis is placed on myths and rites, analysing the forms and processes of the development, representation, and communication of the imaginary, which is seen as a system of relations and exchange between the visible and invisible worlds. A variety of sources – written, iconographic, archaeological, and monumental – are studied using the tools and methods of cultural history and historical anthropology, especially in relation to the history of Christianity and the Christian Churches with their far-reaching institutional, social, and spatial frameworks. By the end of the course, the student will be able to use the key critical and bibliographical tools for studying historical-cultural and historical-religious heritage in Europe from Late Antiquity to the Modern Age

Course contents

Consisting of seminars, the course is based on the reading and discussion of literary, iconographic and documentary sources.

The topic addressed this year will be: Mary Magdalene in the Middle Ages: myths and images

Readings/Bibliography

Preliminary knowledge:

For those who feel they do not have sufficient basic historical knowledge to attend the lectures, reading the following volume is suggested: G. Potestà, G. M. Vian, Storia del cristianesimo, Bologna, il Mulino, 2014

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A) Studies regarding the course topic:

A.1. At least two of the studies listed here are compulsory for attending students only, and will be uploaded and made available on Virtuale:

J. Dalarun, Eve, Marie ou Madeleine ? La dignité du corps féminin dans l'hagiographie médiévale, in «Médiévales», 8 (1985), pp. 18-32

K. L. Jansen, Maria Magdalena: Apostolorum Apostola, in Women Preachers and Prophets through Two Millennia of Christianity, eds. B. Mayne Kienzle, P. J. Walker, Berkley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1998, pp. 57-96

A. Foskolou, Mary Magdalene between East and West: Cult and Image, Relics and Politics in the Late Thirteenth-Century Eastern Mediterranean, in «Dumbarton Oaks Papers», 65/66 (2011-2012), pp. 271-296

C. Ginzburg, Le forbici di Warburg, in «Schifanoia» 42-43 (2012), pp. 13-34

T. Gross-Diaz, The Cult of Mary Magdalene in the Medieval West, in Mary Magdalene from the New Testament to the New Age and Beyond, ed. E. Lupieri, Leiden, Brill, 2019, pp. 151-175

D. Bohde, Mary Magdalene at the Foot of the Cross, in «Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz», 61/1 (2019), pp. 3-44

C. Bino, Baci, lacrime e unguenti. Maddalena ai piedi di Cristo nella rappresentazione passionista cistercense, in Donne e sacro. Forme e immagini nel cristianesimo occidentale, a cura di A. Ricci, Roma, Viella, 2021, pp. 65-86

A.2. One of the following monographs, at student's choice, is compulsory for both attending and non attending students:

E. De Martino, Morte pianto rituale. Dal lamento funebre antico al pianto di Maria (1958), nuova ed. a cura di M. Massenzio, Torino, EInaudi, 2021

S. Haskins, Mary Madgalene. Myth and Metaphor, New York, Riverhead Books, 1995

K. L. Jansen, The Making of the Magdalen. Preaching and Popular Devotion in the Later Middle Ages, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2000

 

B. D. Ehrman, Pietro, Paolo e Maria Maddalena, Milano, Mondadori, 2008

Mary Magdalene, Iconographic Studies from the Middle Ages to the Baroque, eds. M. A. Erhardt, A. M. Morris, Leiden, Brill, 2012

Mary Magdalene in Medieval Culture. Conflicted Roles, ed. P. Loewen, R. Waugh, New York, Routledge, 2014

M. Perroni, C. Simonelli, Maria di Magdala. Una genealogia apostolica, Roma, Aracne, 2016

Una sposa per Gesù. Maria Maddalena tra antichità e postmoderno, a cura di E. Lupieri, Roma, Carocci, 2017 (rist. 2019)

P. C. Almond, Mary Magdalene. A Cultural History, Cambridge-New York, Cambridge University Press, 2022

 

B) For non-attending students, in addition to one of the titles listed in A.2, it is compulsory to study one of the following:

J. Huizinga, L'Autunno del Medioevo. Studio sulle forme di vita e di pensiero del quattordicesimo e quindicesimo secolo in Francia e nei Paesi Bassi (1919), a cura di F. Paris, Feltrinelli, Milano 2020

E. Mâle, L'arte religiosa della fine del Medioevo in Francia. Studio sull’iconografia del Medioevo e sulle sue fonti d’ispirazione (1922), trad. it. a cura di F. Restuccia, Studium, Roma 2024

M. Bloch, I re taumaturghi. Studi sul carattere sovrannaturale attribuito alla potenza dei re particolarmente in Francia e in Inghilterra (1924), n. ed. it. con «Prefazione» di J. Le Goff, Einaudi, Torino 1989 e ristt.

A. D. Nock, La conversione. Società e religione nel mondo antico (1933), a cura di M. Mazza, Laterza, Roma-Bari 1974 e ristt.

L. Febvre, Il problema dell’incredulità nel secolo XVI. La religione di Rabelais (1942), trad. it. Einaudi, Torino 1978 e ristt.

E. Dodds, I Greci e l'irrazionale (1951), nuova ed. a cura di R. Di Donato, RCS Libri, Milano 2003 e ristt.

E. De Martino. Morte e pianto rituale. Dal lamento funebre antico al pianto di Maria (1958), n. ed. a cura di Massenzio, Einaudi, Torino 2021

C. Lévi-Strauss, Antropologia strutturale (1958), a cura di P. Caruso, Il Saggiatore, Milano 1966 e ristt.

C. Ginzburg, I benandanti. Stregoneria e culti agrari tra '500 e '600 (1966), nuova ed., Adelphi, Milano 2020

N. Cohn, Licenza per un genocidio. I Protocolli dei savi anziani di Sion e il mito della cospirazione ebraica (1966), trad. it. Castelvecchi, Roma 2013 e ristt.

W. Burkert, Homo necans. Antropologia del sacrificio cruento nella Grecia antica (1972), trad. it. Boringhieri, Torino 1981 (rist. Jouvence, Roma 2021)

M. Baxandall, Pittura ed esprienze sociali nell'Italia del Quattrocento (1972), trad. it. a cura di M.P. e P. Dragone, Einaudi, Torino 1978

K. Meuli, Gli dèi incatenati e altri saggi (1975), a cura di S. Marchesoni, Neri Pozza, Vicenza 2021

C. Ginzburg, Il formaggio e i vermi, Il cosmo du un mugnaio del '500, (1976), nuova ed. Adelphi, Milano 2019

P. Veyne, Il pane e il circo. Sociologia storica e pluralismo politico (1976), trad. it. il Mulino, Bologna 1984 e ristt.

J. Le Goff, Tempo della Chiesa e tempo del mercante e altri saggi sul lavoro e la cultura nel Medioevo, Einaudi, Torino 1977 e ristt.

F. Cardini, Alle radici della cavalleria medievale (1981), nuova ed. il Mulino, Bologna 2014

P. Brown, Il culto dei santi. L'origine e la diffusione di una nuova religiosità (1982), trad. it. Einaudi, Torino 1983 e ristt.

R. Darnton, Il grande massacro dei gatti e altri episodi della storia culturale francese (1984), a cura di R. Pasta, Adelphi, Milano 1988 e ristt.

M. Sahlins, Isole di storia. Società e mito nei mari del Sud (1985), trad. it. Raffaello Cortina, Milano 2016

P. Burke, Il re sole (1992), trad. it. il Saggiatore, Milano 2017

M. Carruthers, Machina memorialis. Meditazione, retorica e costruzione delle immagini (400-1200) (1998), trad. it. Edizioni della Scuola Normale, Pisa 2006

J. Le Goff, I riti, il tempo, il riso. Cinque saggi di storia medievale (1973-1999), trad. it. a cura di A. De Vincentiis, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2001

L. Bolzoni, La rete delle immagini. Predicazione in volgare dalle origini a Bernardino da Siena, Einaudi, Torino 2002 e ristt.

J. Assmann, La distinzione mosaica (2003), trad. it. Adelphi, Milano 2011

Ph. Descola, Oltre natura e cultura (2005), ed. it. a cura di N. Breda, Milano, Raffaello Cortina, 2021

Teaching methods

The lecturer will use texts and images, which will be projected and made available to students on the course page on the website Virtuale. The textual and iconographic sources presented during the lectures and gradually uploaded onto the website are an integral part of the course programme for attending students.

Students who are affected by learning disability (DSA) and in need of special strategies to compensate it, are kindly requested to contact the Teacher, in order to be referred to the colleagues in charge and get proper advice and instructions.

Assessment methods

Class attendance is recommended to achieve a good result. All those who cannot attend the course for demonstrable reasons of work are required to agree their syllabus in advance during the lecturer’s office hours.

The oral examination will be held at the end of the course, and it will assess:

- basic knowledge relating to the course program (the assessment is carried out on the basis of the materials examined in class and the texts indicated in the program);

- the ability to understand the problems faced during the lectures;

- knowledge of the discipline in its historical development;

- the ability to frame the sources examined in class in their context, and to discuss them critically;

- the quality of oral expression and the ability to construct a logical-argumentative type of speech.

For attending students, the exam consists of an assessment of the knowledge acquired during the course, namely the sources, the papers and other materials gradually uploaded onto the website Virtuale. Furthermore, they are expected to study one of the books listed in point A) of the section “Reading/Bibliography”.

Non-attending students are expected to study on of the titles listed in point A) in detail, along with one of those listed in point B) of the section “Reading/Bibliography”.

The final evaluation will follow these criteria:

- insufficient grade: lack of basic knowledge and inability to produce a correct interpretation of the texts and / or problems;

- sufficient grade: possession of basic knowledge; mainly correct interpretation, but carried out with imprecision and little autonomy;

- good grade: possession of intermediate level knowledge; fully correct interpretation, but not always precise and autonomous;

- excellent grade: possession of high level knowledge; interpretation of problems not only correct but conducted with autonomy and precision. Excellent oral expression skills.

To apply for the thesis, it is necessary to have submitted for the examination a final paper on a topic defined together with the lecturer. It is also highly recommended to register on the website and take part in the workshops of the Laboratorio sulle fonti per la ricerca storica organised by Dr Donatella Tronca.

As the timeframe for drafting a thesis needs to be carefully calculated, arrangements should be made with the lecturer well in advance: at least six months for a three-year degree and at least a year for a master’s degree. The most appropriate graduation session will be suggested by the lecturer on the basis of the work done.

Teaching tools

The main teaching support tools, which will be illustrated in class and on the Virtuale course page, are available at the Campus Central Library (Palazzo Corradini) and at the website AlmaRe, the Library of Bibliographic and Documentary Electronic Resources of the University of Bologna.

Office hours

See the website of Luigi Canetti