00929 - Modern History (M-Z)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will know the main themes and turning points of the modern age and have acquired notions of methodology and the history of historiography. They will be able to consult the tools needed in gathering historical information (bibliographical repertories, historical atlases, historical journals, etc.) including digital format. They will have a good knowledge of the main themes of history of the modern age, possess precise spatial and temporal coordinates, and be able to assess the importance and novelty of a historian’s work, situating it in the broader cultural framework. They will detect connections, developments, hangovers and transformations in long-lasting historical processes. They will read history texts in at least one language besides Italian and, in speaking, use the appropriate technical terminology.

Course contents

The course aims to examine the main themes that characterize the early modern age, such as.

- the emergence of the modern state

- wars in the early modern period

- the organization of society

- the Reformation

- Press and Censorship

- the age of ghettos

- the economy in the different states

- the religious crisis.

-the Atlantic Revolutions 

A group of lessons (one third of the course) will be devoted to the profound transformations in European consumption patterns between the 16th and 18th centuries, focusing on four key colonial commodities: sugar, coffee and tobacco. Introduced through global trade and imperial expansion, these products became fundamental components of European diets, social rituals, and cultural identities. The course will examine how their consumption was closely tied to colonial exploitation, particularly through the use of enslaved labor in the Caribbean, South America, and North America. Through lectures and readings, students will explore the economic and cultural integration of these goods, the emergence of new consumer behaviors, and the moral and political debates they sparked in European societies. Special attention will be given to the link between consumption and the plantation system, as well as to the symbolic and social meanings these commodities acquired in early modern Europe.

Readings/Bibliography

The bibliography is divided based on the three parts of the exam:

A. General History of the Period 1492-1815:

One of the following textbooks:

Carlo Capra, Storia moderna (1492-1848), Firenze, Le Monnier, 2021 (I edizione, 2004) (studiare fino al 1815).

Renata Ago, Vittorio Vidotto, Storia Moderna, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2024. (o edizioni precedenti).

Vincenzo Ferrone, Franco Motta, L'età dell'oro e del ferro. Una storia del mondo moderno, Torino, Einaudi, 2023, pp. 9-616.

B. Methodology

Marco Bellabarba, Vincenzo Lavenia (a cura di), Introduzione alla storia moderna, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2023, cap. I-XVII.

C. Monographic Course (for attending students)

Students will supplement their lecture notes with the study of two specific texts related to the course's monographic theme:

- S. W. MINTZ, Storia dello zucchero. Tra politica e cultura, Torino, Einaudi, 2020.

- U. BOSMA, Il mondo dello zucchero. Come le cose dolci hanno trasformato la nostra salute e il pianeta, Torino, Einaudi, 2024. (In alternativa a Minz).

- M. CARMAGNANI, Le isole del lusso. Prodotti esotici, nuovi consumi e cultura economica europea, 1650-1800, Torino, Utet, 2010.

B. BREEN, The Age of Intoxication. Origins of the Global Drug Trade, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019.

Plantation Societies in the Era of European Expansion, edited by Judy Bieber, London-New York, Routledge, 2018.

S. LEVATI, Storia del tabacco nell'Italia moderna. Secoli XVII-XIX, Roma, Viella, 2017.

A. SEDGEWICK, Coffeeland. Storia di un impero che domina il mondo, Einaudi, Torino, 2021.

J. BREMAN, Mobilizing Labour for the Global Coffee MarketProfits from an Unfree Work Regime in Colonial Java, Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2015.

B. COWAN, The Social Life of CoffeeThe Emergence of the British Coffeehouse, Yale, Yale University Press, 2008.

C. Three books to be chosen by non-attending students:

D. ABULAFIA, La scoperta dell’umanità. Incontri atlantici nell’età di Colombo, Bologna, il Mulino, 2010.

M. CAFFIERO, Gli schiavi del papa. Conversioni e libertà dei musulmani a Roma in età moderna, Brescia, Morcelliana, 2023.

D. CANTIMORI, Eretici italiani del Cinquecento, Torino, Einaudi, 2009.

G. CARAVALE, Libri pericolosi: Censura e cultura italiana in età moderna, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2022

S. DI NEPI, I confini della salvezza. Schiavitù, conversione e libertà nella Roma di età moderna, Roma, Viella, 2022.

M.P. DONATO, L'archivio del mondo. Quando Napoleone confiscò la storia, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2019.

J. H. ELLIOTT, Imperi dell'Atlantico. America britannica e America spagnola, 1492-1830, Torino, Einaudi, 2017.

L. FELICI, G. IMBRUGLIA, La tolleranza in età moderna. Idee, conflitti, protagonisti (secoli XVI-XVIII), Roma, Carocci, 2024.

M. FIRPO, G. ALONGE, Il Beneficio di Cristo e l'eresia italiana del '500, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2022.

I. GAGLIARDI, Anima e corpo. Donne e fedi nel mondo mediterraneo (secoli XI-XVI), Roma, Carocci, 2023.

T. GREEN, Per un pugno di conchiglie. L'Africa occidentale dall'inizio della tratta degli schiavi all'Età delle rivoluzioni, Torino, Einaudi, 2022.

J. ISRAEL, Il grande incendio. Come la rivoluzione americana conquistò il mondo. 1775-1848, Torino, Einaudi, 2018.

E. IVETIC, Storia dell'Adriatico. Un mare e la sua civiltà, Bologna, il Mulino, 2019.

T. KAUFMANN, I redenti e i dannati. Una storia della riforma, Torino, Einaudi, 2018.

S. LANDUCCI, I filosofi e i selvaggi, Torino, Einaudi, 2014.

G. MARCOCCI, Indios, cinesi, falsari. Le storie del mondo nel Rinascimento, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2016.

S. NADLER, Baruch Spinoza e l'Olanda del Seicento, Torino, Einaudi, 2020.

E. NOVI CHIAVARRIA, Accogliere e curare. Ospedali e culture delle nazioni nella Monarchia ispanica (secc. XVI-XVII), Roma, Viella, 2020

J. POPKIN, Haiti. Storia di una rivoluzione, Torino, Einaudi, 2020.

J. POPKIN, Un nuovo mondo inizia. La storia della rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 2021.

P. PRETO, Venezia e i turchi, Roma, Viella, 2013.

A. PROSPERI, Tribunali della coscienza. Inquisitori, confessori, missionari,Torino, Einaudi, 1996.

W. REINHARD, L'Europa e il mondo moderno, Torino, Einaudi, 2023.

A. SPAGNOLETTI, Filippo II, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 2018.

S. SUBRAHMANYAM, Mondi connessi. La storia oltre l'eurocentrismo (secoli XVI-XVIII), Roma Carocci, 2014.

M. E. SCHWAB, A. GRAFTON, L'arte della scoperta. Scavare nel passato nell'Europa del Rinascimento, Roma, Carocci, 2024.

T. TODOROV, La conquista dell'America. Il problema dell'altro, Torino, Einaudi, 2014

F. TRIVELLATO, Ebrei e capitalismo. Storia di una leggenda dimenticata, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2021.

A. PROSPERI, Il seme dell'intolleranza, Torino, Einaudi, 2016.

A. PROSPERI, Missionari. Dalle Indie remote alle Indie interne, Roma- Bari, Laterza, 2024.

C. GINZBURG, Il formaggio e i vermi, Milano, Adelphi, 2019.

C. GINZBURG, I benandanti, Milano, Adelphi, 2020.

N. ZEMON DAVIS, Il ritorno di Martin Guerre. Un caso di doppia identità nella Francia del Cinquecento, Roma, Officina libraria, 2022.

N. ZEMON DAVIS, La doppia vita di Leone l'Africano, Roma- Bari, Laterza, 2008.

F. TRIVELLATO, Microstoria e storia globale, Roma, Officina libraria, 2023.

L. FEBVRE, Il problema dell'incredulità nel secolo XVI. La religione di Rabelais, Torino, Einaudi, 1978.

O. NICCOLI, Perdonare. Idee, pratiche, rituali in Italia tra Cinque e Seicento, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2014.

Teaching methods

Lectures with collective discussions on materials provided to support the lectures

Assessment methods

For students, the exam consists of a preparatory written test (A) and an oral exam, with different modalities for attending and non-attending students (B and C).

WRITTEN TEST:

Attending Students 1

There are two optional intermediate tests (one after five weeks and one at the end of the course) reserved for attending students only. The tests, each lasting one hour, consist of one open-ended question and two multiple-choice questions. The tests will cover the topics discussed in the lectures and the content of the Early Modern History textbook (point A). The final grade will be the sum of the grades of the two intermediate tests. Those who do not pass the first test will not be allowed to take the second.

The positive result of the two partial tests will be valid for the first two exam sessions following the end of the course.

Attending and Non-Attending Students

Attending students who do not wish to take the partial tests and non-attending students must take a general written test based on the Modern History textbook (point A).

The positive result of the written test will be valid until the subsequent oral exam session.

ORAL EXAM

All attending students must take an oral exam on points B and C (see Bibliography).

Non-Attending Students

Non-attending students will take the oral exam on point B and will critically read three texts, chosen by them from the list included in the final part of the Bibliography section.

The evaluation will take into account the ability of the student to orient herself within the sources and the bibliographic material, to illustrate themes and problems and to establish connections.

Attention will be given to:

- The ability to master the subject

- The ability to synthesize and analyze themes and concepts

- The ability to express oneself adequately and with language appropriate to the subject matter

The achievement by the student of an organic vision of the topics addressed in class together with their critical use, a good command of expression and specific language will be evaluated with marks of excellence.

A mnemonic knowledge of the subject, together with synthesis and analysis skills articulated in a correct but not always appropriate language, will lead to discrete evaluations.

Training gaps and / or inappropriate language - albeit in a context of minimal knowledge of the exam material - will lead to grades that will not exceed sufficiency.

Training gaps, inappropriate language, lack of orientation within the bibliographic materials offered during the course will be evaluated negatively.

During the academic year, written and oral exam sessions are scheduled in the following months:

January (for students with pending exams), March (for students with pending exams), June (for all students), July (for all students), September (for all students), November (for all students).

Teaching tools

Presentations in Prezi format, sources, essays, online repertoires can be provided by the teacher. The materials will be made available in the specific section of the University website. There will also be an Instagram account stmoderna_mz_unibo [https://www.instagram.com/stmoderna_mz_unibo/], active from  January the 2nd.

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 Guido Bartolucci